Night Tube series: Top seven places to buy a house in London along the Jubilee Line September 4, 2015 With the Night Tube delayed for the time being, now is the best time to consider buying in an area that’s set to benefit from it. Research shows that when new transport links come in, house prices only rise once the trains start running so it’s worth taking a punt before the asking prices shoot [...]
London house prices: Allsop to auction new-build London flats online – so you can bid on a home from your sofa May 13, 2015 Bargain hunters are used to getting their hands on decrepit "fixer-uppers" at auction. But for the first time ever next month, they will be able to get their hands on a set of sparkly new flats – in an online auction. Auctioneers Allsop will sell off homes at the West Drayton Waterside development, on the [...]
When is the best time to go Christmas shopping? Here are London’s busiest days so you can avoid them November 20, 2014 Next week is expected to see the start of the Christmas rush with Black Friday on November 28 – a US import that was brought about to stimulate spend after Thanksgiving. Fast becoming a crucial part in the retail calendar, high street names such as John Lewis are predicting big things, with many [...]
Work and plays: Meet Richard Bean, Britain’s most successful contemporary playwright July 2, 2015 When Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors embarked on its first UK tour, every morning the dramatist would email James Corden (the lead) with tweaks and extra lines tailored to whatever audience he was facing that evening. Oh, you’re in Birmingham, swap line X with line Y. Leeds? Make sure you say Z. This tells [...]
Tourists flock to feel London vibe June 3, 2015 LONDON is a tourist mecca. The capital has just trumped Bangkok, New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Milan, Barcelona and Prague as the world’s most popular tourist destination for the second year running. Top-class exhibitions, blockbuster entertainment, major sporting events and successes in the West End are expected to translate into a record 18.82m visitors by [...]
An enduring bond September 20, 2015 Aston Martin’s Simon Sproule talks balancing growth and exclusivity THE UK has long distinguished itself as a leader in luxury goods. Increasing wealth in the Gulf states and the Far East has opened up opportunities in new markets for high-end brands with a heritage. But when exclusivity is so important to a brand’s appeal, pursuing [...]
Crazy markets, Night Tube called off and Jeremy Corbyn goes off the rails: Here’s what got us talking this week August 28, 2015 It was the week in which everything got a bit trippy: the markets went bananas. The South Bank went psychedelic. Someone discovered a Nazi train full of gold (allegedly). And after 60 years of rivalry, Burger King finally proposed a truce with McDonald's… What got us talking 1. Up, down, up, down… Who said August was [...]
A quiet tech revolution is happening – not in Shoreditch or Birmingham – but in Croydon July 30, 2015 I read Nick Holzherr’s recent article championing Birmingham’s Silicon Canal with a mixture of interest and a large degree of scepticism. As the founder of Croydon Tech City, I agree that the UK’s technological future doesn’t lie solely with the denizens of Old Street. But I argue vehemently with his alternative. If you want [...]
The end of China’s migrant miracle could see global asset prices plunge July 22, 2015 China’s meteoric economic transformation has brought billions of workers out of poverty and into the global labour market. But recent discussion has raised the possibility that China’s “migrant miracle” (fuelled by the influx of people from the countryside to work in the cities) could now be over as the so-called “Lewis point” is reached – [...]
US oil and gas M&A falls to 12-year low as oil prices fall June 11, 2015 Mergers and acquisitions in the US oil and gas sector were at their lowest since 2003 in the first half of this year, new data has suggested. A survey by Dealogic showed M&A volume fell to $29.5bn (£19bn) over 202 deals in the six months to the end of June, down 50 per cent from [...]