Antonio Banderas to star in equity crowdfunded Hollywood film: Salty May 11, 2016 The award-winning Spanish actor Antonio Banderas has been announced as the star of one of the world's first equity crowdfunded Hollywood movies. The Mask of Zorro and Desperado star will play the lead character Turk Henry in "Salty", which received £1.9m via crowdfunding platform SyndicateRoom. Described as "The Hangover meets Spinal Tap", the film is the largest [...]
Deerland Safari is an incredibly secluded luxury getaway that will change how you feel about glamping forever, unless you feel positively about it already, in which case your mind will be unchanged July 29, 2016 Get away from it all – the city, your job, that strange dog that follows you around – by trekking into the darkest depths of Dorset, a place so remote that sometimes you can’t even load tweets. The word “glamping” might evoke a mental image of Kate Moss standing in a ditch trying to light [...]
Fitzrovia cafe Caffix, which once sold everything for £1 has shut down to review its business model April 20, 2016 A pound shop cafe in swish Fitzrovia has shut down after almost 12 months as it has to review its business model. Caffix, which opened on Newman Street in west London last June, said it set itself a mission "to enable the people of London to eat fresh and pay less," charging punters in the area [...]
Explore the hidden trails of Bali, where luxury retreats hide among verdant rainforests and spectacular valleys September 16, 2016 A monsoon deluge broke as we approached the emerald rainforests of Ubud, sending a family of chattering monkeys, some holding each other’s tails, scampering for the sanctuary of the sandalwood trees. It was that bewitching hour in the tropics when day turns rapidly into bible-black night, as if a curtain has dropped, and driving through plantations [...]
Health retailer The Hut hails landmark year as earnings soar following a rise in overseas expansion April 19, 2016 Online health and beauty retailer The Hut Group, whose company tagline is "Attention to retail", has posted a rise in underlying earnings of 33 per cent to £30m in 2015. International sales soared to £167m, up 46 per cent after growing its international business and now accounts for more than 50 per cent of the groups sales. The group, backed by ex-Marks [...]
Property of the Week: The three-bed Chelsea penthouse of the Sex Pistols’ visual designer April 29, 2016 Most property developers start out with a humble investment and move on to create homes that superstars want to live in. But Margaret and Michael Stanford began with icons, largely thanks to their job as visual designers – of album covers, videos and stage sets – for some of Britain’s most revered artists, including Queen, [...]
Why Mallorca is up there with Tuscany as one of Europe’s top retreats August 15, 2016 In the first half of the 20th century, Mallorca was a relatively poor island, its inhabitants eking out a largely pastoral existence. But the Balearics, which include Mallorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera, boast some of the most stunning scenery in the world, especially the former, by far the biggest of the four main islands, which [...]
This egg is only in season for the next six weeks – get it while you can May 10, 2016 The first time I saw gulls’ eggs on a menu was during my my first job in London at the Ninety Park Lane restaurant in Grosvenor House. I was still a bit of a green lad from Dorset and I remember saying “I thought I’d escaped these flying terrorists when I left the seaside”. We [...]
Focus On Shepherd’s Bush: Westfield expansion and old BBC Television Centre homes put W12 in limelight May 12, 2016 For years now, the east has been the land of regeneration. The long lead up to the Olympic Games in Stratford and the success of the City fringes have seen most of property agents’ “up-and-coming” rhetoric focused in that direction and one could be mistaken for thinking there was simply nowhere else for traditionally prosperous west [...]
The eight best bars for dating: We round up the best cocktail bars in London to take a first date March 8, 2016 "Married and bored or single and lonely”. That’s our choice according to Chris Rock, the reigning comedic heir to Eddie Murphy and Richard Prior. Whether Rock’s right is a matter for debate, but having gone through the rigour of dating in the 21st century, I would opt for boredom every day of the week. Back [...]