Americans bring Thanksgiving to UK retailers as spending soars December 16, 2015 Black Friday’s online bargain frenzy may have dampened sales on the high street. But international shoppers helped to keep tills ringing, with spending up by 10 per cent in the year to November. The biggest jump in spending came from US tourists, up 55 per cent, despite still accounting for just five per cent of [...]
With reform of Sunday trading laws put on hold, is England showing the world it’s closed for business? November 10, 2015 Adrian Pepper, managing director of Pepper Media and the founder of consumer group Open Sundays, says Yes You can now shop on the Champs-Elysees in Paris all day on a Sunday. But you can only spend six hours in the supermarkets and tourist emporiums of Knightsbridge, Oxford Street or Westfield. As things stand in the [...]
Celebrity vineyards: Who makes the best wine, Donald Trump, Cliff Richard or Angelina Jolie? April 29, 2016 Feel depressed about the US presidential election? Need a stiff glass of something to steel yourself against the carnival of bigotry unfolding in the Republican ranks? Well, why not indulge in a large glass of Trump? I’m afraid it’s true: Donald Trump is a winemaker. Down in Virginia there is a 200 acre winery that [...]
Hamleys poised to be sold to a relative of House of Fraser’s Chinese billionaire owner October 18, 2015 A Chinese investor is said to be closing in on a deal to buy the UK’s most famous toy store Hamleys in the coming weeks. Ludendo, the French family-owned toy group, is in advanced talks to sell the chain to a Hong Kong company run by a relative of Yuan Yafei, the billionaire owner House [...]
Santa Claus is facing bankruptcy as back taxes pile up for Dianordia in Finnish Rovaniemi August 24, 2015 Father Christmas has just seven days to pay his back taxes – or he’ll be declared bankrupt. Finnish tax authorities are locking horns with Dianordia, the company that offers children and other starry-eyed Christmas lovers from across the world a chance to meet the real Santa in his workshop. The company owes €200,000 to the [...]
Blame complex tax rules and a lack of competition for the airport VAT debacle August 19, 2015 I arrived back from holiday at Heathrow last week. After I picked up my bags, I went through customs and I saw some stewardesses walking through a passageway that avoided the arrivals duty free shopping area. I had everything I needed, so I decided to skip the shops and go through the passageway to head [...]
Catch some rays in Antigua’s Mercers Creek Bay September 25, 2015 Annabelle Williams swims with stingrays in northern Antigua’s Mercers Creek Bay With their ethereal, otherworldly faces, stingrays could be from another planet. But here I am, standing waist deep in water, surrounded by dozens of these gray, pancake-like fish. In Mercers Creek Bay, northern Antigua, a breed of stingray known as the Southern [...]
Inside the rock: Gibraltar’s strategic and military importance is complemented by financial and gaming leadership November 12, 2015 Covering an area of just 6.8 square kilometres, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar punches well above its weight. At the last count, despite a population of only 32,000 people, it was home to 67 insurers with £9.95bn in total assets, 13 banks, 72 trust and company service providers, 14 pension fund administrators, and [...]
House of Fraser owner Sanpower eyes takeover of toy shop Hamleys June 15, 2015 The Chinese owner of House of Fraser is rumoured to be planning another buying spree in the UK with the country’s most famous toy shop Hamleys next on its shopping list. Yuan Yafei, the chairman of Nanjing-based conglomerate Sanpower, is understood to be in talks to buy the famous chain from its French owner, [...]
Taiwanese insurer Fubon Life Insurance snaps up site of Madame Tussauds May 25, 2015 Top tourist attraction Madame Tussauds Marylebone site has been snapped up by a Taiwanese insurer in a multi-million pound deal. Fubon Life Insurance bought the premises, which has been home to the waxwork museum for about 130 years, for £348.8m according to media reports. It's located on Marylebone Road near Regents Park and displays waxworks figures of [...]