Agents of Change bill explained before its second reading before the UK Parliament May 14, 2018 The proposed Agent of Change Bill, which is expected to have its second reading in the House of Commons next month, will require residential developments to manage the noise coming from nearby nightclubs and music venues. This is an important initiative and much needed for two reasons. Firstly, because 50 per cent of London’s nightclubs [...]
City Pub Company guzzles Christmas sales as it prepares to float this year January 18, 2017 City Pub Company has raised a toast to this Christmas after it nearly doubled like-for-like sales over the five-week festive period. The figures The pub owner and operator said sales for the period to 1 January were up 47 per cent compared with the previous year, while sales for the whole of 2016 were up 37 per cent. It also bagged [...]
Editor’s Notes: Without the UK, the EU can resume its march to ever closer union, Nex’s Michael Spencer backs British bubbly and Lady Wilson remembered June 15, 2018 Earlier this week I chaired a discussion at TheCityUK’s annual conference, where several people, including the lobby group’s chairman, John McFarlane, stressed the point that “there’s life beyond Brexit”. It can’t be said often enough, given how much of our national attention and energy has been sucked into the black hole of Brexit: the uncertainty, [...]
Wetherspoon’s releases Brexit beer mats… again November 1, 2017 JD Wetherspoon has today placed 500,000 new beer mats in its pubs, in an effort to persuade punters unilateral free trade is the best approach for the UK post-Brexit. Founder and chairman Tim Martin argued last month that unilateral free trade will reduce food and drink prices in the UK, allowing Wetherspoon's to make its [...]
Focus On Tufnell Park: This often overlooked north London spot is attracting more professional and upsizers from Hampstead June 22, 2018 Tufnell Park is a small, quiet, in-between sort of place. Sandwiched in between the leafy village life of Hampstead, with its heath and its cafe culture, and the edgier, up-and-coming Holloway, Tufnell Park is the place for keen observers – close enough to all the action without the need to get involved. “The area was [...]
Fitness challenge: four years on – The new fitness techniques that helped turn our Life&Style editor into a gym bro August 8, 2018 Four years ago I wrote an article about getting fit. For 10 weeks I went to the gym a lot, gave up booze, ate well, and got a hearty spray tan. I looked pretty good, in a ‘didn’t-quite-make-it-to-the-final-round-of-applicants-for-Love-Island’ kind of way. People still ask about it. For a while the story would appear on the [...]
Wetherspoons sales and profits up but tax troubles lie ahead March 16, 2018 JD Wetherspoon enjoyed a boost in profits last year, with operating profit up nearly 14 per cent and profit before tax up more than 20 per cent. The pub chain also saw its revenue increase by 3.6 per cent to £830.4m and its like-for-like sales increase by 6 per cent. Earnings per share were up [...]
These are the seven best fish and chips in London, and I’ll hear no more on the matter June 1, 2018 1. Golden Union 38 Poland St, London W1F 7LY Fish are basically the potatoes of the ocean. And potatoes are just a kind of fish that lives in the dirt. When these two edible stewards of the underworld come together we call it fish and chips, and nowhere is the pairing better exemplified than [...]
Wetherspoon’s goes green with vow to stop using plastic straws | City A.M. September 25, 2017 Wetherspoon’s and its senior management have taken stands on several issues over the years. Chairman Tim Martin is still expounding his views on Brexit, and last week all 900 pubs reduced prices in protest against the tax burden on pubs. Now the chain has turned to an even more pressing issue: plastic straws. The company [...]
Autumn Budget 2017: Chancellor bows to pressure to freeze alcohol duties November 22, 2017 Philip Hammond has bowed to industry pressure to freeze alcohol duties, except on some cheap high-strength drinks. The chancellor announced the move today in his Budget statement, saying that the freeze was in recognition of the role that pubs play in British society as well as the squeeze on household budgets. It comes after repeated [...]