Interiors: The Ivy Collection is spreading across London like a glamorous disease. We go on a restaurant crawl through the city June 16, 2017 A colleague recently took me to a new Asian restaurant in Shoreditch. As we were shown to a table my face fell. One of us would be looking out at the room and the other would get to look at a concrete wall. Kindly, my courteous companion took the duff seat, but neither of us [...]
Focus On Kensal Rise: This north west London town ticks all the boxes for a place that’s due a price rise March 10, 2017 How can you tell if a place is about to get seriously popular? Well, there are a few signs that you can look out for; plenty of Victorian architecture; well-to-do neighbours; improving schools; green space; and a sudden proliferation of independent shops and restaurants. Kensal Rise in north west London ticks all of these boxes [...]
Focus On Paddington: With Crossrail, a £775m glass cube and new homes, W2 is about to become one of London’s next property hotspots February 24, 2017 Believe it or not, Paddington, synonymous for so long with its eponymous cartoon bear and its fantastic transport links, is one of the most undervalued places in Prime Central London. Within walking distance to Hyde Park, Oxford Circus and smart neighbourhoods like Mayfair and Knightsbridge, it’s nevertheless not traditionally seen as a great residential location. [...]
Focus On Queen’s Park: Good schools, shops and value lure families to north west London March 3, 2017 Garden towns and villages have made a surprising comeback of late, largely as a by-product of our desperate search for a solution to the housing crisis. The government announced at the start of the year that it intended to build three new towns of 10,000 houses each, in a bid to reach a target of [...]
Autumn Budget 2017 at-a-glance guide: All the announcements by chancellor Philip Hammond you need to know November 22, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond has unveiled the Autumn Budget, saying the UK must “seize the opportunities” for Britain and promised to invest “to secure a bright future”. Now we’ve heard plenty about what was expected from today, from a concerted focus on housing, to a regulatory revamp for driverless cars and a slew of tech spending. [...]
London’s first-ever prosecco festival is happening this year January 27, 2017 Here's something worth popping your cork for: someone in the capital has managed to entice eight of Italy's best prosecco producers, meaning London's first-ever prosecco festival is happening in May. The three-day Prosecco Springs festival will take place in Oval Space in Hackney, and will feature both prosecco producers and creators of Italian delicacies such as [...]
Marston’s raises a glass to growth from posh pub food and its beer business in its half-year results May 18, 2016 Premium pub owner and brewer Marston's raised a glass to strong growth across the board in its half-year results today, with extra boosts from its beer segment and posh pub food. The figures Marston's, which has an estate of around 1,600 pubs in the UK, posted growth of 11.5 per cent in group underlying revenue in the [...]
Cold weather and early Easter hit the pub trade in April, according to CGA Peach’s Coffer Peach Business Tracker May 19, 2016 Pub sales suffered as a result of cold weather and an early Easter, according to figures from CGA Peach's Coffer Peach Business Tracker. Pub groups experienced a 2.7 per cent sales decline on the same month last year, undermining wider growth in casual dining trading, although restaurant groups registered a like-for-like trading increase of 2.5 per [...]
Focus On Brixton: David Bowie, buzzing nightlife and honest burgers keep average house prices at around £550,000 July 27, 2017 In many ways, Brixton is the capital of south London. With its excellent transport links into central London and exhaustive range of shopping, dining and nightlife options, if you didn’t have to work, you probably wouldn’t need to leave. It even has its own currency. Over 250 businesses accept the Brixton Pound and around £50,000 [...]
Mitchells & Butlers reports strong festive period with sales up 4.7 per cent January 13, 2017 Pub, bar and restaurant group Mitchells & Butlers has reported an uptick in sales during the first quarter of the year, citing a particularly strong festive period. The figures Like-for-like sales growth for the year-to-date increased to 1.7 per cent in the 15 weeks to 7 January, with trading over the festive period "particularly strong [...]