With companies in uproar over business rate increases, should the tax just be scrapped? February 20, 2017 Sancho Simmonds, a partner and scaleup lead at Smith & Williamson, says Yes. Business rates belong in another age. They are an antiquated way of taxing companies and they don’t take into account the fact we are living in a modern age. Many small companies have now been taken out of the range, but there [...]
Legal & General buys Marston’s headquarters and pubs for £35m February 9, 2016 Legal and General has snapped up Marston's headquarters as well as a portfolio of pubs for £34.6m, in another example of buoyant M&A activity in the sector. The pension fund manager said its property arm LGP has completed a sale and leaseback of seven Marston's pubs for £25.32m, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.15 per cent. Read more: Pubs [...]
Microwave meal maker Bakkavor set for London float January 15, 2017 Ready meal maker Bakkavor is considering a float on the London stock market, according to reports. The firm, founded in 1986, manufactures microwave meals for supermarkets including Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Marks and Spencer. The company also supplies fresh goods such as lettuce, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. According to the Sunday Times, Bakkavor has enlisted Rothschild to [...]
English pubs will save £39m annually from small business levies announced in Budget 2016 March 18, 2016 Changes to the way the government levies business rates announced in the Budget this week will save England's pubs over £39m per year. The measures, which will come into force in April 2017, will see 81 per cent of pubs benefiting from either the small business multiplier, or Small Business Rate Relief, or both, according to [...]
Greg Mulholland slams “unacceptable” appointment of Paul Newby as Pubs Code Adjudicator by Sajid Javid March 10, 2016 Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland has slammed Sajid Javid's appointment of Paul Newby as the new Pub Codes Adjudicator (PCA). Newby, who will take up the role of PCA on 2 May for an initial term of four years, will be responsible for enforcing the Pubs Code – new legislation that will govern the relationship [...]
Lords recommend closing pubs without disabled facilities in select committee report reviewing Equality Act of 2010 March 24, 2016 A House of Lords report has recommended that pubs, restaurants and clubs that do not provide disabled toilets and and disabled-friendly facilities should be shut down by local councils. The select committee report reviewing the Equality Act of 2010 and Disability said disabled people are being "let down" by inadequate facilities in transport, such as taxis, and public [...]
Taking a tour of Tokyo’s fish markets, karaoke bars and robot restaurants June 19, 2017 The best day I spent in Tokyo was when I woke up, with a start, asleep on my sofa still at 10am after staying out until five doing karaoke, drunk still but with a hangover headache. On the surface level I would not recommend this to anyone – the housekeeping woman was incredibly scared by [...]
Ko Samui has long had a reputation for being a backpackers’ paradise – but it’s got a rather unexpected stylish and grown up side June 30, 2017 The taxi taking me on the ten-minute journey from Ko Samui’s tiny, open-air airport terminal to my hotel on Chaweng beach, one of the island’s most popular resorts, slows to a crawl when it hits Chaweng Road. The main artery into this area, the route comes to life after sunset when a host of raucous [...]
Focus On Catford: A ‘ripple effect’ from Lewisham’s regeneration has caused price rises in nearby Catford, say agents January 24, 2017 With each great regeneration comes an even greater ripple effect, so sayeth London’s estate agents. And so it is in Lewisham, where new developments and major infrastructure investment have already made the surrounding areas of Deptford and New Cross appealing to first time buyers. But now it’s the turn of Catford, where the Borough Council’s [...]