Pub meals help Mitchells and Butlers as it faces muted sales November 27, 2012 PUBS and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers yesterday reported a rise in full-year profit but like-for-like sales in the first eight weeks of the new year were flat, sending its shares down as much as five per cent. The owner of All Bar One, Harvester and O’Neills chains said alcohol duty increases and food price [...]
South Place is a haven for the denizens of Silicon Roundabout December 17, 2012 REVIEW SOUTH PLACE HOTEL 3 South Place, EC2M 2AF 020 3503 0000 The music, man, it reminds me of last night. It makes me want to dance.” These words are probably not what you expect to hear from the reception staff at a new opening by D&D Group – the company behind Coq d’Argent, Le [...]
Great Scot! It’s Aberdeen Asset’s Caledonian awards November 28, 2012 TO Ranald MacDonald’s Boisdale restaurant for the Aberdeen Asset Management Great Scot Awards 2012. Bagpipes were blaring to welcome tartan–clad guests to the patriotic dinner, held in association with City A.M. and Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Winners included Lord Steel of Aikwood, fashion designer Pam Hogg, actor Jamie Sives and Olympic gold medallist Tim Baillie [...]
Profits rise at All Bar One owner November 27, 2012 Pub and restaurant chain Mitchells & Butlers has announced better-than-expected full-year profits, boosted by improved food sales. The company operates brands including All Bar One, O’Neills and Toby Carvery, serving 130m meals and 420m drinks each year. Adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to 22 September rose to £162m from £156m, while like-for-like sales were [...]
Land Securities to take to the slopes in deal to buy X-Leisure December 4, 2012 LAND Securities yesterday revealed it is to buy a controlling stake in X-Leisure, the owner of venues including the Xscape indoor ski slopes and Brighton Marina, for £110.6m. The property giant has agreed a deal with Capital and Regional and Area Property Partners to buy a further 42 per cent stake in X-Leisure Unit Trust [...]
The men who would be kings of the club scene December 4, 2012 During its short life, Public, Guy Pelly’s London nightspot, met with both triumph and disaster. Soon after it opened in December 2010 it had garnered a reputation as a firm favourite of his pals, Princes William and Harry. And, as one might have expected, it wasn’t long before the youthful, moneyed denizens of the Royal [...]
Costa buzzing as fury over rival boosts sales December 11, 2012 CONSUMER anger over the tax affairs of its main rival was highlighted as a reason for better-than-expected sales figures from Costa Coffee yesterday. The UK’s largest coffee chain saw a 7.1 per cent rise in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 29 November, Costa’s parent company Whitbread said yesterday. Commentators put some of this [...]
L&G secures big retail lettings November 20, 2012 Legal & General Property yesterday revealed it has secured Swedish retail giant H&M and restaurants Wasabi and Kim Chee Korean as tenants at its Covent Garden estate on the Strand. The group said it has also signed New Look, Pandora and Sports Direct to its Jackson Square shopping centre in Bishop’s Stortford, which it bought [...]
Dunstone eyes iconic burger chain franchise November 25, 2012 FIVE Guys Burgers and Fries, the cult US burger chain favoured by President Barack Obama, is set to branch out in London after Carphone Warehouse founder Sir Charles Dunstone moved to bring the famous restaurants across the Atlantic. Sir Charles, who founded Carphone Warehouse in 1986, is understood to have struck a deal through his [...]
Derwent makes £23m acquisition November 15, 2012 Derwent London has snapped up 9 and 16 Prescot Street in Whitechapel for £23m. The buildings, which total 111,000 square feet, are let until 2015 to the Cooperative Bank and an Indian restaurant. Reporting its third quarter figures, the developer said it expects a four to five per cent growth in rental values over 2012, [...]