Perfect timing August 23, 2015 Harriet Green talks pub food, capitalism and the importance of shiny things with Watchfinder’s Lloyd Amsdon When I ask Lloyd Amsdon’s seven year-old step-daughter if she knows what an entrepreneur is, she draws a blank. It may be age-related, but there’s no reason why she would have heard the word. “I’m only an entrepreneur when I’m [...]
Budget 2015 Beer duty calculator: How much tax will you save on a pint this year after Osborne’s 1p cut? March 18, 2015 Penny off a pint? George Osborne knows how to keep the pub-going public happy. For the third year in a row, the chancellor has cut beer duty, keeping the good times rolling for the pub industry. A single penny cut may not sound much, but breweries and pubs are toasting the news. Along with the [...]
Restaurant review: There’s more to Palm Court than afternoon tea, thank god October 29, 2015 If I could click my fingers and banish one element of our national cuisine, it would be afternoon tea. It’s a dreary throwback to a time when we felt the need to ape our social betters, in this case by eating wildly overpriced cucumber sandwiches. Its emergence is often credited to Anna Maria Russell, the [...]
Walk London weekend October 2015 routes: The best free guided walks around the capital for TfL’s autumn ambling scheme October 16, 2015 This weekend sees the launch of Transport for London's Walk London weekend, a new initiative designed to get us city slickers off our backsides and getting out to see some of the best free sites the capital has to offer. There will be more than 40 guided walks for TfL's "Autumn Ambles", connecting parks, woodland, [...]
Uber can help make London’s congestion a thing of the past – if sensible regulation allows innovation September 17, 2015 Every morning, 1m people brave London’s roads at rush hour and drive to work. And 94 per cent of them drive alone. This might be preferable to squeezing onto public transport, but the strain on London’s roads will only worsen as our economy grows. We need change. Yet there is an alternative to [...]
Dulwich house prices: London village life four miles from The Shard July 23, 2015 As Peckham and Camberwell creep up the league table of the capital’s trendiest areas, neighbouring Dulwich remains as genteel and sedate as ever. Not much changes in SE21. It views its up-and-coming neighbours with the same bemused condescension that a retired judge regards the hoop in his grandson’s ear. He doesn’t understand it, but he’s [...]
Budget 2015: This is how Londoners will benefit if there’s another beer duty cut March 17, 2015 George Osborne's decision on whether to change the tax paid on beer will be a hot topic tomorrow. There has been a 40 per cent increase in beer duty since 2008, and a third of what we pay for one pint of beer now goes to the government. Meanwhile, beer's popularity has fallen in the [...]
Everyone panic: There could be a global Prosecco shortage this summer May 21, 2015 There's no easy way to say this, but it sounds like there's going to be a global shortage of Prosecco this summer. Apparently, last year's harvest of the grape that makes the chattering class's favourite tipple was "very poor" – down by as much as 50 per cent in some parts. That's according to Robert [...]
Brewer Marston’s takes another gulp of Thwaites March 31, 2015 BRITISH pub brewer and operator Marston’s has said it will take another gulp of north west-based beer maker Thwaites. In an update to the London Stock Exchange yesterday, Marston’s, which has been brewing Thwaites’ beers since early last year, announced it had bought its beer division outright for £25.1m. As part of the acquisition, Marston’s [...]
Join the house party at the decadent Dolls House in Islington August 18, 2015 If you were decorating a doll's house, wouldn't you want to stamp your style on it? That's just what Adam Towner and Katy Gray Rosewarne, the owners of the full-size Dolls House in Islington, have done. Prepare yourself for whimsical interiors, complete with hand-illustrated walls, buttoned banquettes and ranks of glass decanters. So much [...]