TfL awards controversial £1bn ‘sale and leaseback’ Crossrail fleet deal to Natwest-backed group March 22, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) has awarded a controversial £1bn "sale and leaseback" deal for a fleet of Crossrail trains to a rail company backed by Natwest and Japan's second largest bank. 345 Rail Leasing, which was set up in January this year and comprises Equitix Investment Management, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Natwest, will own the [...]
Seven reasons why London will thrive regardless of Brexit February 17, 2020 In the three-and-a-half years since the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU) much has been written about how London’s status as a global leader in financial services could be weakened. However, with a diverse economy, highly skilled workforce, wide tourist demand, world-class universities and cultural appeal, London will not only survive Brexit, but [...]
DeFi-ing the rules: five opportunities and five risks of decentralised finance June 29, 2022 In the Star Wars universe, the Force is a mystic energy field generated by living beings that binds the galaxy together. The ability to wield the Force gives Jedi Knights their superhuman abilities, making them peacekeepers of the galaxy. But how powerful would the Jedi be if every ‘transaction’ that used the Force had to [...]
Sadiq Khan London mayor election manifesto: Everything you need to know April 6, 2021 London mayor Sadiq Khan launched his election manifesto today by promising Londoners that he would focus on “jobs, jobs, jobs” if re-elected on 6 May. The 100-page document, one-third larger in size than the Tories’ general election winning manifesto in 2019, outlined policies on areas such as the economy, the environment, transport, crime, housing and [...]
Private equity giant Carlyle picks up prime London City building on Liverpool Street next to new Elizabeth Line station for £43m May 17, 2018 Private equity group Carlyle has acquired the City’s Crosspoint building on Liverpool Street from Lord Alan Sugar’s property group Amsprop for £43m. The building is set to form part of Carlyle’s new flexible office and co-working business Uncommon that the company founded together with the Adir group in June 2017. The newly rebranded ‘Uncommon Liverpool [...]
Crossrail: Bond Street station work ‘could slip beyond 2019’ February 28, 2019 Completion of Crossrail's Bond Street station could slip to "late 2019 or even beyond", Transport for London (TfL) has admitted. New TfL papers reveal that none of the Crossrail stations are fully complete and that Bond Street, regarded as one of the more complex stations to fit out, would either be finished at the end of [...]
Oxford Street pedestrianisation on track to tie-in with Elizabeth Line launch after public backs proposals March 13, 2018 The radical plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street tying in with the Elizabeth Line launch in December were given a boost today, as the results of a massive consultation revealed public backing for the project. More than 22,000 responses were received on the plans to switch up the capital's famous shopping street, with nearly two-thirds of [...]
Carnival-owned Cunard suspends all cruises until March next year August 25, 2020 Carnival-owned cruise operator Cunard has cancelled all of its sailings until March 2021 at the earliest due to continuing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement, the luxury cruise ship line said that it was extending its suspension of all sailings from November this year until the spring, a year after first suspending its [...]
London mayor and TfL have just confirmed fares for the Elizabeth Line ahead of December launch March 16, 2018 Transport for London (TfL) and mayor Sadiq Khan have confirmed the fares for the highly anticipated Elizabeth Line ahead of the £14.8bn project's launch in December. TfL said that it will be charging the same prices on Elizabeth Line pay-as-you-go fares within zones one to six, as the rest of existing TfL services. The Crossrail [...]
The return of DocHouse: A docu-cinema’s rise from lockdown May 28, 2021 Today sees the return of The Bertha DocHouse, the UK’s first and only cinema devoted entirely to documentaries. The 56-seat cinema is housed at Curzon Bloomsbury, formerly known as The Renoir, in the area’s Brunswick Centre. Historically a monument to obscure independent storytelling, DocHouse’s presence continues that tradition by highlighting a genre many now associate [...]