New: ‘Health protocol’ to be put in place in hours to get freight moving, says French transport minister December 21, 2020 “A solid health protocol” will be put in place in the coming hours so flows of goods between the UK and France can resume, the French transport minister has said. There has been chaos at Dover this morning after the French government banned all travel from the UK for 48 hours, including freight drivers, prompting [...]
Supermarket heavyweights the Co-op and Waitrose face mounting pressure to return business rates relief December 4, 2020 High street titans the Co-op Group and Waitrose are facing mounting pressure to follow their peers and hand back millions of pounds of business rates relief dished out to keep the companies afloat during the pandemic. The Co-op is facing growing disquiet from members after refusing to emulate rivals Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Aldi, [...]
Freedom Day: Where do I need to wear a face mask from today? July 19, 2021 Across England, the final remaining coronavirus restrictions have been lifted. From today, people are no longer required by law to wear masks. The government has said, however, that people will still be expected to wear face masks in certain situations while some businesses, travel operators and local politicians have said that masks will still be [...]
Boris Johnson’s interventionist obesity strategy will fail. We need more choice, not less to slim down May 25, 2021 Obesity is on the rise like never before. More than one in four people in the UK are now obese, one of the driving forces behind the mortality rate from Covid. In the year leading up to the pandemic, more than a million people were admitted to hospital for obesity-related treatment in England. Record hospitalisations [...]
Walmart selects billionaire brothers as preferred bidders for Asda September 28, 2020 US retail giant Walmart has selected a consortium led by the billionaire brothers behind petrol station chain EG Group with private equity firm TDR Capital as the preferred bidder to buy Asda. The deal would value the UK supermarket chain at more than £6.5bn, Sky News reported. The broadcaster said that Mohsin and Zuber Issa, [...]
City investors dump hospitality stocks despite pubs welcoming customers back indoors May 17, 2021 England’s pubs welcomed customers back inside for the first time in months today, but investors in the City of London were less taken by the sector’s future. Worries about a possible spread of the Indian variant of Covid-19 made shareholders sell their pub stocks. Wetherspoon, Marston’s, City Pub Group and Fuller, Smith & Turner were [...]
Sainsbury’s trials queuing app for local lockdowns July 27, 2020 Sainsbury’s has launched a virtual queuing app to prepare for potential local lockdowns, with trials beginning at five UK stores today. Customers will be able to use the Ufirst app to queue at stores in Pimlico and Uxbridge in London from today. The supermarket will also test the app at stores in Newham Royal Wharf, [...]
Asda sales growth falters amid competition probe into Sainsbury’s merger February 19, 2019 Asda today reported a slowdown in sales growth in the fourth quarter as it waits for the green light over its planned merger with Sainsbury’s. The supermarket chain, which is owned by US grocery giant Walmart, posted a one per cent rise in like-for-like sales excluding petrol in the three months to the end of [...]
Covid restrictions drive online food shopping to record high as customers eat in to help out February 2, 2021 Online grocery shopping hit a record 14 per cent share of the UK grocery market in January, as customers bought more food to enjoy from home. The growth was boosted by a 229 per cent year-on-year rise in online spending by retired households. Supermarkets saw sales growth accelerate to 12.2 per cent in the last [...]
The good, the bad, and the orange: In search of the perfect 2020 Christmas ad November 24, 2020 To call 2020 a “garbage fire” of a year would not be unfair. This year has turned people’s worlds upside-down in so many ways. But at least a few things remain a constant presence in life — one of which is the return of the blockbuster Christmas TV advert. While the advertising budgets look a [...]