FirstGroup share price edges up after securing Great Western rail franchise March 23, 2015 FirstGroup's share price edged up this morning after it announced a deal with the Department of Transport (DfT) to operate the First Great Western rail franchise all the way through to 1 April 2019. The deal could be extended by a year at the DfT's discretion. After losing a series of bids for rail franchises [...]
UK national rail strike: Which train routes are affected, will my ticket be valid, when will the strike take place? All your Network Rail bank holiday walkout questions answered May 21, 2015 UPDATE 2.45pm: The RMT has followed the TSSA union in "suspending" its strike . Things are not going well for Network Rail: having tried everything in its arsenal to prevent a planned strike by workers in the RMT union over pay and jobs, yesterday it resorted to sending threatening legal letters. Not exactly a sign of power. As [...]
Development Securities chief exec Michael Marx steps down February 24, 2015 Development Securities chief executive Michael Marx will be stepping down after 21 years, the company said yesterday, consoling shareholders with a £10m special dividend. The FTSE 250 property developer said that Marx, 65, will retire from the board at the annual general meeting in July. However, he will remain on the board as a non-executive [...]
Leaving London: Is moving out of the Big Smoke good value for money? The pros and cons June 11, 2015 With London homes so expensive, more people than ever are thinking of escaping to the country. But is it all it’s cracked up to be? We’ve teamed up with the help of property agent Savills to challenge the assumption that you’ll get better value for your money buying outside the capital. For some, the [...]
Advertising Standards Authority clears Booking.com ad as it decides “booking” is not a swear word February 18, 2015 So it turns out "booking" isn't actually a rude word – or that's what the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has decided, after an ad for travel website Booking.com became the most-complained about ad of all time. The ad racked up just under 2,500 complaints over the voiceover, which went something like this: The door opens, [...]
Communities in the sky: Architects are embracing a very capitalist utopian dream June 25, 2015 Architects are returning to the utopian idea of housing projects as selfcontained communities where residents are able to interact in social spaces. Only this time it’s a very capitalist dream Here’s how most of us choose our homes: we pick an area we can afford, perhaps somewhere with a good school for the kids, [...]
Finsbury Park becomes one of London’s largest transport hubs as engineering works at King’s Cross continue to overrun December 27, 2014 Avoid Finsbury Park #railway & #underground it's crazy here, stuck in a corridor over 1hr, disorganised chaos #London pic.twitter.com/wLyL1qnSnv — Jim Ewing (@jimewing) December 27, 2014 Finsbury Park station was shut by Network Rail due to "dangerous overcrowding" this afternoon as London was hit by a second day of rail chaos as engineering works around [...]
Cineworld expects Bond and Star Wars to deliver blockbuster box office in 2015 January 14, 2015 Cineworld is expecting a blockbuster year in 2015 thanks to a slate of forthcoming films that includes new installments to the iconic James Bond, Star Wars and Jurassic Park franchises. The cinema chain foresees a strong a year ahead to follow what was a successful year in 2014. In a trading update Cineworld [...]
London Air Ambulance called in after man suffers severe injuries from Peter Jones escalator fall December 30, 2014 The London Air Ambulance was called into central London today after a man in his 20s suffered severe injuries after falling from an escalator in the Peter Jones department store. The incident that occurred at the Sloane Square store, owned by John Lewis Partnership at around 1pm on December 30, with police saying they will [...]
Lego Movie is top grossing film of 2014, but UK box office takings fall to lowest in 20 years January 6, 2015 Everything is awesome for the makers of the Lego Movie as it pulled in the most cinema-goers in 2014 topping the year’s UK box office charts. The film, featuring more than three million animated bricks, pulled in £34.3m from audiences in the UK and Ireland beating the second movie in the Hobbit trilogy, The Battle [...]