Michelin star leak is perfect birthday gift September 27, 2012 RED faces at the Michelin guide yesterday as the publication’s website inadvertently revealed which restaurants have been awarded its famous stars – a week earlier than planned. The list shows that London foodies are spoilt for choice, with eight restaurants receiving their first star this year, including Alyn Williams at the Westbury Hotel, St. John Soho, [...]
For a relaxing retreat without the airport ordeal, give the Lakes a go December 9, 2012 IF YOU look out the window, there is a good chance it’s raining. Unless you’re on the underground, in which case it will just be inky blackness, endlessly rushing by. Anyway, the point is, the weather is bad at the moment, so taking a holiday in the Lake District might not seem like the most [...]
Marston’s says Jubilee cheer helped offset rain as sales rise July 25, 2012 MARSTON’S raised a glass to a successful Diamond Jubilee weekend as the pub and brewing company posted a 2.2 per cent rise in third-quarter sales at its managed pubs. The group, which has around 2,150 managed, tenanted and franchised pubs, described its performance in recent weeks as “satisfactory” in spite of the wet weather dampening [...]
Pub and restaurant visits increase but Britons continue to rein in spending February 12, 2012 BRITONS are starting to make more frequent trips to bars, restaurants and clubs after two years of belt-tightening, in a sign that the leisure sector may be able to capitalise on “austerity fatigue”. Pub and bar visits have increased by 2.2 per cent compared to last year, with the average UK consumer going to the [...]
Season of mellow fruitfulness and energy price rise myths October 14, 2012 I LOOKED out at the frost on my lawn yesterday and thought about the joys of autumn. The golden leaves falling from the trees, the mist on your breath on long walks, log fires in a local pub and, most predictable of all, the seasonal skewering of us consumers by the energy suppliers. Yes, last [...]
FTSE 100 weighed down by engineering stocks October 12, 2012 The leading blue chip index opened modestly down this morning, as enthusiasm over positive US jobs data was pared back by weak UK construction data. Engineering companies felt the pressure on the FTSE All-Share this morning. Materials group Morgan Crucible dropped 12.51 per cent this morning. It warned on profits across its businesses, with Europe [...]
FTSE 100 weighed down by engineering stocks October 12, 2012 The leading blue chip index opened modestly down this morning, as enthusiasm over positive US jobs data was pared back by weak UK construction data. Engineering companies felt the pressure on the FTSE All-Share this morning. Materials group Morgan Crucible dropped 12.51 per cent this morning. It warned on profits across its businesses, with Europe [...]
UK technology darling’s rocky road to HP deal November 20, 2012 WHEN Autonomy was sold to Hewlett-Packard (HP) for $11bn (£6.9bn) in October 2011, the deal was hailed as a defining moment for Cambridge’s technology scene and chief Mike Lynch was made a poster boy for British entrepreneurship. But seven months later, Lynch was out of HP, fired by the US giant’s new boss Meg Whitman. [...]
Euro 2012 and Jubilee joy for Wetherspoons July 11, 2012 BRITISH pub operator JD Wetherspoon said yesterday cost pressures from government legislation would weigh this year on what has so far been a solid performance boosted by major events. Wetherspoon, whose cut-price drinks and meal offers had made it one of the stronger performing pub chains through the economic downturn, said like-for-like sales, which strip [...]
Leveson is wrong – regulation is not the answer to every problem November 29, 2012 THE two scandals which gave rise to the Leveson Inquiry were phone hacking and bribing the police. Both are already crimes. The scandal was failure to enforce the law. Yet Leveson baldly dismisses these issues – asserting without evidence that “more rigorous application of the criminal law does not and will not provide the solution”. [...]