Sky-high rents and business rates are driving London businesses from their traditional homes June 21, 2016 Rising rents in London are driving businesses out of their traditional hot-spots in the capital, as firms refuse to down-scale to stay in their old locations. Media companies, once happy in the West End, are now setting up shop in Clerkenwell, Farrington and Shoreditch, and accountancy firms are moving from Chancery Lane to Canary Wharf, according to [...]
Sadiq Khan is to institute a £10 charge for London’s most polluting vehicles, while accelerating the planned expansion of the ultra-low emission zone July 5, 2016 Sadiq Khan has fleshed out his proposals to tackle London's air quality, including specifying new charges for drivers in environmentally unfriendly vehicles. Khan made tacking the city's pollution a key plank of his election platform, and figures last month showed that Londoners living in the capital’s most deprived boroughs are significantly more likely to die [...]
Oxford Street flagship John Lewis home unit to reopen after £14m makeover July 19, 2015 After eight months of closure and a £14m makeover, John Lewis’ home department at its flagship store is set to reopen to the public. The Oxford Street department store will open the doors to its updated home section in September, having added several new features including a “rug gallery” exclusive to the store. John Lewis [...]
Labour mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan wants to pedestrianise Oxford Street June 24, 2015 Sadiq Khan, a frontrunner for the Labour mayoral candidacy, has backed plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street as part of a campaign for cleaner air in the capital. He said he will turn the capital’s flagship shopping street and tourist attraction in to a one and a half mile tree-lined walkway, as he vowed to tackle [...]
Labour mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan wants to pedestrianise Oxford Street. June 24, 2015 Sadiq Khan, a frontrunner for the Labour mayoral candidacy, has announced plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street as part a campaign for cleaner air in the capital. He said he would turn the capital’s flagship shopping street and tourist attraction in to a one and a half mile tree-lined walkway, as he vowed to takle London’s [...]
Uber hasn’t destroyed jobs according to a new study – although taxi driver wages have suffered January 25, 2017 Uber has created more jobs than it has destroyed, according to a new study, despite regularly being characterised as one of the villains of the so-called sharing economy. The number of self-employed drivers rose by 50 per cent in cities where Uber started operations, more than compensating for jobs lost in the taxi sector, researchers [...]
Mapped: How much Londoners shell out for a shorter commute December 15, 2016 Many of us go into Zombie-mode first thing and would be keen to get some extra shut eye, but how much do people spend for the pleasure of a shorter commute? Londoners will pay on average an extra £6.60 a week in rent for every minute shaved off their travel time according to some analysis [...]
A booming West End will be fatally undermined unless we pedestrianise Oxford Street June 21, 2015 Oxford Street needs to be pedestrianised. There is a growing consensus about this among traders, transport operators, and local councils. The question is when and how. The “when” is easiest to answer. The new east-west Crossrail line starts operating through Central London in four years’ time. It will generate a new surge of people coming [...]
Women must have a crucial role in saving the high street – a retailer’s survival may depend on it June 7, 2016 Retailers will breathe a sigh of relief today as the joint British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG sales monitor for May shows a modest recovery on the high street. But the respite may be brief as customers remain cautious with their spending. The sector is facing many challenges. Too many retailers are disconnected from their [...]
Oxford Street property deals set to reach £1bn by end of this year June 17, 2015 The revamp of the eastern end of Oxford Street and the imminent arrival of Crossrail has sparked a flurry of property deals this year, with investors flocking to get a slice of London’s busiest shopping street. According to CBRE, seven record-breaking transactions totalling £645m have taken place since January, of which five were undertaken off-market. [...]