Not so grim up North: Theresa May has committed herself to former chancellor George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse strategy August 18, 2016 Theresa May has committed her government to the Northern Powerhouse, saying the region will be a key part of her industrial strategy. Previously championed by David Cameron's government, doubts had emerged over May's commitment to the Northern Powerhouse plan to develop infrastructure and hand more powers to city regions. However, writing in the Yorkshire Post today, [...]
John Lewis shakes up management team promoting Andrew Murphy to group productivity director September 8, 2015 John Lewis has reshuffled some of its management team after promoting its retail director Andrew Murphy to a new role focused on coming up with new ideas for boosting the performance of the department store chain. The retailer said Murphy’s new position as group productivity director will see him work closely with the board to [...]
Something old, something new… Each wedding this summer will cost you nearly a week’s salary July 6, 2016 We've all suspected that the annual wedding season puts us out of pocket, but thanks to research from American Express we know just how much it's going to cost us. Guests are set to spend almost an average week's salary, £479, on each wedding they attend this summer – which is just £24 less than the UK's [...]
Black Friday 2015: Why UK shoppers are missing out the best deals from Amazon, John Lewis, Tesco and other retailers – bargains aren’t just for Christmas November 4, 2015 Last year on Black Friday, UK shoppers spent an astonishing £562,500 per minute online. It was a year which saw Boxing Day, which is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, toppled off its perch for the first time in seven years due to the remarkable success of Black Friday. This wasn’t, however, the [...]
John Lewis Christmas advert 2014: Monty the penguin gets 2.5 million views in less than 12 hours. Will it be the most shared Christmas ad ever? October 29, 2015 The latest Christmas advert from John Lewis has been viewed more than 2.5m times in less than 12 hours since being released online. The new ad, featuring a cuddly penguin called Monty, debuted to much fanfare at 8am today on YouTube and Facebook before it hits TV screens tomorrow during an ad break on Channel [...]
John Lewis is opening an in-store beauty spa called &Beauty July 29, 2015 Have we just hit peak middle class? John Lewis has unveiled plans for an in-store beauty spa. After all, what better way to recuperate after a hard day’s shopping? If you get too exhausted from all your purchases, just book yourself in for a relaxing massage… It seems simply going to buy things is no [...]
Black Friday 2015 UK: Where and when to get the best discounts is already being hinted at by Tesco, Currys PC World, John Lewis and Amazon October 13, 2015 Brace yourselves: Black Friday is coming. Last year's retail bonanza-cum-bun-fight is back. This year it will be taking place on 27 November, meaning there are less than eight weeks to go. In 2014, it was the biggest single day for online sales of the year, and retailers are falling over themselves to make sure they [...]
John Lewis reveals how we shop, live and look in 2015: Spiralising and the Nutribullet took over while we ditched thongs, bookcases and formal dining October 16, 2015 When looking back at 2015, how will the year be remembered? Plenty of scandals, both corporate and political, have kept us busy in the news department, but what about when we hit the shops? Middle England's favourite department store John Lewis has released its annual state of the nation report, revealing the five items that [...]
Apple Cyber Monday 2015 deals: Best UK sales for cheap iPhones, Macs, iPads, iPad Pro the Apple Watch and more – at Tesco, Argos, Currys PCWorld, John Lewis, eBay and others November 30, 2015 Just like Black Friday, Apple's not one to get on the Cyber Monday discounting bandwagon, but that doesn't mean you still can't bag a bargain on iPhones, iPads Macs and more. We've hunted high and low so you don't have to when it comes to bagging an Apple deal. Here are the bargains we found. Read more: [...]
Living Wage: Morrisons boss Dave Potts joins Next, John Lewis and Whitbread in warning of extra staff costs September 10, 2015 The cost of the National Living Wage is stacking up rapidly. Morrisons has today admitted that the introduction of the government-imposed measure next year is going cost the supermarket group “10s of millions of pounds” on top of the costs the business is already battling with to turn itself around. From April next year, businesses [...]