Would you make an evening meal of it at Starbucks or Pret? No? Then how about Greggs or Subway? December 1, 2015 Starbucks and Pret a Manger have started trialling late-night opening hours, offering their customers evening menus and even serving wine and beer. YouGov assessed the attitudes and opinions of more than 60,000 consumers to evaluate whether high street coffee outlets are really an attractive venue for dinner and drinks. The blunt answer is “not yet”. Almost [...]
Bank of England to act if needed on the buy-to-let market December 1, 2015 The Bank of England (BoE) has said it’s ready to act if it feels the booming buy-to-let mortgage market is getting out of control. Threadneedle Street’s Prudential Regulation Authority said it was reviewing banks’ lending criteria. The market for buy-to-let mortgages has ballooned 10 per cent in the first nine months of this year. Although there [...]
Morrisons supermarket reportedly set to exit the FTSE 100 index December 1, 2015 Struggling supermarket Morrisons will reportedly be booted out of the FTSE 100 index tomorrow as part of its quarterly shake up. The Bradford based company has been nudging the bottom of the table for the last 12 months and just managed to dodge relegation in the last reshuffle. Latest update: Morrisons is kicked out of the FTSE [...]
Ryanair is suing Google over search results December 1, 2015 Ryanair is suing Google in Ireland following repeated requests to remove travel comparison site eDreams from search results for the airline. The Irish budget carrier claims eDreams is misleading customers due to similar website layouts. eDreams uses the URL Ryanair.EDreams.co.uk and sells tickets for Ryanair flights with added fees. It follows a successful move by the airline [...]
BBC Trust chair to call for update to licence fee December 1, 2015 The government's commitment to overhaul the BBC licence fee is expected echoed today by the chair of the BBC Trust Rona Fairhead later today. She is set to call for an update of the licence fee to make it encompass the BBC’s growing on demand services. Currently households only need to pay a licence fee [...]
Brits still unsure about where to invest their cash December 1, 2015 People in the UK are unsure about how to invest their money, a study released today by the Future Foundation has shown. Over a third of people, 38 per cent, said they don’t have enough knowledge, confidence, or available cash to make investments. This is despite most people, 81 per cent, thinking they should take [...]
Tandem digital bank granted licence by the Bank of England November 30, 2015 Another digital bank is has been granted a licence to operate in the UK. Tandem, a digital retail bank, has been given its licence by the Bank of England and will now begin the process of constructing its technology platform and meeting capital requirements. Ricky Knox, co-founder of Tandem, said: “We are very excited to [...]
HS2 route from Birmingham to Crewe to open six years early November 30, 2015 The high speed rail link connecting Crewe to Birmingham will open six years ahead of schedule in 2027. It follows the cost of High Speed 2 rising to more than £55bn, announced in the Autumn Statement last week. Two years ago the project was costed at £50.1bn. Meanwhile, the former director general of the Confederation of [...]
Virgin Atlantic seeks to raise cash from Heathrow runway slots November 29, 2015 Virgin Atlantic has been given an air operator certificate for a new corporate entity called Virgin Atlantic International (VAL), sparking rumours the airline is looking to raise money against its slots on Heathrow's runways. The company said it did not comment on “market speculation”. Virgin, owned by Sir Richard Branson and Delta Air Lines, will reportedly [...]
Bankers bonuses under threat as industry faces cut backs November 29, 2015 Some of the biggest banks in Europe and the US are cutting back on bonuses after a decline in yearly profits. Credit Suisse is rumored to be considering slashing its bonus pool by up to 60 per cent, while Deutsche Bank is expected to reduce its payouts by 30 per cent. Barclays is reportedly looking [...]