Zac Goldsmith seems to have found his mojo: But is it too late to defeat Sadiq Khan? May 3, 2016 City Social, on the 24th floor of Tower 42, is used to hosting London’s power brokers, and it would take an interesting guest to tempt the diners to look up from their menus or their phones. Nobody reaches for their cameras when I take a window seat with Zac Goldsmith, but they definitely notice him. [...]
Failure to tackle the scourge of rising rents will undermine London’s startup renaissance May 3, 2016 Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales once said that “in the US, Washington is politics, LA is Hollywood, San Francisco is tech, New York is advertising and finance, but London is all of those things.” If anything, he is selling our city short; throw in the culture of the city that shaped creative geniuses such as Charles [...]
As London goes to the polls this week, which mayoral candidate would be better for business? May 3, 2016 Karren Brady, businesswoman and Conservative peer, says Zac. The next mayor has to be able to work with this government, above all to deliver the infrastructure to cope with a growing population. It’s a scandal, for example, that Bank station – probably the most important tube station in the financial world – gets closed once a [...]
Do you live in these areas paying the most income tax in Britain? May 2, 2016 Residents of Elmbridge in Surrey, dubbed the Beverly Hills of Britain, are paying more income tax than any spot in the country, new research reveals. Home to high profile celebrities such as Elton John and sports star Andy Murray, those living in the area are paying £17,800 in income tax each year, on average, and five [...]
Fire alarm closes High Street Kensington tube station April 29, 2016 High Street Kensington underground station has been evacuated after an electrical room in the adjacent shopping centre was flooded and a fire alarm went off. Shortly before 12.30pm, London Fire Brigade (LFB) responded to reports of a fire alarm which was sounded in shops close to the underground station. A crew of three fire trucks [...]
Housebuilding in London has plummeted in the run-up to the mayoral election: Here’s which boroughs are approving the fewest new homes April 28, 2016 It seems the capital's local authorities have got a case of the heebie-jeebies in the run-up to the mayoral election – after a new report showed approvals for new homes have plummeted. The report, by estate agent Stirling Ackroyd, found London boroughs gave the thumbs-up to a mere 4,320 homes in the first quarter of the [...]
Corbyn-backing Sadiq Khan would be a disaster for London’s thriving economy April 28, 2016 When it comes to business, London’s mayoral election matters for the whole country. Britain’s economy is deeply interconnected. A startup in Bristol will hire a design agency in Soho to help them market their product online; a Leeds manufacturer will draw on finance and legal advice from firms in the City. For better or for [...]
Bankers: Nearly everybody else is working harder than you April 27, 2016 Workers in the square mile probably feel like they have one of the hardest daily grinds in the country. If you're one of them, you might agree, but a new survey from recruitment firm Reed suggests there will be little in the way of sympathy from friends and families in other professions. In fact, most people [...]
Why Brexit could spell trouble for Berkeley Group if foreign investors abandon London April 27, 2016 Berkeley Homes produces some of the most desirable goods in the UK. Building high-end houses and apartments chiefly in London, this well-managed company has delivered impressive profit margins and sustained growth. To explain this success, many would point to London’s chronic housing shortage. Annual demand is typically estimated at 50,000 homes by industry commentators. In [...]
Regular home buyers feel the squeeze as investors and second home buyers storm London property market April 27, 2016 Fewer than half of all homes sold in central London over the last three months went to regular homeowners, a new report has shown, casting a light on the extent of the housing crisis in the capital. Buy to let landlords accounted for 36 per cent of property transactions during the first three months of [...]