Hotel investment tops £1bn in bumper start to year April 1, 2026 UK hotels attracted more than £1bn investment in the first quarter of this year, as the sector defies business rate rises and market uncertainty caused by the Iran war. Hotel investment volume surpassed £1.1bn in the first three months of the year, marking a 63 per cent increase on the £680m recorded in the same [...]
Two-thirds of hospitality firms to cut jobs as April tax rises ‘suffocate’ sector April 1, 2026 Two-thirds of hospitality businesses will be forced to cut jobs and one in seven will shut altogether as a direct result of “suffocating” April tax rises, leading trade bodies have found. More than half (51 per cent) of hospitality firms will cancel investment plans and 42 per cent will reduce trading hours, according to a [...]
The new Simpson’s in the Strand is a classic for a new generation March 25, 2026 The culinary calendar is hotting up and the Square Mile and its surrounds are right amongst it. This week I turn to two restaurants in the City of London and the hotly-anticipated ‘new opening’ on the Strand, Simpson’s by Jeremy King. Kolamba East I first discovered Kolamba during the pandemic. One of the few successful [...]
Guinness Index: How much is a pint of the black stuff in your borough? March 25, 2026 While the ONS has added hummus and dog grooming to its sample shopping basket in a bid to move with the times when tracking inflation – City AM prefers a cooler metric: the Guinness Index. Nothing encapsulates British consumer habits like Guinness’ meteoric rise: taking stout from the preserve of grey-haired aficionados to an ever-present [...]
Where is London’s cheapest pint? March 25, 2026 Drawn out of the office and into the City’s pubs by the springtime sun, Square Mile workers will face a bitter taste when they pay for their pints. The City of London is one of the 28 London boroughs where the cost of a pint has surged over the past two years, with the price [...]
Rocco Forte: Inheritance tax grab has endangered my family firm March 25, 2026 With luxury outposts across Europe, and plans to expand to the Gulf, Rocco Forte Hotels has become one of Britain’s most successful hospitality exports. But after being hit by a wave of damaging policies – including a potentially existential inheritance tax crackdown – he tells Ali Lyon, he is more disillusioned with Britain now, than [...]
Hands off our spuds: How Americans ‘discovered’ jacket potatoes March 24, 2026 The New York Times has found about the jacket potato, a British staple the world isn’t ready for, says Steve Dinneen Sometimes in this tightly interconnected world of ours, it takes a New York Times headline to remind us that stark cultural differences still exist. “The British Have Finally Learned to Love Peanut Butter”, the [...]
Rocco Forte: Middle East tourism ‘could increase’ after ceasefire March 24, 2026 Tourism volumes to the Middle East could increase after a ceasefire in the region if the US and Israel topple the Iranian regime, Sir Rocco Forte has said as he doubled down on investment plans in the region despite an exodus of visitors. The billionaire hotel magnate, whose eponymous Rocco Forte Hotels is part-owned by [...]
Holidaymakers face billion-pound tax on ‘great British holiday’ March 23, 2026 The “great British holiday” is under threat from a proposed tax which would hit visitors with £1.6bn in new charges and threaten 33,000 jobs, hospitality bosses have warned. The country’s holiday economy could be “decimated” by a levy on tourist accommodation which would turn away domestic and international holidaymakers, according to new modelling. Industry body [...]
Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin hits back at Miliband ‘warm beer’ advice March 20, 2026 The boss of the UK’s best-known pub chain has hit back at Ed Miliband after he issued guidance which sparked concerns that pubs will have to serve warmer beer to keep energy bills down. Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoon, told City AM pubs will be swiftly overtaken by supermarkets if they opt to cut [...]