Exclusive: Gaucho owner to shut City icon M Restaurant next week May 12, 2025 Iconic Square Mile dining spot M Restaurant is to shut for good next week after 10 years serving steak to the City. The move comes after founder Martin Williams left M’s parent company Rare Restaurants in October. City AM understands new chief executive Baton Berisha, who assumed the role in March following spells at The [...]
Brick Lane curry houses could ‘go bust’ due to net zero push May 12, 2025 The drive to reach net zero has transformed the way most Brits live. But when Brick Lane restaurant owner Guljar Khan opened his first curry house with his brother more than two decades ago, he never imagined that it might one day change the way tandoori chicken is cooked. Khan has seen his mini empire [...]
Pizza Hut: The fortune owed by firm behind UK restaurants before rescue May 12, 2025 The company behind Pizza Hut’s restaurants in Britain owed more than £50m as it collapsed before being rescued, it has been revealed. Heart With Smart (HWS) was saved in January by an entity controlled by investment firm Directional Capital in a deal which salvaged all but one Pizza Hut location. Its new owner was the [...]
Beavertown: From the founder’s kitchen to a £100m buyout May 7, 2025 The first Beavertown pint was brewed in a kitchen rice pan in 2011. Over 10 years later, they’d been bought out by Heineken for over £100m. All while being the most expensive pint in the country, and surviving a pandemic where most breweries lost 95 per cent of their business overnight. The difference was savant-level positioning. Here are three levers [...]
JD Wetherspoon sales jump despite continued pub sell-off May 7, 2025 Sales at JD Wetherspoon jumped five per cent over the last quarter as the pub giant continued to sell more locations. The pub giant has sold off seven of its pubs since the start of the year, despite opening only two new ones, it said in a trading update today. It said it expected to [...]
Mowgli Street Food returns to profit as it creates over 100 jobs May 1, 2025 Mowgli Street Food, the restaurant chain run by celebrity chef Nisha Katona, has returned to profit and created more than 100 jobs. The Liverpool-headquartered business has reported a pre-tax profit of £512,178 for the year to 31 July, 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House have revealed. The total comes after Mowgli Street Food posted [...]
London juice bar chain Crussh enters liquidation April 23, 2025 One of London’s best-known juice bar chains has entered liquidation, City AM can reveal, after the healthy drinks business faltered under squeezed consumer spending and a surge in costs and tax hikes. Wimbledon-based Crussh, which operated stores in Kensington, Soho and the Square Mile, has this week appointed Mayfair-based business recovery firm Voscap to act [...]
Britannia: Millionaire ‘Asylum King’ hotel tycoon rakes in the cash April 11, 2025 The millionaire hotel tycoon dubbed the ‘Asylum King’ is still raking in the cash despite his Britannia chain being ranked the worst in the UK. Alex Langsam founded Britannia Hotels in 1976 after opening his first site in Manchester. Langsam remains the company’s chief executive and largest shareholder while his empire also extends to budget [...]
It takes a village: Do we need to rethink our attitude to old age? April 10, 2025 We’re living for longer than ever but the boom in the elderly population is a social and political time-bomb. Could ‘later life’ communities like Auriens be the answer to the old age crisis, asks Steve Dinneen I enter a grand lobby, all lofty ceilings, marquetry floors and art deco fittings. An effusive concierge in a natty [...]
Lush to pass tariffs onto US shoppers as it sinks further into the red April 8, 2025 Lush has revealed plans to open a UK hotel as it detailed its response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs amid the ethical cosmetics retailer sinking further into the red. The Dorset-headquartered company has included scant detail in its annual accounts about its plans for a new hotel but did say it is working with a [...]