A menswear brand with technological edge September 14, 2011 STEP into menswear brand Alfred Dunhill’s London “home”, Bourdon House on Davies St in Mayfair, and you enter a world of heritage and urbanity – polished leather and wood, old-fashioned stylings, gentlemanly deference and proper tailoring. There’s even an attached gentlemen’s club that’s strictly invitation only. All very classy, but let’s just say it doesn’t [...]
Pocket watch: the next generation September 14, 2011 THOUGHT the pocket watch was a gadget relegated to history? Think again. Of late two of the most cutting edge Swiss watch companies have announced new pieces designed to be worn on a chain rather than on the wrist. The first, by Urwerk (www.urwerk.com), a brand that specialises in futuristic timepieces that bear only the [...]
OUT OF OFFICE September 14, 2011 BROKEN GLASS AT THE VAUDEVILLE Arthur Miller’s play Broken Glass, which reflects on the American Jewish experience during the Nazi ascendancy in Germany, sees the return to the London stage of two of the country’s finest actors, Anthony Sher and Tara Fitzgerald. After reading about the events of Kristallnacht, Fitzgerald’s character Sylvia is rendered paralysed. [...]
The roadster that’s streets ahead September 13, 2011 ZOOM-Zoom says the man from Mazda, brrm-brrm says my daughter from the passenger seat (airbag switched off, of course). The marketing man from Mazda will be delighted. Job done. That Mazda’s MX-5 is great fun to drive is well documented. It’s fair to say that for the money there really isn’t another roadster that gets [...]
CAR TALK September 13, 2011 AUDI’S NEW A2: FIRST IMAGES These are the first official images of Audi’s new A2 model. This concept is a lightweight, plug-in electric four-seater with a 9.3-second, 0-62mph time and a top speed of 93mph. Audi claims a 124-mile range on a four hour charge. Most interesting, though, are the LED lights running down the [...]
Look East to the new destination for pilgrims who shop September 13, 2011 BORIS Johnson reached for the cultural high notes at the opening of Westfield Stratford City: boasting that the new shopping centre would trigger regeneration not seen in East London since the Middle Ages, he quoted Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in which Madam Eglantine the Prioress spoke French “after the school of Stratford-at-Bow, for French of Paris [...]
Stratford is a smooth retail experience September 13, 2011 I GREW up in a suburb of Boston, USA, where the only places to shop were malls. Despite America’s reputation as a shopping paradise, these were terribly dreary places, department store complexes off highways. Sure, you could pick up a washing machine, get your ears pierced, eat a Cinnabon and buy a sixpack of white [...]
Mall brings fresh hope to struggling UK shopkeepers September 13, 2011 RETAILERS nationwide are facing tough conditions as the economy slows down, but Westfield will transform trade across Stratford and the wider borough, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Retail is currently hard hit. ONS figures for the year to the end of July 2011 show zero growth in the volume of sales. Footfall across [...]
WESTFIELD AT STRATFORD: OUR PICK OF THE SHOPS September 13, 2011 CLOTHES & ACCESSORIES ASPINAL OF LONDON The second standalone shop for this affordable heritage brand, Aspinal has a plum position at the start of the Street, and is a wonderfully windowy space, glinting with cufflinks, jewels and charms and full of its signature bright croc skin bags and wallets. FOREVER 21 There were nearly 400 [...]
House prices slip in August September 13, 2011 House prices in England and Wales fell in August and transactions slipped to levels last seen during the recession in 2009, a survey showed on Tuesday. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ seasonally adjusted house price balance inched down to -23 from -22 in July, in line with the median forecast in a Reuters poll. [...]