QUAFFER’S CORNER March 19, 2012 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT It is budget time and so, rather than allow my anger at yet another rise in alcohol duty get the better of me, let us take a quick look at how wine duty works. When wine arrives from overseas it comes to rest in a bonded warehouse. At [...]
Myerson back in bid to oust Sapro board March 18, 2012 CONTROVERSIAL investor Brian Myerson, who was banned from City takeover work for three years in 2010, is waging war against the board of a London-listed property fund. Myerson, the shareholder who shook up Liberty, Blacks Leisure and Scholl before getting the “cold shoulder” from UK regulators, is now putting pressure on fellow investors in South [...]
Boris Johnson names Chelsfield as developer in £1.2bn London project March 18, 2012 LONDON MAYOR Boris Johnson has revealed that Chelsfield, the property firm run by Sir Stuart Lipton, has been picked for the fiercely contested £1.2bn regeneration of Silvertown Quays in London’s East End. The 50-acre site owned by the London Development Agency is one of the largest derelict sites within the proposed Royal Docks Enterprise Zone. [...]
BC goes back to the future with new deal for Foxtons March 18, 2012 THE private equity firm that lost control of Foxtons amid the housing slump is on the verge of buying it back from its banks. BC Partners, led by managing partner Charlie Bott, is set to take a majority shareholding for between £55m and £75m, two years after the estate agent was shored up by a [...]
London house prices keep on soaring upward March 18, 2012 HOUSE prices are seeing their best start to the year since 2004, according to a study out today from Rightmove, while another study showed rental prices are at record highs. Average prices have increased 1.6 per cent this month to £236,939, taking the quarterly increase to 4.9 per cent, while prices in Greater London are [...]
Boutique partying in Antalya March 18, 2012 PROMISING “legendary” DJs, the SunSplash boutique music festival at the beach resort of Hillside Su in Turkey has earned itself a reputation. Now in its fourth year, each May it attracts a loyal following of British – and Turkish – devotees, wanting a hassle-free, high-quality, small, friendly and laid-back week-long party in a single beach [...]
A city that knows just how to seduce March 18, 2012 ON the five hour flight from London to Tel Aviv, serious-looking men in black clothes made their way to the back of the aeroplane to pray. The man next to us asked our opinions about the conflict as he bought me a coffee. At the airport, extensive and lengthy security checks were imposed. I’m not [...]
Meanwhile, Jerusalem’s King David still reigns March 18, 2012 THEY say you’re either a Tel Aviv or a Jerusalem person. Jerusalem is everything Tel Aviv isn’t: ancient, hilly, and, above all, deeply religious. No doubt about it: Jerusalem is an utterly different proposition to the rest of Israel, but even if you like to lounge about in the sun in your bikini sipping the [...]
Boom in prime property sees Savills thrive March 15, 2012 SAVILLS yesterday posted a nine per cent increase in full year profits to £40m after a boom in London prime residential property and strength in China helped to offset a stagnation in commercial activity in Europe. The property agent’s UK residential business grew profits by 11 per cent to £20.4m in 2011, fuelled by a [...]
The appeal of a mature market March 15, 2012 THERE’S nothing emerging about Barbados. Barbados has arrived. It arrived a long time ago. But in a property environment where the hot new thing has lost some of its appeal over the past five years, tried and true is sometimes best. Like a Starbucks when you want to be sure of what you’re getting. But [...]