Jaguar’s new lease of life August 31, 2010 IT might have been disappointing but it came as no surprise that there was no chance for me to test the maximum speed of Jaguar’s fastest XKR yet, even at Goodwood’s race track. Jaguar’s latest optional Speed Pack really turns up the heat. Underneath it’s the usual Jaguar XKR with its 503bhp supercharged V8 but [...]
CAR TALK August 31, 2010 PEUGEOT’S FULL HYBRID DIESEL This is the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4 Crossover, the first full hybrid diesel production car. With its 2.0 litre diesel engine plus a 37bhp electric motor, the car can achieve up to 74.4mpg while emitting only 99g/km of CO2. When it’s launched in January next year it will run in four modes: [...]
Raising the steaks in the City August 30, 2010 Goodman City 11 Old Jewry, EC2R 8DU www.goodmanrestaurants.com Tel: 020 7600 8220 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £50 FOR some people – sensible people – no amount of fancy presentation, molecular menus, seasonal ingredients or painstaking taste combinations will ever satisfy the taste buds in the same way as a simple, well-cooked [...]
THREE OTHER MEAT-LOVERS’ HOTSPOTS August 30, 2010 GAUCHO SMITHFIELD Most people are familiar with Gaucho’s Argentine steaks and wine. The formula is so successful – a chain, but glamorous with a hint of the gourmet – that it’s expanding at a rate of knots. Now Gaucho has come to Charterhouse Street, adding to Farringdon’s thriving scene. For the unfamiliar, the beef and [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS August 30, 2010 FASHIONABLE COCKTAILS AT THE TRAFALAGAR To prepare for Fashion Week, the Trafalgar Hote’s ground floor bar Rockwell will be serving cocktails inspired by the season’s key looks. The menu includes the Nude Lace, with Mozart white chocolate liqueur, and the Pretty Poetess, with gold rum and cardamom syrup. Very now. £10 each. Trafalgar Hotel, Trafalgar [...]
Why your dream home may just be up in Scotland’s northern reaches August 26, 2010 THE number of holiday homes in the UK is on the rise, according to research by Knight Frank. After declining in 2008, the number of British second homes swelled 2.6 per cent last year and is set to rise another 2 per cent this year. So with demand once again on the up, buyers should [...]
FOCUS ON: WEMBLEY, HA9 August 26, 2010 CENTRAL APARTMENTS From £230,000 Ideal for first-time buyers, this new development comprises 113 apartments. All flats are open-plan and have their own balconies with views as far as the London Eye. Contact: St Modwen’s on 0844 371 1301, www.wembley-central.co.uk MIDHOLM £470,000 It’s in need of some modernisation, but this three-bed detached property is an ideal [...]
PROPERTY NEWS August 26, 2010 BACK TO THE BOOM YEARS FOR PUTNEY The property boom years are back, at least in Putney. An eight-bedroom house in Heathview Gardens has just sold for £5.3m, one of the highest prices ever paid for a property in SW15. Russell White, franchisee of Winkworth Putney who handled the sale, said: “The Putney sales market [...]
SELLING August 26, 2010 MANAGING DIRECTOR, PROPERTY HUNT Q.Dear Russell, with property prices projected to fall and interest rates forecast to rise, should I buy? A.As with anything to do with property, it is all about timing. The latest surveys – whether they are from the major lenders, the high-street banks or the online property portals –are all pointing [...]
Looking good, kid: autumn style August 26, 2010 WHEN I was a child in the US, back-to-school fashion (we didn’t have uniforms) was a matter of two new scrunchie hairbands and a new pair of spandex rose-patterned cycle shorts. Oh, and a side pony tail. These days, kids from middle class families are expected to be almost as fashionable as their parents. More [...]