The Americans are coming to Battersea, and it’s no wonder February 25, 2010 WHEN do you know if an area is going up in the world? Normally an influx of luxury hotels and award-winning restaurants should be a good enough sign, but the arrival of the embassy of the world’s most powerful country might just trump those. The American Embassy may not be due to open in the [...]
BUYING February 25, 2010 Camilla Dell MANAGING PARTNER AT BLACK BRICK Q.Dear Camilla, I’m buying a property as an investment and want to split it up into three or four flats to rent out. What is the procedure and the order in which I need to do this? A.The first thing you need to consider is whether splitting the [...]
FOCUS ON: NOTTING HILL February 25, 2010 LINDEN GARDENS, W2 Price: £850,000 The best feature of this two double bedroom maisonette is its decked roof garden with views over west London. The flat is on the fourth floor of a period building in the heart of Notting Hill. The kitchen is fully fitted and the open-plan reception room allows for flexible living [...]
Travolta goes over the top in Paris February 25, 2010 Film FROM PARIS WITH LOVE Cert: 15 YOU certainly can’t accuse this action comedy of being slow – its 90 minutes whistle by in a hale of bullets, explosions, cars, bodies and dodgy wisecracks. So it should be entertaining, shouldn’t it? Well, whether you find it so probably depends on your tolerance both for John [...]
OUT OF WEEKEND February 25, 2010 FILM MICMACS AMELIE AND DELICATESSEN DIRECTOR JEAN-PIERRE JEUNET SERVES UP ANOTHER DAZZLING FANTASY. EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES ROPEY DRAMA WITH HARRISON FORD TRYING TO FIND A CURE FOR POMPE DISEASE. LEAP YEAR AMY ADAMS AND MATTHEW GOODE STAR IN THIS IRISH-SET ROM COM. DVD THIS IS IT The Wacko industry rolls on – let’s face it, this [...]
Fashion week is far from pointless February 25, 2010 ANOTHER fashion week has finished and London has gone back to its (slightly) less glamorous self. The international circus of celebrity will return to wherever it came from for the six-month hiatus before the next round, and Somerset House will once again be a genteel government office complex and art gallery. Every time fashion week [...]
Putting a spin on humble sneakers February 25, 2010 THEY’RE a funny thing, trainers. They are as much a part of a man’s functional wardrobe as jeans, but unlike jeans, they are also very expressive. Hip Camden Converse wearers are a different tribe to those who prance about in Usain Bolt’s yam-coloured Pumas, while those who spend evenings enjoying the box-fresh smell of their [...]
NO KILLER HEELS FOR ME February 25, 2010 SKY-high heels were everywhere at Fashion Week, elongating the models even more for the catwalk. But what about the rest of us? I’ve been trying to walk around in some of these vertiginous shoes sold on the high street. Many of them look gorgeous in your hand, elegant and exciting with lovely bright colours, patents [...]
A brilliant debut novel that tells of tragedy in the City rings all too true February 24, 2010 THIS BLEEDING CITY BY ALEX PRESTON Faber, £12.99 You’d have thought the time had passed for another book about the City and its pre-crunch pulse of money, aspiration and the personal damnation all that can lead to. Certainly, there have been countless stories about “what really went on” – the strip clubs, the arrogance, the [...]
OUT OF OFFICE February 24, 2010 PRIVATE LIVES TO OPEN AT VAUDEVILLE Noel Coward’s play is sure to be a hit when it opens next week, starring Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall and Spooks’ Matthew McFadyen. It is the story of Elyot and Amanda, who were formerly married. Now both are honeymooning with their new spouses and run into each [...]