McLaren 570GT review: McLaren’s most practical supercar yet October 31, 2016 My secret vice, a Monday-night indulgence after others have retired to bed, is the US drama Ballers. It’s about American football players, their cars, their women and a never-ending desire to make more money. It’s cheesy and downmarket, but an addictive pleasure. It’s in the same basket as Coronation Street, but with a cast of [...]
Working Lunch review: Roma restores Ancient Roman cuisine to the City of London on the site of an old fort October 31, 2016 Roma 14 New London St, EC3R 7NA WHAT? Do you remember Harper’s, that bland, beige wine bar down an alley by Fenchurch Street station? No? Just as well because it’s been given a marbled makeover and now it’s a culinary tribute to the glories of Ancient Rome. Expect hefty cuts of meat and an empire-spanning wine [...]
There’s a restaurant in the Maldives that’s entirely underwater and it’s pretty nice October 31, 2016 To visit the Maldives is to bathe in the clearest ocean of purest aquamarine blue. To visit the Maldives is to revel on soft white sand and eat delicious fresh pineapple. To visit the Maldives is, crucially, to be handed so many cool mint-scented flannels that you cannot remember what it is like to not [...]
New Builds: From 31 storey Docklands towers to boutique homes next to the Royal Courts of Justice October 28, 2016 Dollar Bay, Docklands From £5m Four penthouses that form the crowning glory of this 31-storey tower in the Docklands are on sale this week. Two four floor, three bedroom penthouses and a couple of two bedroom duplexes are on sale next to each other at the apex of this joint venture between Mount Anvil and [...]
Focus On Bermondsey: River views, great food, warehouse conversions – what more could you want in SE1? October 28, 2016 This ancient town, first mentioned in the Domesday Book as Bermundesy, has had a colourful existence on the south bank of the river Thames. For centuries condemned as a slum, this centrally located area in Zone One has blossomed in the last ten years into one of the most artistic – not to mention delicious [...]
Property of the Week: Pied-a-terres are a popular way of living close to the office. Here’s how Dr Clive Rankin chose his in EC2 October 28, 2016 Pied-a-terres are fast becoming the property a la mode in central London. For a fraction of the price of a family home – not to mention the stamp duty – you could live the high life in a studio in the city with a barely-noticeable commute during the week. Then spend the money you saved [...]
Opinion: As house prices outstrip salaries, why are we still chasing the dream of homeownership? October 28, 2016 It’s over. Britain will no longer be a nation of homeowners. Now property sales are heading for an 80-year low and rentals are surpassing purchases for the first time since 1930, according to Countrywide figures released last week. To top it all off, prices have never been higher. In the good days (circa 1997 – [...]
Property Entrepreneurs: London-based tech start-up Virtual Walkthrough has gone global after buyout by US firm Matterport October 28, 2016 You know you’re onto something when the big guys start taking an interest. And for James Morris-Manuel of Virtual Walkthrough, the last few months have seen proof that his concept of walking people through building interiors has reached the big time. Morris-Manuel has just sold his business to larger US company Matterport. The move means [...]
Interiors: David Bowie’s art collection is due to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s next month October 28, 2016 In two weeks’ time a vintage 1966 record player is coming to auction at Sotheby’s, a radio-phonograph by Achille and Pier Giacomo Catiglioni. At face value, it's worth an unassuming £800-£1,200; however, it will no doubt fetch much much more as it belonged to the late great David Bowie. The excitement around the sale of [...]
James Ensor at the Royal Academy: a mercurial painter of the grotesque October 27, 2016 In the paintings of James Ensor, life is dour and murky while death is a riot of colour and expressive brush-strokes. In one of the first pieces in the Royal Academy’s exhibition two women sit taking afternoon tea (Afternoon in Ostend, 1881) in an oppressively brown room, as if the bourgeois scene is so interminably [...]