EXCLUSIVE: The Ned to launch members’ club in the countryside amid aggressive growth plans that echo Soho House July 24, 2025 City icon The Ned is set to open a “rural” estate in the UK as part of an aggressive expansion plan, with a first outpost in mainland Europe also in the pipeline. Group managing director Gareth Banner told City AM the company has three additional “very serious offers with either real estate owners or potential [...]
The Ned boss Gareth Banner interview: This brand is just getting started July 24, 2025 “Ten years ago, people would have laughed at the idea of doing something like this…” Gareth Banner is talking about City AM’s new Toast the City Awards celebrating all the things that make the Square Mile great, for which he has signed on as a judge. And Banner knows a thing or two about the [...]
St Paul’s Cathedral and the best lunch spot in the City of London July 22, 2025 In a new series celebrating the people and places nominated for our Toast the City awards, celebrating the best of the City of London, Adam Bloodworth finds the ultimate spot for some lunchtime peace and quiet Londoners become immune to the daily joys of famous landmarks. Even for the most curious, the novelty eventually wears off. [...]
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat: The best summer restaurants in London July 17, 2025 It has been a busy fortnight for the Bluebird brand I oversee as CEO of the Evolv Collection. In our Liverpool Street South Place Hotel, we launched the Bluebird Club, while at Silverstone we entertained drivers, celebrities and musicians with our trackside Bluebird Backstage lounge. And over in Chelsea, we have been the unofficial Wimbledon [...]
Lunchtime Tourism: The secrets of the Gherkin at St Mary Axe July 17, 2025 St Mary Axe is a five-minute walk from the commemorative plaque dedicated to the Aldgate Station 7/7 victims. There, in the shadow of one of London’s most famous buildings, is another monument to the innocent, an echo from our ancient past. The Gherkin, designed by starchitect Sir Norman Foster, changed the way we think [...]
Ai Weiwei’s cast iron tree joins Sculpture in the City 2025 July 15, 2025 Ai Weiwei is among the artists featured in this year’s Sculpture in the City 2025 public art exhibition, which was officially unveiled yesterday. Nestled in the oasis of St Botolph without Bishopsgate churchyard (itself a contender for our Green Space of the Year award), his sculpture is a cast iron tree root moulded from endangered [...]
Coq d’Argent review: Is this the best rooftop restaurant in the City? July 15, 2025 City AM’s inaugural Toast the City Awards has set off to discover the things that make the Square Mile great, from the coffee shop you always stop at to the gym class you never skip. Among the categories is the Best Restaurant, which will celebrate the top place to eat in the City of London. This [...]
The best sandwich in the City, from Porterford to Dilieto July 12, 2025 There is no better testament to how seriously the Square Mile takes its lunch than the queues snaking out of sandwich shops doors. Workers happily wait, shuffle and press to get their fix of bread and spread, meal deals be damned. Here is a list of City AM’s favourite sandwiches in the City, from wraps [...]
Toast the City: Is Bob Bob Ricard’s pie the best dish in London? July 4, 2025 City AM’s inaugural Toast the City Awards has set off to discover the things that make the Square Mile great, from the coffee shop you always stop at to the gym class you never skip. Among the categories is the Best Meal, which will celebrate the single dish that stands out as the finest the [...]
Lunchtime tourism: Rosetti at Guildhall Art Gallery July 3, 2025 Bob Vylan at Glastonbury 2025 showed how art and entertainment is often explosive in the political and cultural discourse. ‘Twas ever thus. Just take a walk into the Guildhall Art Gallery. Upstairs in the Victorian section you will find La Ghirlandata, Dante Gabriel Rosetti’s self-proclaimed “very best picture,” painted 152 years ago in 1873. Her eyes [...]