Suits’ fave spot for a helping of glam September 6, 2010 Aqua Nueva Fifth Floor, 30 Argyll Street, W1B 3BR Tel: 020 7478 0540, www.aqua.com.hk FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £50 LONDON’s love affair with the shamelessly glam has been hotting up for several years and Aqua Nueva, the Spanish side of a double rooftop restaurant off Regent Street, fits the bill perfectly. [...]
How AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes shrugged off the global recession September 5, 2010 IF Tony Fernandes, the chief executive of pioneering low-cost carrier AirAsia, ever suffered from shyness as child, he is certainly cured of it now. The UK-educated Malaysian entrepreneur, who founded the short haul airline in 2001 and its longhaul sister AirAsia X six years later, dominates the meeting room of his West End PR agency [...]
Canada’s coolest city is both French and friendly September 5, 2010 THERE’s a good reason why Montreal is known as Canada’s party town. Quebec’s capital – the capital of French Canada – bills itself as the festival capital of the world. Every year there are dozens of festivals celebrating anything and everything. But it’s not just the likes of the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Anarchist Book [...]
BLANK GETS READY FOR TRIP BACK TO LLOYDS September 2, 2010 SIR Victor Blank, who quit Lloyds Banking Group last year in the aftermath of its controversial merger with HBOS, is returning in a few days’ time for a happy occasion. Blank is there as the guest of current chairman Sir Wyn Bischoff who is hosting an unveiling ceremony of a portrait of his predecessor in [...]
Pack a tax plan if you want a retirement on the beach September 2, 2010 IF YOU are tempted to spend your golden years in the sun and escape overcrowded, polluted London, you are not alone. Emigration from the UK reached a record high in 2008 and that was before the introduction of a 50 per cent higher tax rate and the impending austerity measures. But planning is essential if [...]
The period mansion with its own chapel September 2, 2010 IN London, homes with good river views are much sought-after and hard to come by – once you have one, you’re not likely to relinquish it. Homes with 80 metres of uninterrupted Thames frontage, however – not to mention 10 bedrooms and a ballroom – present a very, very rare opportunity for anyone with the [...]
Derwent posts higher profit on bargain hunters August 25, 2010 OFFICE landlord Derwent London reported sustained growth in the value of its portfolio to £2.2bn yesterday, easing fears of a new real estate slump as Britain’s economic prospects wilt. Chief executive John Burns said Derwent’s signature strategy of providing affordable offices in the capital’s nascent business hubs would hold up as firms budgeted for slower [...]
Swannell is the right man for M&S August 23, 2010 WHEN I had breakfast with Robert Swannell, the newly appointed chairman of Marks & Spencer recently, it was clear that the former investment banker was in anything but wind down mode. After three decades of working on mergers and acquisitions, sometimes over seven-day weeks involving late nights, Swannell could have been forgiven for putting his [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS August 23, 2010 Future Group The media business has appointed former ITN chief executive Mark Wood as chief executive of its UK business. Wood, who stood down from ITN last year, has been a non-executive director at Future since April 2009. He will leave the board on taking up his new post at the end of the month. [...]
Rent soars for best West End window space August 22, 2010 WEST END retail rents are set to soar further in the wake of a record £700 per square foot lease secured by Spanish retailer Desigual. The fashion chain will pay the eye-watering sum for the lucrative window-side parts of the shop floor, as part of a deal with property investor Prupim last week. Desigual’s rent [...]