South East Water told to cough up £31m and improve infrastructure Water South East Water has been ordered to cough up a hefty redress and create an improvement plan for its operations after multiple investigations by the industry regulator found failures in its infrastructure and customer service. The utility firm – which supplies drinking water to 2.3m customers across the likes of Kent, Sussex and Surrey – [...]
English wine has moved up a notch – here’s why Life&Style English wine is on the up, from Kent’s new Wine Garden of England collective to the Surrey Hills Wine Week. How English counties are racing to establish distinct regional identities English wine is considered a collaborative rather than a competitive industry. The feeling was “a rising tide lifts all ships” as our wines began to [...]
Heat wave bottle jobs: Water firms set up emergency supply points in Kent, with tankers on standby Water With temperatures setting records for May over the long bank holiday weekend, emergency supplies of bottled water were sent to two major Kent towns and hundreds of Brits were hit with interruptions to their water supply. Distribution points were set up in Faversham and Ramsgate as a precaution, amid problems with infrastructure in the area. [...]
Reform UK: Kent local authority poised to hike council tax October 6, 2025 Reform UK-run Kent County Council is likely to raise council tax next year, with a cabinet member suggesting that a five per cent hike is on the cards. Diane Morton, the council lead for adult social care, told the Financial Times: “We’ve got more demand than ever before and it’s growing.” “We just want more [...]
Alcohol-shy Gen Z and erratic weather hits global vineyards March 5, 2025 Changing tastes and a hotter climate have made the future of global vineyards uncertain and unpredictable, according to a new report. With global wine consumption down 12 per cent from its 2007 peak and erratic weather making many sites untenable, few vineyards remain unscathed, according to Knight Frank’s annual wealth report. In France, “only about [...]
Labour’s non-dom tax raid forces Castle-owning fintech founder out of the UK February 14, 2025 The owner of a £6m castle in Kent would have set up a credit fintech employing dozens of UK workers had the reforms to the non-dom status made by “Reckless Reeves” not meant she could “no longer stay in the UK”. Reality television star Ann Kaplan Mulholland has claimed non-dom status with her cosmetic surgeon [...]
Gusbourne: Wine maker faces delisting from London’s AIM as shares plummet February 10, 2025 Shares in Gusbourne dropped more than 34 per cent this morning after the English winemaker announced it would consider delisting from London’s junior stock market, AIM. In an announcement to the London Stock Exchange, Gusbourne said it had received a letter from majority shareholder Lord Ashcroft, requesting it to hold a meeting to consider going [...]
Wasps step closer to new Kent home and Championship spot November 13, 2024 Two-time European champions Wasps moved a step closer to reviving their defunct rugby club after they secured land in Kent for a new stadium. The site in Swanley has been acquired on a 10-year-option and could be used to build a new stadium in the south east of the country after the club were one [...]
I went looking for wild Bison in exotic Kent. Here’s what I learned August 5, 2024 For the first time in 6,000 years bison are roaming wild in the woods of Kent. Chris Dorrell wanted to spy one Bison are up to two metres tall. An adult male can weigh up to a ton. If you ended up on the wrong side of one sitting down, you wouldn’t live to tell [...]