Wetherspoon boss blasts Soho’s ‘barmy’ vertical drinking crackdown Hospitality JD Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin has blasted Westminster Council’s “barmy” curbs on vertical drinking, which he said are “inhibiting business”. Martin, the chairman of Britain’s best-known pub chain, has waded into a row over the Council’s restrictions on so-called “vertical drinking” in Soho and an effective ban on new pubs and bars in the [...]
Hay Fever review: Richard E Grant is perfect Coward fodder Life&Style Hay Fever review and star rating: ★★★★ Of course, darling: Richard E Grant simply must play David Bliss, the blinkered, posho patriarch at the centre of Noel Coward’s drawing room comedy, Hay Fever. This is how I imagine the casting conversations went, anyway. Shockingly, E Grant – everyone’s favourite aristo-portrayer – has until now never [...]
Burnham urged to boost West End with tax cuts and extra policing Retail The West End risks losing its status as one of the world’s best shopping and hospitality destinations without immediate action to cut tax and boost policing, Andy Burnham has been warned. The New West End Company (NWEC), which represents 800 businesses involved in the world-famous district, has urged the government to slash business rates and [...]
Business rates cut will ‘backfire’ for Soho and West End September 22, 2026 John Healey’s plans to deliver an emergency tax cut for high street businesses would fail to boost most firms in London’s busiest areas like Soho and the West End, analysis suggests. The Chancellor is reportedly planning to cut taxes for pubs, shops, cafes and restaurants by hiking the threshold for small business rates relief (SBBR). [...]
London is expensive enough for tourists September 15, 2026 An overnight levy on top of the removal of VAT-free shopping is making London too expensive for tourists, writes Ros Morgan.
Ari Emmanuel snaps up West End theatre group ATG for £4.5bn August 11, 2026 Hollywood tycoon Ari Emmanuel has snapped up the theatre group behind West End venues including the Savoy and the Ambassadors in a deal worth around £4.5bn. Emmanuel, who runs an A-list media agency and helms the group which owns UFC, said the deal underscores the “growing power of live experience and the passionate audiences it [...]
No 10 backs ‘vertical drinking’ in Soho pubs August 7, 2026 Downing Street has waded into the debate over so-called “vertical drinking” and called on Westminster City Council to “work with” the industry to maintain the culture of pints outside London pubs. “Busy pubs full of people talking to each other is not a public nuisance, it is British life and it is thousands of jobs,” [...]
Cats musical review, Regent’s Park: Purrrfectly exquisite nonsense August 7, 2026 Cats review and star rating: ★★★★ The unnervingly bad 2019 movie did nothing to dispel the creeping sense that perhaps Cats is a little too strange. We were willing to suspend our disbelief for all sorts of nonsense in the 1990s, including this, a musical with loose at best narrative direction that spends 80 per [...]
Policing alone won’t solve London’s shoplifting epidemic August 6, 2026 Shoplifting is damaging London’s reputation as a global city. It’s time the entire justice system pulled together to tackle it, says Dee Corsi London’s attractiveness as a globally renowned destination for culture and tourism isn’t going anywhere. But recent research from New West End Company has found that safety and policing is holding it back. [...]
‘Poorly designed’ policies threatening London’s grip on global tourism June 15, 2026 London’s competitiveness as a leading culture and tourism destination is being undermined by “poorly designed” policies, the West End’s leading business advocate has warned. Dee Corsi, chief executive of the New West End Company (NWEC), has said that London is “competing with one hand tied behind its back” compared to global rivals whose policymakers are [...]