FOOD & BOOZE NEWS October 19, 2009 ALLENS BUTCHER GOES ONLINETime-poor, meat-loving Londoners will rejoice to know that they can now order their meat online from the famous Mount Street butchers. Alongside a stellar selection of beef, lamb, pork, veal, poultry, game and sauces, you can order seasonal favourites such as the Scottish beef-filled Steak Box and Christmas turkey. A new feature, [...]
THREE OTHER BASTIONS OF BRITISH CUISINE October 19, 2009 SCOTT’SThis restaurant and oyster bar is almost as much about seeing and being seen as it is about the food. That said, the menu is considered one of the finest examples of soophisticated British seafood around, with the likes of pan-fried slip soles with brown shrimps, Cornish seabass and skate wings with cockles. 20 Mount [...]
Hunker down in a cosy bar this autumn October 19, 2009 WHEN temperatures drop – as they did rather suddenly at the weekend – it’s time for a change of tack when it comes to drinking venues. Those breezy summer cocktails in light-filled bars don’t seem quite the thing when it’s dark and blowing a freezing gale outside. What we need is intimacy and comfort – [...]
No more pain: how health farms became spas, and we got a bit soft October 19, 2009 WITHOUT FAIL, my grandmother and her mother used to go to a “health farm” for a week. It sounded like my idea of hell: a week of deprivation, nothing fun to do or eat. The end results spoke for themselves, though – they’d lose six kilos in a week and come home with wonderfully tapered [...]
THE MODERN HEALTH FARMS October 19, 2009 NUBEGINNINGS Devonwww.nubeginnings.co.ukPain potential: 9/10 Fun factor: 6/10 The idea: This sleek retreat is among the UK’s more hardcore – it calls itself a “weight loss boot camp”. Guests stay at least a week and lose up to 4 kilos. It also tackles the psychological side to wellbeing with a variety of therapies. Food: Locally sourced [...]
OUT OF OFFICE October 19, 2009 LAPLAND VIA THE LANGHAM HOTELIf you’re planning a bit of wining and dining over the festive season – and let’s face it, who isn’t? – you could end up in Lapland courtesy of the Langham Hotel. Diners who make reservations for four or more people at the hotel’s restaurant, The Landau, or its private dining [...]
Pick the right defensive firm to protect your stock portfolio October 19, 2009 DESPITE analysts’ continued calls for a much-needed pullback in global equity markets, the FTSE 100 has stubbornly risen to the 5,200 mark. And if you believe that equities are due a correction, then you might want to bulk up your portfolio with a few defensive stocks as they tend to remain relatively stable, even in [...]
Take a punt and profit from M&A recovery October 19, 2009 FOLLOWING a dearth of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the wake of the financial crisis, returning confidence and cash to credit-constrained companies has seen a flurry of deals and bids over the past month. Yesterday, Stagecoach made a fresh all-share offer for its beleaguered rival National Express despite a consortium walking away from takeover [...]
EMOTION IS DRIVING DOW ABOVE 10,000 October 19, 2009 MARTIN SLANEYHEAD OF DERIVATIVES, GFT AFTER all the build-up, the Dow finally did it. For the first time in a year, America’s most famous market climbed back above 10,000. This apparently momentous occasion generated much attention and in last week’s column I suspected that the raft of blue chip results would lend enough momentum for [...]
Alpha Bank joins cash call run October 19, 2009 Alpha Bank, Greece’s third largest lender, will issue new shares and repay almost €1bn (£914m) of state support in a move to cut ties with government and resume paying dividends. A three-for-10 rights issue will raise €986m to redeem €940m of preferred shares the bank sold the government earlier this year. The deal is expected [...]
