Ocado invests £10m into self-driving tech startup Wayve October 6, 2021 Self-driving tech startup Wayve’s total funding raised has hit $60m following an investment from grocer Ocado. Ocado is investing £10m ($13.6m) in a partnership with Wayve that will develop autonomous grocery deliveries. An autonomous delivery trial will involve a number of Ocado delivery vans on busy London routes – with a human driver to oversee [...]
One in three Brits plans to stockpile food and drink this month for Christmas October 6, 2021 One third of consumers have already stockpiled food and drink items for Christmas, or are likely to before the end of the month. A survey from Lumina Intelligence found that more than half (56 per cent) of consumers were somewhat worried about media coverage of others stockpiling. 10 per cent said they were very worried. [...]
Cadbury launches vegan chocolate bar October 6, 2021 Cadbury owner Mondelēz International is launching a plant-based chocolate bar, Cadbury Plant Bar. The chocolate bar took two years to develop and is a vegan replica for the Cadbury Dairy Milk product, with almond paste instead of milk. The product will come in two flavours, smooth chocolate and smooth chocolate with salted caramel pieces. Louise [...]
Morrisons hiring for 3,000 Christmas roles October 6, 2021 Supermarket Morrisons is recruiting 3,000 Christmas jobs. It said it anticipated a busier Christmas with families and friends finally able to meet up free of Covid restrictions. Roles range from warehouse and production staff to pickers and packers with full training provided and no prior experience necessary. The supermarket said 16-24 year olds receiving Universal [...]
Interest in multi-million pound London homes picks up October 6, 2021 Home buyer interest in London’s market for homes listed at £2m and above has jumped 5.8 per cent. Interest in properties £10m and above rose 1.8 per cent in the third quarter, the Prime London Demand Index by estate agent Benham and Reeves showed. In the £2m and above market, Wandsworth in the city’s south-west [...]
Suburban and countryside rents outpace urban prices October 6, 2021 Asking rents in suburban and rural areas have soared over the course of the pandemic, compared to minimal growth in urban areas. Renters seeking homes further away from city centres had resulted in more residential areas jumping 11 per cent since the start of the Covid pandemic. Urban areas have marked a rise of just [...]
Cold and costly winter worries: Petrol and gas prices soar October 5, 2021 Brits are bracing for a cold winter as petrol prices hit their highest level in eight years and UK natural gas prices hit record highs. There have been concerns that families in the UK could be forced to “eat or heat” this winter. Gas prices for November delivery have rocketed, surpassing £3 a therm for [...]
Produce workers ‘nabbed from farms by hospitality recruiters’ October 5, 2021 Hospitality recruiters have attempted to recruit seasonal pickers from farms in a bid to stem labour shortages, a trade body has claimed. Jack Ward, chief executive of the British Growers Association, told CityA.M., that recruiters were attempting to recruit people to work in bars “wherever they could find them.” “Particularly in the summer, competition for [...]
Sir Philip Green’s wife spent millions on London homes as BHS collapsed October 5, 2021 Sir Philip Green’s wife spent millions on London properties while thousands of employees working at now-collapsed BHS prepared to lose their jobs. Details of Lady Tina Green’s spending were laid bare in the ‘Pandora Papers – leaked offshore financial documents published by the BBC. Tina Green used a company located in the British Virgin Islands [...]
Travelodge sees ‘green shoots’ of business travel revival October 5, 2021 Hotel giant Travelodge has said it has started to see the “green shoots” of business travel returning. It comes as the business has launched a new online solution Travelodge Business for those making work trips. Travelodge soft-launched its business service with nearly 100 existing customers earlier this year. Now, it is signing up almost 1,000 [...]