By: Simon Hunt

City Editor Simon Hunt is City editor at City AM, covering the economy and financial markets. He was previously business correspondent for the Evening Standard and a reporter for Bloomberg News.

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Red signal for £500m Central line upgrade after just four trains refitted

February 3, 2026

The planned £500m upgrade of the Central line has hardly got going, City AM can reveal, after the project to refit the key underground line serving the Square Mile suffered severe delays. Just 4 of 71 Central line trains had been successfully refitted by the beginning of 2026, according figures obtained via a freedom of information request [...]
Urban Pubs and Bars defies hospitality gloom with doubling of profit

February 2, 2026

One of London’s biggest pub chains has defied hospitality gloom after posting a more than doubling of profit. Urban Pubs and Bars, which operates more than fifty venues across the capital including The Wren in Bank, the Commercial Tavern in Spitalfields and the Punch Tavern in Fleet Street, saw pre-trax profit climb to £1.7m for [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Miners lead stock fall as gold rout deepens

February 2, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. There’s one big event the City is looking towards this week but all signs point to zero surprises. On Thursday, the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee will meet for the first time this year and decide whether to take the chop to interest rates. [...]
Drinks firms ‘have no choice’ but to increase prices, say industry bosses

January 31, 2026

Top drinks businesses “have no choice” but to increase prices after facing steep cost hikes from rising alcohol duty, industry leaders have warned. In November’s autumn budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that alcohol duty would increase in line with Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation. It means that the tax charged on alcoholic drinks will increase [...]
London house prices ‘need’ to fall amid supply increase, housing minister says

January 30, 2026

House prices “probably need” to fall in London, the housing minister has said, after insisting that the government’s 1.5m home building target could still be met. Matthew Pennycook said Labour wants to encourage developers to compete on volume in order to ramp up housing supply and make homes more affordable. There are “people in London [...]
‘No comment’: City firms on Starmer China trip keep schtum

January 29, 2026

When Sir Keir Starmer boarded a British Airways flight to Beijing earlier this week, he brought with him a coterie of leaders from British industry to help fly the flag. More than 50 delegates were invited on the PM’s trip, many from top City institutions such as law firm Clifford Chance and accounting giant PwC. [...]
Find me a blander corporate rebrand than This Bank

January 29, 2026

What’s in a name? The corporate rebrand for This Bank is insipid and lacks imagination, says Simon Hunt. Marketing strategies are hard to get right. Coming up with a new name, a new logo, a new motto is riddled with danger. I don’t begrudge those paid to have a go at it. A litany of [...]
As Starmer heads to China, Brits rush to buy Chinese EVs

January 29, 2026

A couple of years ago, I was invited to the launch of a new Chinese EV brand called Omoda. Myself and a handful of journalists showed up to an inauspicious press event in the basement of a Covent Garden hotel. In the room was parked (I’m still not sure how they got it down there) [...]
LSEG axes Financial Times subscriptions amid FTSE coverage retreat

January 29, 2026

The operator of the London Stock Exchange has cancelled hundreds of corporate subscriptions to the Financial Times, City AM understands, in a move that could end a decades-long relationship between the two City institutions. LSEG is understood to have taken the decision in response to the paper’s gradual retreat from coverage of the London markets, [...]
Nearly 600 jobs to go as Revolution Bars rescue deal shuts over 20 sites

January 27, 2026

Nearly 600 jobs are set to be wiped out after a last-minute rescue deal to acquire the group behind Revolution Bars will see more than 20 sites closed with immediate effect. Administrators for Revel Collective, the AIM-listed hospitality group which also owns the Peach pubs chain, said two separate deals had been reached to sell [...]

West Ham United relegation to cost London taxpayers millions

West Ham United relegation to cost London taxpayers millions

Jinkx Monsoon’s Judy Garland musical proves drag is serious art

By: Simon Hunt

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