The first 100 days: What the new mayor of London needs to do to hit the ground running May 6, 2016 By the time today’s edition of City A.M. hits the streets, Londoners will have voted for their new mayor. With no overnight count, we are in a tantalising no-man’s land between the polling stations closing and the results being announced. By any measure the mayor’s in-tray is going to be full. From housing to transport, new [...]
Uniqlo owner cuts outlook after warm winter sees operating profit fall 30 per cent – but company confident new Oxford Street store will “serve as a beacon for new London culture” April 7, 2016 A warm winter has been bad news for Uniqlo globally. But things are going okay in Europe. And its Japanese owner, Fast Retailing, is especially hopeful for the brand's future in the UK. The results noted that a new store opening on Oxford Street in London has "attracted a great deal of attention, with the store poised [...]
Office boom fuels rise in profits at workspace provider Regus March 1, 2016 Regus shares climbed higher yesterday after the workspace provider posted a 67 per cent jump in annual profits and hiked its dividend. The company, which has over 2,700 centres across across 977 towns and cities worldwide, reported pre-tax profits of £145.7m in 2015, on sales up 15.9 per cent to £1.9bn. Underlying earnings per share rose by 51 per [...]
Businesses in Marble Arch team up to launch improvement district February 29, 2016 Businesses in Marble Arch and Edgware Road have backed plans to invest £2.5m in sprucing up the west London area after launching a new business improvement district (BID). Over 78 per cent of businesses, retailers, restaurant and hotels from Marble Arch and northern Park Lane voted in favour of setting up the new group to [...]
Syria airstrike vote 2015: Here’s how your MP voted December 3, 2015 Last night MPs voted in favour of the UK beginning airstrikes against Islamic State (Isis) with an overwhelming majority of 397 votes to 223, following a gruelling 10-hour debate in the House of Commons. The move was controversial, with huge numbers of people protesting against military intervention. Some Labour MPs claimed they were being intimidated to [...]
London house prices: This is who the capital’s prime rental tenants are, what they do, where they live and how much they pay for the privilege October 26, 2015 Ever wondered who those people are that are paying upwards of £8,000 a week to live in one of the capital's swankiest pads? Well, fellow nosy neighbours, wonder no more. In prime central London, a number of tribes have been identified by lettings agent EJ Harris, showing an increase in international tenants across the board [...]
The 10 Tube stops where house demand is rising most (and least) August 5, 2015 Who doesn’t want to live near a Tube station? Except perhaps, when there’s a strike on, but demand for properties close to the London Underground is up 13 per cent, and it’s in east London where it's rising more than anywhere else across the network. Homes near East Ham, Woodford and Upminster Bridge have experienced [...]
The NHS isn’t unique – and we’ll never fix its many flaws until we realise this June 25, 2015 As an undergraduate student, I spent an Erasmus semester in a small town in Spain. During a flat viewing, the landlady who showed me around pointed at the microwave in the kitchen, and said: “This is a microwave. Do you know what a microwave is?” I got a bit confused by the question, which sounded [...]
A booming West End will be fatally undermined unless we pedestrianise Oxford Street June 21, 2015 Oxford Street needs to be pedestrianised. There is a growing consensus about this among traders, transport operators, and local councils. The question is when and how. The “when” is easiest to answer. The new east-west Crossrail line starts operating through Central London in four years’ time. It will generate a new surge of people coming [...]
Private equity firm TPG to move offices to Mayfair’s Park House June 16, 2015 Private equity firm TPG has signed a deal to relocate its European headquarters to a new development opposite Selfridges department store on Oxford Street. The US-based firm, which is currently based at 5-7 Carlton Gardens in London’s St James, has agreed to take the entire fifth floor of Park House on a 15-year lease, the [...]