Bash this: The UK’s highest-rated chief executive is a banker June 8, 2016 Is this the end of banker bashing? It turns out the UK's most beloved chief executive works in the finance sector – but his isn't one of the traditional lenders… A new ranking by job review site Glassdoor, which is compiled by looking at how employees rate their own bosses, put Craig Donaldson, the chief executive of [...]
Working Lunch: City restaurant L’Anima near Liverpool Street has beetroot tortellini to die for June 7, 2016 L’Anima means “soul” in Italian and the aim of this City-restaurant is is to provide a glimpse into the very soul of southern Italian cuisine, featuring modern takes on hearty classics. The spring menu revolves around fresh, zesty ingredients like artichoke slaw with cured fish roe, and asparagus with egg and guanciale. There’s also a L’Anima [...]
The beautiful Caribbean island of Anguilla is the shimmering blue epitome of tropical fun times June 3, 2016 Far out in the well charted waters of the east Caribbean lies the Leeward Island chain, and at its northern tip is an utterly charming little strip of limestone called Anguilla. Its interior is arid, scrubby and overrun with semi-domesticated goats and chickens, but it is frilled with some of the most incredible beaches in [...]
It’s Tax Freedom Day: It may be the latest it’s been since 2001 but you’re finally earning for yourself June 3, 2016 Ask a random person on the street how much tax they pay and they’ll usually guess around 20 per cent of their income. That’s the basic rate of income tax, and it’s easy to forget taxes like VAT, council tax, beer and wine duties, air passenger duty, motoring taxes and stamp duty. Even if you remind [...]
Tax freedom day slips into June as annual tax bill grows June 3, 2016 Today marks “tax freedom day”, the day of the year when the average UK worker stops paying tax and starts earning for themselves. The date, calculated by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI), falls four days later than in 2015 and has crept into the month of June for the first time in 15 years. With tax [...]
West Berkshire Brewery raises glass as it expands into Islington-based pub Shillibeers and puts pen to paper on new brewery June 2, 2016 Crowdfunding beer maker West Berkshire Brewery is raising a glass after it put pen to paper on a new £3m custom-built brewery and secured its first urban pub, Shillibeers, in Islington. The new brewery will allow West Berkshire to increase its brewing capacity tenfold and also to provide packaging for other breweries. The brewer has said the [...]
RIP to the humble business lunch? Two thirds say working lunches aren’t what they used to be June 2, 2016 What does one have to do to get a three course meal and a bottle of wine these days? Bad news for PRs. British business is under threat from the death of the business lunch, according to new research. If the appetite for Deliveroo's office lunch competition was anything to go by, work lunching just isn't what it used to be. [...]
Enjoy a gin-fuelled long weekend at Bombay Sapphire’s Laverstoke Mill distillery June 1, 2016 A partnership between Bombay Sapphire and – improbably – the wine-heaped environs of the Vineyard Hotel in Newbury, the Bombay Gin Break is a package holiday designed with the more holistic bon viveur in mind. Arrive to complementary gin and tonics, then head to the very place they were made to discover just what it [...]
Pret a Manger has just opened its first veggie pop-up in Soho June 1, 2016 The City's top lunch spot, Pret a Manger, has had a green makeover today as it opened the doors at its Little Veggie Pop-Up on Broadwick Street in Soho. The pop-up offers 45 new vegetarian and vegans recipes for the menu, including open rye sandwiches, courgetti and cauliflower rice "plant pots" and savoury yoghurt bowls – as well [...]
Leon and Wagamama lead the way as casual dining and pub grub drive new restaurant and bar openings May 31, 2016 Just when you thought you'd had enough, casual dining and food-led pubs are helping to drive new openings in the UK's bar and restaurant market. Entrepreneurial food-driven businesses like Leon and Wagamama, and the conversion of drink-led ventures into gastropubs by pub groups are helping to offset the decline in marginal sites. The latest quarterly growth figures from [...]