How to blush your way to a brighter home using spring pastels April 1, 2016 The evenings are lighter, and it suddenly feels wrong to be putting on sombre-coloured winter coats and boots. The magnolia trees are in bloom, their distinctive petals a delicate blush of soft pink. And it’s this pretty pastel that stores have heralded as the interiors story of the season. The idea is to keep tones [...]
April Fool’s Day 2016: Here are the internet’s most groan-inducing gags April 1, 2016 April Fool's is the best day of the year for bored product designers: all the bonkers inventions that would never pass the pitching stage have made it onto the internet this morning. Here's our round-up of the best jokes the ad-men and women have thrown at us so far today. How gullible are you? Take our April Fool quiz [...]
City Moves for 1 April 2016 | Who’s switching jobs April 1, 2016 Squire Patton Boggs Squire Patton Boggs has announced that Andrew Herring has been appointed partner in the London office. Andrew, a well-known rail and transportation sector lawyer, will join the firm’s real estate practice, working with the global infrastructure and construction groups. He joins from DWF. He specialises in advising public and private sector clients [...]
Brockton Capital buys into Shoreditch Village scheme April 1, 2016 Two families regenerating a derelict site in London's trendy Shoreditch area have brought new investors on board after selling part of the scheme to Brockton Capital. The run-down site between Shoreditch High Street and Great Eastern Street was originally a Victorian timber yard and has been privately-owned by the Hall and White families for over 40 years. The proposed scheme, [...]
Five surprising facts about London’s shoppers March 31, 2016 As the spring sun slowly crawls up the Thames and warms up London’s cold streets, people are emerging from their winter cocoons to embark on some springtime shopping. The longer, brighter and warmer days all make for happier and more comfortable trips to Oxford Street, Brick Lane and Westfield. But who is really making their flexible friend work [...]
Join City A.M. for a live mayoral debate clash March 31, 2016 There's no doubt about it, London’s mayoral election campaign is getting dirty. The two leading candidates, Labour’s Sadiq Khan and Tory Zac Goldsmith are trading blows on everything from funding pledges to character attacks. When it comes to policy, one of the central debates can be found on the age-old battleground of London politics: transport fares. [...]
Peer-to-peer lending: What will happen in a downturn? March 30, 2016 Speak to any fund manager about their interest in peer-to-peer lending, and they all say the same: “it really needs to go through a business cycle, then I’ll look at it properly”. During the financial crisis, only one P2P lender was in existence – Zopa. Since then, it has been joined by industry heavyweights Funding [...]
EU referendum: The five job sectors already feeling the Brexit squeeze March 30, 2016 The number of job vacancies in the UK has fallen significantly and wage growth has slowed too – and it's the prospect of Brexit which is the most likely to blame. “There are signs that caution is controlling the current UK jobs market and stalling the recovery. One possible explanation is that uncertainty around Brexit means hiring intentions have been [...]
Ikea poised to hand 7,300 staff a Living Wage pay hike this week March 30, 2016 Ikea staff are in line for a pay rise on Friday after the Swedish home furnishings giant pledged to introduce the Living Wage for all of its workers in the UK. The flat-pack furniture retailer said all 6,100 co-workers will receive a minimum of £8.25 nationally and £9.40 in London, as set by the Living [...]
Foyles swings back into black as new Charing Cross flagship becomes a bestseller March 29, 2016 The late Foyle brothers would be proud. The eponymous bookshop they founded over a century ago – initially selling their old textbooks – has returned to profitability after a turbulent few years that saw the company move to a new flagship store on Charing Cross Road. Foyles, which has six book stores in Birmingham, Bristol [...]