High Court rules against hospitality bosses on indoor closures May 5, 2021 Hospitality bosses have lost their legal battle for a quicker reopening of indoor hospitality in England. Punch Taverns founder Hugh Osmond and Sacha Lord, the night-time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, brought a case against the government challenging the current rules. Lord and Osmond said there was no justification or scientific bias for pubs and [...]
Saturday Sitdown: Uber UK boss Jamie Heywood on the recovery, workers’ rights and electric vehicles May 1, 2021 Jamie Heywood, Uber’s top man in the UK, Northern and Eastern Europe, has a spring in his step – at least, as much as you can see that on Zoom. Since the reopening of London’s bars and restaurants, with tables next to heaters prized like rare artefacts, Uber has seen rides spike upwards as Londoners [...]
Covid wipes £9m per hour off UK pub and restaurant sales – totalling £81bn in a year April 30, 2021 The Covid-19 pandemic has wiped £80.8bn off UK pub and restaurant sales after venues were forced to close or operate under strict restrictions for much of the last 12 months. The latest figures showed that sales from the start of April 2020 – a week after the first lockdown began – to the end of [...]
Corona Impact Series: How the chronicle of a storyteller from Dalston turned into a virtual tale April 30, 2021 In this series, City A.M. looks at the financial and economic impact of the ongoing pandemic on a range of small and medium-sized businesses across London. This week: How a creative provider of experience in East London was pushed to go entirely digital overnight, without losing its authenticity and immersiveness. “As Covid hit and the bottom fell out [...]
Captain Tom’s family open fundraising drive at Lords April 30, 2021 Members of Captain Sir Tom Moore’s family were at Lord’s Cricket Ground today to mark the start of the Captain Tom 100 Challenge – a weekend of fundraising in honour of the second world war veteran who raised £38.9m for the NHS at the start of the Coronavirus pandemic. They were joined by former England [...]
Number of Brits on furlough falls by 1m as lockdown eases April 29, 2021 The number of UK workers on furlough fell by more than 1m this month following the first easing of Covid-19 lockdown measures. Official figures published today showed the proportion of the workforce on furlough dropped from 17 per cent to 13 per cent as of 18 April. This equates to roughly 4.3m workers on furlough [...]
US economy grows rapidly in Q1 as consumer spending drives recovery April 29, 2021 The US economy grew by an annualised 6.4 per cent rate in the first three months of the year as the world’s largest economy roars back into life. It was the second-highest figure for one quarter since 2003. Read more: Analysts: UK economy ‘like a punchdrunk boxer hanging off the ropes’ Much of the recovery [...]
City Pub Group expands portfolio in vote of confidence in London’s hospitality sector April 29, 2021 The City Pub Group has increased its stake in two hospitality chains in a vote of confidence in London’s pub sector. It has bought a 49 per cent stake in Barts Pub, the owner of Ladbroke Grove’s Kensington Park Hotel, for £750,000, and will operate the pub under a management contract. The City Pub Group [...]
London-based food-tech platform Taster raises $37m in funding April 29, 2021 London-based digital restaurant platform Taster has raised $37m in series B funding, led by Cazoo-backing firm, the company confirmed today. Backed by the same firm that helped used-car platform Cazoo land its £5bn valuation, Octopus Ventures, Taster has capitalised on the growth seen within the food delivery industry over the last 18 months. “If McDonald’s [...]
Park Plaza operator PPHE looks forward to strong trading when hotels reopen April 29, 2021 Hotel chain PPHE, which operates the Park Plaza brand, said it expects demand to bounce back when restrictions on tourism are lifted. The firm said total revenue in the first three months of 2021 had plummeted 89.6 per cent to £5.3m, due to the ongoing impact of coronavirus restrictions. However PPHE said it had been [...]