Wendy’s plots UK launch in 12,000-job burger boost May 9, 2021 American fast food chain Wendy’s is plotting a return to the UK in a move that will create more than 12,000 jobs. The burger chain is opening its first store in Reading next month and is eyeing as many as 400 sites. The company, which will compete with Burger King and McDonalds, pulled out of [...]
Covid prevalence drops across England with 1 in 1,180 infected May 7, 2021 The prevalence of Covid-19 infections in England has fallen for the fourth week in a row, although the decline has slowed alongside widespread easing of lockdown restrictions across the country. Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that 1 in 1,180 people in England were estimated to have been infected with coronavirus [...]
HMRC’s fraud hotline inundated with 91,000 calls in first nine months of pandemic May 6, 2021 HMRC’s fraud hotline received more than 91,000 calls during the first nine months of the pandemic, with concerns about furlough fraud likely to be behind many of the calls. On average 10,000 calls per month were made to HMRC’s hotline from April to December 2020, according to HMRC figures, an increase of around 1,000 calls [...]
Mayor of London election: What did the candidates say about the City of London? May 6, 2021 Londoners are heading to the polls today to decide who their next mayor will be. The pandemic has been particularly hard for the City, with workers, tourists and other visitors vanishing as lockdowns were imposed. Shops, restaurants, and pubs all had to pull their shutters down and offices emptied. Let’s take a look at what [...]
‘Freedom day’: Pub bosses wipe down the bar for a 21 June return May 5, 2021 The UK’s pub bosses are wiping the bar down for a June return, coined “freedom day”, urging prime minister Boris Johnson to stick to his roadmap for the easing of restrictions. JD Wetherspoon, Greene King, Slug & Lettuce owner Stonegate and Young’s have all expressed their intentions for a 21 June return of bar service, [...]
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 [...]