Captain Tom 100 to raise money on hero’s birthday – how to join April 23, 2021 City A.M. is proud to support the Captain Tom 100, a challenge to raise funds for charities over Captain Sir Tom Moore’s birthday weekend starting next Friday. The event, which will run until Bank Holiday Monday 3 May, will celebrate the remarkable achievements of Captain Tom, who walked 100 laps of his garden raising £38.9m [...]
Corona Impact Series: A Tottenham kitchen on a mission to make Londoners eat more plants April 22, 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. Today: allplants, a plant-based food delivery startup that had no choice but to scale rapidly during the pandemic. The plant-based food brand allplants was created by Jonathan Petrides and [...]
Drinking around the world: The Scots-Armenian wine alliance April 22, 2021 The Scottish Borders are famous for Sir Walter Scott’s old home Abbotsford House, Jedburgh snails and Hawick Balls boiled sweets, as well as being the birthplace of the “voice of rugby” Bill Maclaren. Somehow, it has also become the hub of Armenian wine appreciation and the UK’s centre of south Caucasus viniculture. “I knew Armenia made [...]
Shopper, drinker and diner numbers recover as UK retailers and hospitality firms reopen April 22, 2021 Restaurant and pub reservations soared and shoppers headed back to the high street in vast numbers as coronavirus restrictions on outdoor hospitality and retailers lifted. The latest data showed that UK seated diner reservations on Saturday reached 60 per cent of the levels seen on the equivalent day in 2019, pre-pandemic. Figures were even higher [...]
Booze brand Pernod Ricard set to toast full-year profit growth April 22, 2021 Pernod Ricard today said it forecast strong profit growth for the full year after cashing in on boosted demand for its drinks in the third quarter. The French booze group, which owns brands including Absolut vodka and Beefeater gin, posted sales of €1.9bn (£1.6bn) in the three months to the end of March, up 19 [...]
Buzzbike CEO: Urban bike ownership will be dead in a decade April 21, 2021 It’s been a long-held belief that to make cities greener, more people need to own a bike. That’s not true; I’m of the firm belief that in fact, we’re witnessing the end of bike ownership in urban areas. At the peak of COVID last spring, Boris Johnson stood in his daily briefing and declared we [...]
Pub chain Shepherd Neame toasts strong trading after beer gardens reopen April 21, 2021 UK pub chain Shepherd Neame this morning said trading has been “encouraging” since its beer gardens reopened last week. The firm, which is Britain’s oldest brewer, said more than 200 pubs reopened when restrictions on outdoor trading were lifted on 12 April. The rest of its 316 sites across south east England will reopen on [...]
Drinking around the world: Romanian wines to die for April 20, 2021 My introduction to Romanian wine was inauspicious. It came in one of Count Dracula’s tourist castle hotels in Transylvania. We sat around a coffin-shaped table as a black-suited waiter approached and smiled, revealing not particularly threatening canines. As he brandished the wine list he said, “May I have the pleasure of providing sir with a [...]
Make it to-go: Wagamama boss Emma Woods heads for the exit April 19, 2021 Make it to-go: Wagamama boss heads for the exit
Fintech innovation will be at the heart of London’s recovery April 19, 2021 Over the last week I’ve been out in the City actively showing my support for businesses reopening after lockdown, including getting a long overdue haircut. Local shops, barbers, pubs and restaurants are of course the backbone of places like the Square Mile. But as we look to kickstart a strong, sustainable recovery post-pandemic, what’s also [...]