Focus on Barnsbury: An elegant oasis between Islington and King’s Cross November 8, 2019 Barnsbury counts bustling King’s Cross and lively Upper Street among its neighbours. But if you were blindfolded and dropped in the middle of one of its streets you’d probably think you were in a sedate suburb rather than the heart of N1. Firstly, it is very quiet – so quiet that, in 2013, one of [...]
Pizza Express owner to pay down debt pile with £80m cash injection November 6, 2019 The Chinese owner of restaurant chain Pizza Express has launched a tender offer to buy up £80m of the company’s unsecured bonds, as it looks to allay concerns about the firm’s financial future. Chinese private equity firm Hony Capital, which bought the company in 2014, appointed financial advisors before crucial talks with creditors last month [...]
Chef’s Table: Flor’s James Lowe invites My Dad Wrote a Porno creator Alice Levine for lunch November 4, 2019 The Lunch: Bread; Anchovy toast, lardo di colonnata, marjoram; Scarlet prawns, orange yuzu kosho; Palourde clam flatbread, spenwood, vin jaune, lautrec garlic; burrata, chestnut, pickled walnuts; Turbot, cultured butter, ‘les molates’ savagnin Alice Levine: Thanks for having me James. I remember when we first met – it was when I was doing supper clubs and [...]
How a Lexus mid-life crisis led to a £3m yacht and a car that outshines Jaguar and Porsche October 30, 2019 A few years ago, at the prestigious Pebble Beach concours in California, the president of the Toyota Motor Company was holding court and pressing flesh. Akio Toyoda, 63, is the grandson of Toyota’s founder and so, you can imagine, he takes enormous pride in its products, and none more so than its luxury off-shoot, Lexus. [...]
Star attraction: Why, after more than 100 years, the Michelin Guide still matters October 30, 2019 This year’s Michelin guide was released to the usual chorus of dissent, complaints that fashionable, progressive restaurants were overlooked in favour of high-ceilinged, soft carpeted establishments where classic cooking is dished up on white linen. “It’s like asking why the Oscars are the number one film award,” says chef and restaurateur Victor Garvey. “There are [...]
KPMG could close Mayfair private members’ club in cost-cutting drive October 27, 2019 Big Four audit firm KPMG is reportedly planning on shutting down its five-storey Mayfair private members’ club as part of a cost-cutting drive. KPMG opened the club in a Mayfair townhouse at 20 Grosvenor Street in 2015. Number Twenty offers guests a private restaurant, a rooftop terrace and client meeting rooms. Read more: KPMG launches [...]
New builds: Homes on the market in London this week, from a Battersea tower to a former camera factory October 25, 2019 Shoreditch Exchange, Shoreditch From £785,000 for a one-bed Two new show homes have just been launched at Regal London’s Shoreditch Exchange. Located on Hackney Road, the development includes 184 one, two and three-bed apartments with access to cinema rooms, a gym and roof terraces, as well as a WeWork office. The show homes, one of [...]
Focus on Victoria: Once just a train station, this central postcode now has an identity all its own October 25, 2019 There was a time not so long ago when Victoria was a train station, not an area. You could be ‘near Victoria station,’ but not ‘in Victoria’. Happily, it’s now made the transition thanks to an explosion of new bars, shops, offices and restaurants which have put the district firmly on the map. “For many [...]
On the right track: We take the world’s slowest express train linking the plush ski resorts of Zermatt and St Moritz October 23, 2019 You could almost feel our compartment teeter over the edge of the crossing as the whole carriage readied cameras and phones to capture the iconic photograph. The Landwasser Viaduct on the Swiss rail network’s Glacier Express is the pièce de résistance of the journey between swish alpine resort towns of Zermatt and St Moritz. And [...]
Bidding war on the cards as Just Eat rejects £4.9bn hostile bid from Prosus October 22, 2019 Just Eat could find itself at the centre of a bidding war after rejecting a hostile £4.9bn bid from investment firm Prosus that threatens to disrupt its merger with Takeaway.com. The firm’s share price leapt 24 per cent to 732.8p despite the rejection in favour of its £8.3bn tie-up with the Dutch Takeaway.com as a [...]