South African drinkers get their whisky fix with post-Brexit trade deal September 11, 2019 The whisky will keep flowing in Cape Town’s bars and restaurants even after Brexit as the UK initialled a trade deal with South Africa and its neighbours. The economic partnership agreement, which has been agreed in principle, with the Southern African Customs Union and Mozambique will give British business access to a major African market. [...]
‘Tatty and antiquated’: Luton ranked worst large UK airport for fourth year running September 9, 2019 Luton airport has been ranked the worst large airport in the UK for the fourth year running by consumer watchdog Which. Luton managed a 43 per cent customer satisfaction score in a Which survey of 4,499 of its members, who were surveyed about 6,237 airport experiences at UK airports, including passport control and the price [...]
Pubs cash in on bank holiday heatwave but fears grow for restaurant sector September 9, 2019 A sunny spell through the August bank holiday helped London watering holes increase their late-summer sales, according to a closely-followed industry measure. Thirsty punters gravitated to drink-led pubs in the capital, which enjoyed a five per cent like-for-like boost in sales compared to the same period last year. Read more: Wetherspoons toasts no-deal Brexit by [...]
Which London Boy location should Taylor Swift snap up a home in? September 6, 2019 When Taylor Swift released her latest album, Londoners were surprised to find she had penned an ode to our city in a track called London Boy. In the song, she travels around the capital using routes that anyone with a cursory knowledge of the transport system would find completely illogical, such as going from Shoreditch [...]
Weekly Grill: Scott Paton, head chef at Boringdon Hall, tells us about the joy of peaches and an unwanted sausage September 3, 2019 Who are you and what do you do? I’m Scott Paton, head chef at Boringdon Hall Hotel. I oversee all food outlets within the 5-star country house hotel in Devon. Tell us about your new menu We have a new multi-course experience in the pipeline, a journey through the history of the hotel, which dates back to [...]
Johnson Service Group looks for London deals as laundry specialist cleans up on full-year results September 3, 2019 Johnson Service Group is in talks with several companies in London about prospective takeover deals, as the laundry specialist looks to build out its offering in the capital. The Aim-listed company’s chief executive Peter Egan told City A.M. he was looking to “bring on more capacity” in London. “Around the London area you have huge [...]
Wagamama owner Restaurant Group swings to a loss on £115m writedown September 3, 2019 Restaurant Group plunged into the red as it recorded a loss for the first six months of 2019 following its controversial £559m takeover of pan-Asian chain Wagamama. The figures Revenue rocketed 58.2 per cent from £326.1m in the first half of 2018 to £515.9m in the first half of 2019. Restaurant Group fell to a [...]
Focus on Balham: The family-friendly outpost is now pricier than Wimbledon and Putney August 30, 2019 In the post-war era, Balham was mocked as the ‘Gateway to the South’ in that infamous Peter Sellers sketch sending up radio adverts for far-flung holiday destinations. The joke was that nothing much exciting happened there – it was an archetypal dreary suburb. How times have changed. It is now a fiercely sought after location [...]
Franco Manca owner serves up revenue boost August 28, 2019 Franco Manca owner The Fulham Shore reported growing revenues as it continues to expand the pizza chain outside London. The restaurant chain has opened Franco Manca branches in Birmingham, Exeter, Leeds and Edinburgh in first half of the financial year as the group eyes opportunities outside of the capital. It also opened another London branch [...]
Restaurant sector gloom takes a slice out of Pizza Express profit August 28, 2019 Pizza Express has fallen victim to the gloom which has enveloped the casual dining sector, with first half profits shrinking. The company blamed a drop in earnings of nearly one-tenth on “industry-wide cost pressures” in its key home market. Pizza Express, founded in 1965, runs 480 restaurants across Britain and 148 abroad in Asia and [...]