Sadiq Khan’s junk food advertising ban will hurt TfL and marketers, but fail to fight childhood obesity March 4, 2019 Last week, a divisive political leader brought an end to a scourge that threatened our everyday society. No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, whose summit with Kim Jong-un unfortunately failed to achieve the denuclearisation of North Korea. I’m talking instead about London mayor Sadiq Khan, whose ban on junk food advertising on the Transport [...]
‘Chicken king’ Boparan to close a third of Giraffe and Ed’s Diner restaurants March 4, 2019 Giraffe and Ed’s Diner have become the latest casualties in the struggling casual dining sector after the restaurant chains’ owner said it will close a third of their branches. The Boparan Restaurant Group (BRG), which is owned by ‘chicken king’ Ranjit Singh Boparan, is widely reported to have entered a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) that will [...]
KFC taps London fintech startup Flux for paperless payments March 4, 2019 KFC has launched a partnership with London fintech startup Flux which will see the US fried chicken chain go paperless. From today, users of digital banks Monzo and Starling, as well as select Barclays customers in the near future, will be able to receive digital itemised receipts for transactions in their banking apps when they [...]
Focus On Roehampton: Thinking of living in Wandsworth? Consider this leafy spot instead and you could save £100,000 February 22, 2019 The thing about university towns is they’re always full of students. This doesn’t just make them a great property investment for Revolution bars and Wetherspoons, but also for landlords who fear void periods, even if it means occasionally having to get Pot Noodle stains out of the carpet. The University of Roehampton – incidentally, the [...]
Villa la Massa hotel review: Laura Millar leaves the crowds behind for a suite spot just outside Florence… February 22, 2019 It’s the romantic destination you pick when you want to avoid the cliché of Rome, but Florence has just as much history, culture, and amazing food, frankly. However, it can get a bit crowded. The solution? Stay a little outside the city, where it’s cooler, quieter, and you can have easier access to some of [...]
City Moves for 22 February – Who’s switching jobs at ICG, Duff & Phelps and M3 Consulting? February 22, 2019 Today's City Moves cover International Capital Group, Duff & Phelps and M3 Consulting. Take a look at these movers and shakers. Intermediate Capital Group Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) has announced the appointment of Jamie Rivers as a managing director in the UK equity and mezzanine team. He has joined from BC Partners, where he worked [...]
Focus On Wanstead: Families flock to ‘the Twickenham of East London’, where houses near green spaces have sold for seven digits February 15, 2019 There was a time when Wanstead, an unusually leafy spot of east London, was most famous for its Member of Parliament. They don’t come much more recognisable than Sir Winston Churchill, who served Wanstead from 1924 up to 1964 with a patch of absence in the middle for his Wilderness Years. But there’s one other [...]
Luke Johnson will see his reputation recover from Patisserie Valerie’s fraud scandal February 14, 2019 Warren Buffett once said that “bad things aren’t obvious when times are good”. It is a statement that rings painfully true in the case of Luke Johnson, who was riding high last year with a £250m fortune, when the bad things – an alleged long-term fraud of Patisserie Valerie accounts – were apparently far from obvious. [...]
Meet the banker-turned-restaurateur bringing the City’s dining scene to life February 14, 2019 Whatever happened to the liquid lunch? It is a question often asked with nostalgia throughout the Square Mile. Traders in pubs, City executives in boardrooms, journalists and lawyers in wine bars; the sight and smell of booze at noon was at one point in time as much a part of the City’s identity as pin-stripes [...]
The Restaurant Group shares fall as chief executive Andy McCue prepares to step down February 14, 2019 The Restaurant Group (TRG) led the market fallers this morning after chief executive Andy McCue surprised the City by announcing plans to resign "due to extenuating personal circumstances". TRG's share price plunged almost 15 per cent in morning trading following a statement today from McCue, who is set to remain in his position until a new boss is [...]