Focus On Queen’s Park: Good schools, shops and value lure families to north west London March 3, 2017 Garden towns and villages have made a surprising comeback of late, largely as a by-product of our desperate search for a solution to the housing crisis. The government announced at the start of the year that it intended to build three new towns of 10,000 houses each, in a bid to reach a target of [...]
New homes: Properties going on sale this weekend in a regenerated part of Greenwich, in Hackney and in Croydon March 3, 2017 Kidbrooke Village, Blackheath From £450,000 Live at the centre of a new neighbourhood with one of these new apartments going on sale tomorrow. Birch House is in the Village Centre of Kidbrooke Village, a £1bn regeneration project by Berkeley Homes that will create 4,800 new homes and new parks across 136 acres south of the river. [...]
Monica Galetti interview: The MasterChef judge talks about her imminent restaurant launch, the pressures of television and why she hates being interviewed March 2, 2017 Monica Galetti speaks quickly and without hesitation, racing towards the next full stop like she’s in the conversation equivalent of a relay race. The sooner she finishes speaking, the sooner I can move on to my next question, and the sooner she can get back to doing absolutely anything that isn’t talking to me. To [...]
Sexy Fish review: An intensely glamorous tribute to pan-Asian dining February 28, 2017 Richard Caring’s curiously named fish restaurant opened last year to much fuss and fanfare, a knowingly ostentatious, very shiny and intensely glamorous tribute to pan-Asian dining that feels out of place in London, even at its Berkeley Square address by the Bentley showroom. But while Sexy Fish still feels like it belongs on the [...]
Six of the best pies: We scoured London in search of the meatiest bakes ahead of British Pie Week, a celebration of all things pie from 6-12 March February 28, 2017 Battersea Pie Station 28 The Market Garden, WC2E, £15 for two Once you’ve got over the fact it’s actually in Covent Garden and the owners lied to you for a cheap pun, this place is pretty great. Wean your kids on the Baby Pies with a baby portion of mash, then work up to The [...]
Johnson Service Group says laundering success is good news for Britain February 28, 2017 Johnson Service Group, the UK's largest rental workwear and laundry firm, today revealed bumper annual results. A 45 per cent growth in the firm's profits was good news for the UK, according to boss Chris Sander, who labelled the company a "barometer of Britain's financial health". Read more: In a spin: CMA suggests laundry services broke competition law The Aim-quoted outfit [...]
We revisit the brilliant BMW M3 CSL, the lightweight 2003 classic that’s rocketing in value February 27, 2017 Imagine for a moment you’re in an upmarket restaurant and the conversation is flowing as readily as the red wine. You finish your starter and main, then summon the willpower to skip dessert. But you’re presented with a bill for the full three courses, plus a hefty service charge. That was BMW’s sales pitch for [...]
Terra Firma boss Guy Hands on buying Agent Provocateur, dyslexia and moving on from multi-million EMI loss February 27, 2017 In June last year, Terra Firma dropped a £1.5bn lawsuit against Citi over the acquisition of EMI. It is reported that Guy took a €200m (£168m) hit to his personal fortune as a result of the deal. The Terra Firma boss alleged that Citi misled him into overpaying for the music publisher in 2007. How’s [...]
New homes: The new properties going on sale this weekend in White City, Upton Park, Putney, Chelsea and St James February 24, 2017 Television Centre, White City From £750,000 New homes are going on sale tomorrow at the iconic former home of the BBC in west London. One to three bedroom apartments will go on the market, all with balconies overlooking Hammersmith Park’s Japanese ornamental garden, which was created in 1910 as part of the Japan-Britain exhibition. They [...]
Britain exported more gin than ever last year, generating nearly half a billion pounds February 24, 2017 The results are in: British gin smashed its export record in 2016, official figures have shown. Research by HM Revenue and Customs suggest the UK fuelled the world's gin craze last year, exporting more gin than ever last year, selling booze worth £474m, up 12 per cent from 2015. If current trends continue, exports of gin will hit the [...]