Marston’s broad base of casual dining pubs creates new opportunities and steers clear of industry headwinds November 27, 2016 City centres like London are oversaturated with pubs and casual dining restaurants, but investing outside the obvious locations opens up new opportunities, according to Marston's chief executive Ralph Findlay. While the company's city centre pubs are performing well, analysts said Marston's broad geographic base is what will help the company meet the cost pressures and headwinds facing the industry. Instead of [...]
Focus On Peckham: How it went from Only Fools fame to be the first time buyer capital of London November 25, 2016 Whatever you think about 2016, it’s been a billboard year for Peckham. Two large houses near Peckham Rye station sold £2.5m this year, a record price for the area, firmly cementing SE15’s fast-growing reputation as a desirable place to live. It’s not bad for an area that is embedded in the national psyche as the [...]
Property of the Week: Church Grove in Kingston, an enormous Victorian treasure on the edge of a royal park, is on sale for £2.695m November 25, 2016 If you have a conservatory in your house, you’re considered pretty lucky. But few have one that was built in the 19th century that’s secured with a stable door straight from Hampton Court Palace. Church Grove, a six-bedroom house in Kingston-Upon-Thames, does though. Foxtons has been marketing the unusual feature as a “sun room”, but [...]
How hotels and travel websites can fight back against Airbnb’s audacious move into Trips November 24, 2016 For sheer chutzpah, it’s difficult to beat Airbnb’s announcement that is expanding its home sharing platform to offer holistic travel experiences. Not content with disrupting the hotel trade, the hosting service wants to put its live like a local stamp on the global tourism sector, in a pitch for the complete customer journey including ultimately [...]
Bang for your buckwheat – here’s where Londoners say they pay over the odds for dinner November 24, 2016 While there are plenty of budget-friendly food options in England's capital, dining in some restaurants – and in some neighbourhoods – can come with a staggeringly steep price tag. Harden's London Restaurants Guide for 2017, released Wednesday, revealed the results of its 26th annual survey of 7,500 regular restaurant-goers to determine not only which restaurants [...]
Break out the bubbly: Marston’s reports continued profit growth in its premium pubs and beers November 24, 2016 Marston's premium pubs and beers reported profit growth across the board despite cost pressures and economic uncertainty in the sector. The figures The operator of Pitcher & Piano and Revere reported underlying revenue of £905.8m, up seven per cent for the year ended 1 October. Profit before tax increased by seven per cent to £98m. The average profit per pub was up eight [...]
Soho House has unveiled an online interiors business – we catch up with Jayne Demuro, the brains behind the project November 23, 2016 If you’re one of the 30,000 people currently on a waiting list for membership of Soho House, there may be an easier way to bask in the studied cool of its private members’ clubs. The worldwide hospitality brand launched an online retail business this summer that aims to ‘bring the House home’. Your home, specifically. [...]
Hammerson goes on £502m European shopping spree November 23, 2016 Hammerson has been on a European shopping spree, buying up four shopping centres on the continent. The property investor has spent £502m on acquisitions in Germany, Portugal, Spain and Poland, acting with partners VIA Outlets, APG, Meyer Bergman and Value Retail. Its largest purchase was Germany's first established retail centre, a shopping centre in Zweibrucken, on the border between [...]
Mitchells & Butlers reports a drop in annual profits citing cost pressures and competition November 22, 2016 Pub and restaurant operator Mitchells & Butlers announced a drop in like-for-like sales as annual profits fell by more than a quarter for the year ended 24 September. The figures Like-for-like sales were down on the whole by 0.8 per cent, but the company is progressing toward growth with a rise of 0.5 per cent the last eight weeks' sales. Like-for-like food volumes [...]
Focus On Stoke Newington: Why leafy north London enclave Stoke Newington went from zero to hero on the housing market November 21, 2016 Stoke Newington, a leafy north London borough untroubled by a connection to the London Underground network, has become a byword for the kind of middle-class urban elite that drives UKIP voters round the bend. Once dismissed as a undesirable destination, the gentrification of Hackney has seen Stokey’s fortunes turn full-circle, and while it doesn’t yet [...]