Long Weekend: Tackle the French Alps in Chamonix, the perfect resort for a snow-filled weekend getaway March 13, 2017 The weekend: Hitting the mountain is often an annual affair – the same week, the same place, the same friends. While this might give you something to look forward to it’s worth remembering how easy it is to simply grab your gear and treat yourself to a weekend adventure. If you worked on Thursday and [...]
Focus On Kensal Rise: This north west London town ticks all the boxes for a place that’s due a price rise March 10, 2017 How can you tell if a place is about to get seriously popular? Well, there are a few signs that you can look out for; plenty of Victorian architecture; well-to-do neighbours; improving schools; green space; and a sudden proliferation of independent shops and restaurants. Kensal Rise in north west London ticks all of these boxes [...]
London’s best places to buy a pied-a-terre: Thinking of selling up for a landing pad in the city? Here are the best locations March 10, 2017 For those disenchanted Londoners considering a move to the country, but afraid of spending half their lives on commuter trains, buying a pied-à-terre could be the solution. For a fraction of the price that you would sell a family home in London, hard-working city executives can hole up close to the office during the week, [...]
The Restaurant Group’s share price has jumped as it reveals its turnaround plan after a tough 2016 March 8, 2017 After a challenging 2016, The Restaurant Group (TRG) said it is ready to pursue a new turnaround plan to grow its business. The figures The Frankie & Benny's owner said total like-for-like sales fell 3.9 per cent while revenue increased 3.7 per cent to £710.7m, in line with expectations for the year to 1 January. Adjusted pre-tax profit [...]
Mark Hix says you should borrow some sugar beet from a friendly farmer March 7, 2017 Why don't we regard sugar beet as a vegetable like swede or turnips or parsnips or even its close relative the beetroot? It is commonly grown as a rotation crop in conjunction with wheat, barley and pulses, used to return organic matter into the soil and prevent the build-up of disease. It’s grown in some [...]
Just Eat share price jumps as takeaway firm reports 42 per cent increase in orders March 7, 2017 Just Eat has reported a jump in order numbers in 2016, which in turn pushed revenues and profit up. The figures Orders were up 42 per cent to 136.4m, from 96.2m in 2015, and up 36 per cent on a like-for-like basis. Revenues increased 52 per cent to £375.7m from £247.6m, and underlying earnings before [...]
Brexit, Isis and attracting entrepreneurs: Just some of the challenges faced by mid-market private equity firm Livingbridge March 6, 2017 Private equity firm Livingbridge will likely be tied to its former name, Isis Equity Partners, for some time to come. In 2014, shortly before turning 20 years old, Isis chose to change its name in light of the rising prominence of its namesake terrorist organisation. “It was kind of fine [prior to 2014],” says Wol [...]
The world-famous ski resorts of Vail and Breckenridge are enjoying huge investment. We head up into the Rockies to investigate March 3, 2017 So famous are the Back Bowls of Vail in the skiing world that, this being America, you would expect them to be trademarked. To anyone who loves the rush of downhill skiing, these giant geological saucers 3.5 kilometres up the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, are the Holy Grail of winter sports. In size and scale [...]
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. [...]