Whitbread shares plunge after “unusually warm winter” slows Costa sales March 3, 2016 Whitbread shares plunged by more than 4 per cent this morning after an “unusually warm winter” meant Costa’s sales slowed. The figures In the 11 weeks to 11 February, Whitbread revealed like-for-like sales at the coffee chain were up 0.5 per cent. Total sales were up 10.5 per cent. Like-for-like sales across Whitbread’s hotels and restaurants, [...]
A tale of two grills: Bukowski Charcoal Grill and Boyds Grill & Wine Bar March 1, 2016 BUKOWSKI CHARCOAL GRILL 10-11 D'Arblay Street, W1f 8DT Tel: 020 3857 4756 FOOD ★★☆☆☆ | VALUE ★★★★☆ | ATMOSPHERE ★★☆☆☆ Cost for two with beer and cocktails: £70 – – – – – – – – – – – BOYDS GRILL & WINEBAR 8 Northumberland Ave, WC2N 5BY Tel: 020 7808 3344 FOOD ★★★★☆ | VALUE [...]
Off The Beaten Track: Explore the secret(ish) Mayan ruins of Tulum, Mexico’s hidden gem February 29, 2016 Where? Cancun is as close to tourist hell as I can imagine – like if Portugal’s Algarve had sex with Las Vegas and put a sombrero on the child – but if you drive two hours south, you will find the pristine beaches, jungles and hidden Mayan ruins of Tulum – and not a spring [...]
Businesses in Marble Arch team up to launch improvement district February 29, 2016 Businesses in Marble Arch and Edgware Road have backed plans to invest £2.5m in sprucing up the west London area after launching a new business improvement district (BID). Over 78 per cent of businesses, retailers, restaurant and hotels from Marble Arch and northern Park Lane voted in favour of setting up the new group to [...]
City Living: Kenmont Gardens in Kensal Rise is the most impressive church conversion you’ve ever seen February 25, 2016 A lot can change in ten years. Chamberlayne Road, the jugular vein of Kensal Rise that pumps all life between Ladbroke Grove and Willesden Green, was once the drive-by-shooting capital of London. Now, it’s packed with pubs, music venues, boutiques and restaurants and the surrounding streets are populated by a host of celebrity admirers and [...]
West End hostage: Police arrest 39-year-old man after taking waitress, two diners hostage in Bella Italia, Leicester Square February 25, 2016 Police have arrested a man after a two-hour hostage standoff at a West End restaurant last night. Dozens of Met officers surrounded the Bella Italia on Irving Street, just off Leicester Square at around 8:50pm last night after a man took a waitress hostage. The suspect is believed to have armed himself with a knife from [...]
Shopping centre giant Westfield pushes ahead with $10.5bn expansion as annual profits rise February 24, 2016 Westfield Corporation, the Australian shopping centre behemoth that owns two of London’s biggest malls, delivered upbeat results for 2015, in its first full-year since splitting its empire into two. The retail landlord, which spun off its Australian and New Zealand operations into a separate business in 2014 to focus on its growing international business, made [...]
Galley on Upper Street in Islington is nice: but we should aim higher February 23, 2016 We can afford to be discerning about things, us Londoners, what with all the lovely London stuff we have, Londoning the place up. “Isn’t everything here great compared to the things in places that aren’t London?” we say to each other, smiling and knowing it to be true. Take restaurants: we have heaps of them, [...]
Deliveroo co-founder Will Shu talks buffalo wings, concerned ex-colleagues and hedging bankers February 22, 2016 By the time Will Shu, co-founder of Deliveroo, launched his company, he knew acutely what problem he was trying to solve. The former investment banker grew up in Connecticut, went to college in Chicago and then went straight to work for Morgan Stanley in New York. “This was 2001, and things were very different then. The [...]
Frenchie in Covent Garden and Native on Neal’s Yard are both fantastic February 16, 2016 NATIVE Neal's Yard, Covent Garden Tel: 0203 638 8214 FOOD ★★★★☆ | VALUE ★★★★★ | ATMOSPHERE ★★★☆☆ Cost for two with two rounds of beer: £50 – – – – – – – – – – – FRENCHIE 16 Henrietta St, Covent Garden Tel: 0207 836 4422 FOOD ★★★★★ | VALUE ★★★☆☆ | ATMOSPHERE ★★★☆☆ Cost [...]