Exclusive: Gaucho owner to shut City icon M Restaurant next week May 12, 2025 Iconic Square Mile dining spot M Restaurant is to shut for good next week after 10 years serving steak to the City. The move comes after founder Martin Williams left M’s parent company Rare Restaurants in October. City AM understands new chief executive Baton Berisha, who assumed the role in March following spells at The [...]
Pizza Hut: The fortune owed by firm behind UK restaurants before rescue May 12, 2025 The company behind Pizza Hut’s restaurants in Britain owed more than £50m as it collapsed before being rescued, it has been revealed. Heart With Smart (HWS) was saved in January by an entity controlled by investment firm Directional Capital in a deal which salvaged all but one Pizza Hut location. Its new owner was the [...]
Soho House: New venue reveals opening date after long delays May 9, 2025 A new opening date has been revealed for the UK’s latest Soho House location which has been beset by long delays. The private members’ club, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is now targeting October as the launch month for its new venue in Manchester. The new location will be based at [...]
Champagne Lanson sales fail to fizz as prices rise May 9, 2025 Champagne Lanson suffered a sharp drop in its UK sales in 2024 as drinkers turned their backs on bars and restaurants amid the cost-of-living crisis. New accounts filed with Companies House show the brand’s turnover was slashed from £45.2m to £35.5m last year while its pre-tax profit also fell from £1.7m to £819,000. The champagne [...]
‘Richard Branson told me not to start my business’: Gravita CEO Caroline Plumb May 8, 2025 We dig into the memory bank of the City’s great and good. Today, Gravita CEO Caroline Plumb tells us about her life as a serial entrepreneur.
Transforming Elephant & Castle May 8, 2025 Elephant & Castle is changing, but its unique cultural history will be protected too, says Rick de Blaby Elephant & Castle is named after a coaching inn at a major crossroads, with the first recorded reference in 1765. By the early 20th century it was known as “The Piccadilly Circus of South London”, centred on [...]
Why going all-inclusive in the Maldives gets the best of paradise May 6, 2025 Ruth Jessop was surprised when she feel for all-inclusive life in the Maldives I’m sitting on a tiny seaplane with twelve other people. We’re packed in tightly: there’s barely enough room to stand up, and most of us are knocking elbows with the other passengers, and jetlagged. The journey to the Maldives has been long [...]
The Vineyard in Berkshire is the perfect pre-summer holiday May 6, 2025 With the weather improving but summer holidays still a way off, it’s the perfect time to cast around for mini-break options closer to home. The UK’s luxury spa market has recovered strongly from the hospitality-wide hit at the beginning of the decade, but how to distinguish between the many options? The Vineyard in Berkshire has [...]
Papa Johns to serve up profit after closing over 40 sites May 6, 2025 The UK boss of pizza giant Papa Johns has revealed the company is eyeing a return to profit in 2025 after closing more than 40 restaurants last year. Managing director Chris Phylactou confirmed the business is “no longer losing money” and is on track to report its first UK profit since 2021. Speaking on an [...]
In memory of Richard Vines, a sage and a gentleman May 6, 2025 My friend Richard Vines, chief restaurant critic of Bloomberg for 25 years, passed away this week. A champion of both genius chefs and restaurateurs, he was a wonderful man who I admired hugely. Over the last few days, I have been reminded of some magnificent City lunches with Richard; at Kym’s by Andrew Wong, after [...]