The latest gimmick (or the next big thing): Cheese and coffee March 17, 2015 How does a new restaurant make its mark on a London foodie scene already reaching saturation point? There’s the old fashioned way: serving great food at a reasonable prices. And there’s the 21st century way: coming up with a gimmick, a weird pairing, some novelty way of serving or ordering food, something to make people [...]
From BHS and John Lewis to TSB and the Apple Watch: What got us talking this week? March 13, 2015 Jeremy Clarkson punched a man over a steak. Blurred Lines went from being the song with questionable gender politics to being a Marvin Gaye rip-off. And somewhere above our heads, a pilot got bored and drew rude pictures using GPS flight data. Here is what got us talking at City A.M. 1. After 15 [...]
Bonus at John Lewis drops on Waitrose sales March 12, 2015 JOHN Lewis Partnership slashed staff bonuses to 11 per cent of pay, the lowest level for 12 years, after profits fell at its grocery chain Waitrose. The partnership’s 93,800 employees will receive a total pay out of £156.2m, which is equivalent to nearly six weeks’ salary. The supermarket price war, a deflationary market and a significantly [...]
Focus on Battersea: Home of dogs, cats, families and riverside living March 12, 2015 Battersea’s venerable institutions – from its power station to its Dogs and Cats Home – often overshadow its considerable success as a residential destination. While houses easily soar over the £1m mark in this part of south-west London, UK buyers still account for 76 per cent of the market, 80 per cent of whom use [...]
Private View: On the market in Battersea March 12, 2015 HONEYWELL ROAD £1.695m This good-sized family house is on a popular road that’s in the catchment area of Honeywell Primary School. It boasts a south-facing garden and five bedrooms spread across 2,200sqft of space, including a master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom in a converted loft space on the top floor. Contact sales agent Hamptons [...]
Restaurant review: Typing Room is a local with verve March 10, 2015 On the ever-spinning carousel that is the London restaurant scene, there are inevitably winners and losers. When Nuno Mendes packed up Viajante to help create London’s most papped eatery, Chiltern Firehouse, it seemed Bethnal Green would be one of the losers. But the space he vacated – the old town hall off Cambridge Heath road, [...]
Spoil your mother with foodie treats March 10, 2015 Balthazar’s Mother’s Day Goodie Bag Forget flowers, send your mum a gourmet breakfast in bed instead. £30, 24-hour notice required, 020 3301 1155 British hero menu at Skylon Three courses of comforting classics at the Royal Festival Hall’s restaurant on Sunday. £45, skylon-restaurant.co.uk Jazz brunch at Northall Boogie down with mother this brunchtime at the [...]
Battersea Power Station office development details revealed March 9, 2015 BATTERSEA Power Station’s Boiler House will be transformed into 450,000 square feet of offices set around a 26-metre-high atrium for businesses to “create networks and broker deals”, according to new details revealed yesterday. The building’s owners, which have launched the office phase of the development, unveiled the first images of the interiors, which are being [...]
Pizza Express takes a slice out of home market March 9, 2015 Pizza Express yesterday reported strong half-year trading with like-for-like sales ahead by 6.8 per cent in the 28 week period to 11 January 2015. Chief executive Richard Hodgson said the restaurant chain’s strong performance is down to new openings, continuous innovation and a record Christmas trading period, which saw like-forlike growth of 11.2 per cent [...]
Coffee-to-go speculation at Tesco as another top executive departs March 9, 2015 TESCO yesterday lost another senior executive after the man in charge of its in-store dining, Michael Holmes, stepped down. Holmes served as the director of a number of Tesco’s businesses, including restaurant chain Giraffe, coffee shop Harris + Hoole, in-store restaurant Decks and Tesco’s Euphorium bakeries. The exit follows a string of departures that have [...]