Business received more than it hoped for in this year’s Autumn Statement December 7, 2014 It may not be as exciting as an iPad or as romantic as jewellery, but George Osborne’s Autumn Statement last week was in many ways business’s equivalent of Christmas, with rewards for some – and coal for others. On the whole, however, the picture for the City was positive, with action proposed for some of [...]
Restaurateur Des McDonald discusses the burger revolution, forests and what it means to have cooking in your blood December 7, 2014 Sitting in your own month-old restaurant would be extremely exciting for most people. It is for Des McDonald too, except this is one of six – and they’ve all opened within the last two years. His second branch of The Fish & Chip Shop is the latest, and it’s bringing the City what McDonald describes [...]
Pret a Manger-owner Bridgepoint to buy Zizzi and Ask for £250m December 1, 2014 Private equity giant Cinven has agreed to sell its portfolio of Ask Italian and Zizzi restaurants to Pret a Manger-owner Bridgepoint for £250m. The deal marks Cinven’s exit from the Gondola Group after it sold both its Pizza Express and Byron restaurant chains over the past 18 months for around £1bn combined. Cinven took the [...]
Vodafone eyes up Tesco’s video service Blinkbox November 30, 2014 Vodafone is eyeing up Tesco’s video streaming service Blinkbox following its chief executive’s comments that the firm intends to push into home broadband and TV in the UK next year. While the mobile operator is looking at Blinkbox, along with a number of other interested parties, it is “nowhere near final terms on a deal,” [...]
Asia and North America fuels profits at SSP November 27, 2014 TRAVEL catering giant SSP delivered a strong jump in profits in its maiden full-year results since floating this summer, fuelled by growth across its businesses in North America and Asia Pacific. The group, which runs travel concessions for retailers such as Marks & Spencer, said underlying pre-tax profits, which exclude IPO costs, rose 61.4 per [...]
Focus on Victoria: Grab a prime bargain in SW1 November 27, 2014 Victoria has long been a place of work, but it’s been a while since it’s been a place to live. Dominated by a mixture of grey government office blocks and its various transport hubs, it certainly doesn’t fit the desirable London village trend. But that may be about to change. Developer Land Securities [...]
It doesn’t get more central than The Beecham in Covent Garden November 27, 2014 Covent Garden, that stretch of meandering streets off The Strand that culminates in the famous piazza, has been through every stage of London life. It started out, as many of the City’s suburbs did, as countryside, serving as gardens for Westminster Abbey. Then came its first gentrification phase when Henry VIII seized the land [...]
Britvic sweetens UK with launch of French syrup November 26, 2014 BRITVIC is planning to launch its French-based syrup brand Teisseire in the UK next year as it steps up its exposure to the premium drinks market and targets adults with a sweet tooth. The Robinsons and Fruit Shoot maker said it would launch the drink on supermarket shelves as well as in coffee chains, bars [...]
M&B is upbeat despite a 13pc decline in profit November 25, 2014 UK PUB and restaurant operator Mitchells & Butlers posted promising results yesterday, despite recording a 13 per cent loss in profits for the financial year ended 27 September. The Birmingham-based firm saw its pre-tax profit fall to £123m for the year, from £142m last year. It said a key drag on profits came from integrating [...]
Mince pies with a very Spanish twist by Salt Yard chef Ben Tish November 25, 2014 Ben Tish, executive chef of Salt Yard, Ember Yard, Opera Tavern and Dehesa talks mince pies. I was brought up on mince pies. My gran made them with puff pastry and they were amazing. After she passed away my parents switched over to M&S ones. I’ve always loved them and I’ve always cooked [...]