City Moves for 18 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 17, 2014 Rightster The Aim-listed video distribution and monetisation network has appointed Niall Dore as group finance director. He was previously finance director at Betfair Group, and has also held group financial controller positions at GE Life and Hyder Consulting. Zeus Capital Hugo Chance has been appointed director, head of family offices, at the independent investment bank. [...]
InterContinental Hotels buys US boutique hotel chain for $430m December 16, 2014 INTERCONTINENTAL Hotels Group (IHG) said yesterday it has agreed to buy an American chain of boutique hotels for $430m (£273m). The hotelier, which owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands, has been expanding its stable of brands to appeal to new groups of customers. In 2012, it launched Even hotels, a boutique chain for [...]
Tom’s Kitchen in St Katharine Docks has great food, but who’s it for? December 16, 2014 Food: ★★★★☆Value: ★★★☆☆Atmosphere: ★★☆☆☆ 1 Commodity Quay, St Katharine Docks, E1W 1AZW; Tel: 020 3011 5433 Cost for two with wine: £150 I’m not sure what I think about Tom’s Kitchen, which is a problem because someone’s paying me to tell you about it. There are four in the chain now – five if [...]
Smokehouses will be hot item in Britain next year, says BDO December 14, 2014 A BOOM in smokehouses and barbecues are among the restaurant predictions for 2015, according to advisory firm BDO. In its annual forecast, released today, BDO said this year saw “the continuing rise of the burger, [and] in 2015 we expect new concepts and roll outs in the smoke and barbecue world to have a great [...]
From Vibease to Elon Musk’s underwhelming big reveal, here are nine of the worst inventions of 2014 December 13, 2014 If you're looking for Christmas present ideas, you've come to the wrong listicle. This is all about the worst inventions of 2014, and there have been some real crackers. If you end up with one of these under the tree, you know your family hate you. 1. Pizza Hut's mind-reading menu app We're pretty certain [...]
Whitbread refreshed as Costa and Premier grow December 11, 2014 WHITBREAD yesterday said it was confident of delivering full-year results in line with expectations, after posting another strong quarter of growth from its Premier Inn hotels and Costa Coffee, as both businesses continued to win market share. In a statement, the group said its strong trading momentum from the first half continued into the third [...]
Orange Wednesdays cancelled: Cinema ticket prices have risen by 47 per cent in the 10 years since promotion was introduced December 11, 2014 EE is pulling the plug on Orange Wednesdays. The promotion, which for 10 years has offered two-for-one deals on cinema tickets and Pizza Express restaurants for all Orange users, will come to an end on 25 February next year. Although Valentine’s Day crowds will manage to sneak in a final two-for-one deal for [...]
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 [...]