Battersea Power Station to put Frank Gehry and Norman Foster flats on sale October 6, 2014 Hundreds of homes designed by renowned architects Norman Foster and Frank Gehry will go on sale at Battersea Power Station this month, the owners revealed yesterday, with prices starting at £495,000. Gehry Partners and Foster + Partners have designed two schemes for the third phase of development at Battersea Power Station, with 1,305 [...]
Grant Thornton boasts its fifth strong year but CEO Scott Barnes isn’t bragging October 5, 2014 Grant Thornton’s chief executive Scott Barnes is not a man given to extravagant outbursts. Today, the financial adviser’s yearly report boasts of “a fifth successive year of strong results”, with revenue breaking through the £500m mark it had targeted for next year. As Barnes took over as boss six years ago, that consecutive [...]
Manhattan Loft Gardens: Developer behind the Chiltern Firehouse has lofty ideas for Stratford’s Olympic Park October 3, 2014 Everyone’s heard of the Chiltern Firehouse by now; for the past year, the restaurant in Marylebone’s Chiltern Hotel has been the hottest ticket in London. But give it a few years and the great and the good may have moved on to pastures new – London’s newest park, in fact. The team behind the [...]
Prezzo share price reacts as bidders offer £316m for a slice of Italian food chain October 2, 2014 Italian high street restaurant chain Prezzo yesterday confirmed that it had received preliminary proposals for a potential takeover offer. Although Prezzo cautioned that any deal was unlikely to be at a premium to its closing price on Wednesday of 135p per share, or around £316m. Shares in Prezzo yesterday jumped as much as 11 per [...]
Punch founder in £37m Strada restaurant deal September 28, 2014 HUGH Osmond, the entrepreneur behind Pizza Express, Punch Taverns and the insurance group Pearl, has bought the Strada chain of Italian restaurants in a £37m deal. Sun Capital Partners, Osmond’s private equity vehicle, is buying the Strada brand and 43 restaurants from the Tragus Group in a deal announced yesterday. Osmond said his plan for [...]
Business hub London creates property boom September 25, 2014 PROPERTY FIRM of the year As London prices continue to rise, defying fears that the bubble is about to burst, property companies have seen a period of huge growth. Our shortlist, which was very tough to choose, includes companies such as the Berkeley Group and Workspace, which have seen their profits soar in the past [...]
Mitchells & Butlers blames poor weather for August sales slump September 25, 2014 PUBS AND restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers reported a slight 0.6 per cent rise in like-for-like full-year sales yesterday in a trading update, due to mixed performance over the summer. Mitchells & Butlers, whose chains include Harvester and All Bar One, said sales in July were boosted by the World Cup, but that damp weather [...]
Jade Jagger talks motherhood, design and building a matriarchal paradise in Ibiza September 23, 2014 Jade Jagger is tired. She yawns through much of our interview as she potters around her 16th century villa. Perhaps she just feels relaxed in her sleepy village in Ibiza, where she spends the summer with her family. Or maybe it’s only to be expected from this daughter of rock royalty, now an international [...]
I know what you’ll like next summer: How trend forecasting keeps the biggest brands on top September 23, 2014 Will you be gripped by a desire to own a pair of Birkenstocks at some point over the next 12 months? Need a mindfulness holiday retreat in 2016? What about a fridge that connects to the internet, maybe some time in the 2020s? Who knows, right? Well, someone probably does. An entire industry has grown [...]
Eating lunch at your desk again? Here’s how the City does delivery September 23, 2014 Eating al-desko isn’t just about showing your boss you’re the keenest worker-bee in the office. As winter draws nearer it’s also a way of eating your sandwiches without getting frost bite. The latest lunch-break craze in the City allows hungry employees to select, buy and eat their lunch without leaving their office at all. Delivery [...]