Whoppers on choppers: Deliveroo launches first drone-delivery service June 5, 2025 Deliveroo has announced the rollout of a drone-delivery service for takeaways, with early test flights to be carried out in Ireland. Launching in Blanchardstown, Dublin, initial flights will be used to see how effective the drones are in delivering food, with the ultimate aim to expand the service across the UK and Ireland. “We have [...]
Martin Williams: Here are my favourite places to Toast the City June 4, 2025 This month, you can let your thoughts be heard as we open the nominations for ‘Toast the City’, City AM’s inaugural hospitality awards celebrating the best of the Square Mile! For inspiration, debate and disagreement – best made over a pint, or a glass of burgundy, as per your preference – here are a few [...]
The Menorca country manor that will blow you away June 3, 2025 We’re not short of country estates in the UK, and perhaps for that reason, they’re not something we look for when plotting a Euro vacation. But Vestige Son Vell, a newly established boutique hotel in southwestern Menorca, is a stately home that challenges that instinct. It ticks all the boxes for a week in the [...]
Tom Sellers: My message for Gen Z chefs May 29, 2025 Twelve years ago Tom Sellers, aged just 26, launched Restaurant Story. The fine dining restaurant in Bermondsey went on to land two Michelin stars and became one of the most sought-after meal tickets in the land. The menu, which revolved around stories from Sellers’ life, was a hit with both diners and critics, with dishes [...]
Why John Lewis London homes are the death of design May 28, 2025 I’m worried about what new John Lewis-built homes, soon to be built in Ealing, West London, mean for humanity. Hundreds of flats designed by and decked out like a John Lewis showroom is surely the logical extension of where globalised design is going. The world’s interior decor aesthetic is becoming more and more homogenous, repeated [...]
KFC to create over 7,000 UK jobs and open 500 restaurants in £1.5bn move May 27, 2025 KFC has revealed a £1.5bn plan to create more than 7,000 jobs in the UK and Ireland over the next five years and open a further 500 restaurants by 2035. The fast-food giant said £466m will go towards opening new locations focusing on building flagship sites and drive-thrus in “key locations” such as Ireland and [...]
Lanza-grotty? Hardly! Why Lanzarote is actually rather fabulous May 24, 2025 “David Cameron tucks into five-star hotel buffet in Lanzarote,” read a headline in The Mirror in 2016. Lingering over details like the then Prime Minister’s “all inclusive wrist band” and the resort’s “£230 a night price tag”, the newspaper’s clear implication was that Cameron was luxuriating in a paradise no ordinary Brit could aspire to. [...]
Sexy Fish: Billionaire Richard Caring’s restaurant empire reveals losses May 23, 2025 Losses have been revealed for part of billionaire Richard Caring’s high-end restaurant empire, which includes the likes of Sexy Fish, as talks over a potential £1bn sale continue. The 2023 results for Caprice Holding, which also owns Scott’s and Bacchanalia, have only just been published, eight months after the Companies House deadline. The documents show [...]
Mitchells & Butlers: Profit at All Bar One owner jumps as Brits keep spending May 22, 2025 All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers has reported half-year profit ahead of the market despite significant cost headwinds. The All Bar One and Harvester owner told markets this morning that total revenue reached £1,454m in the 28 weeks ended April 12, up four per cent year on year. Operating profit rose 10 per cent to [...]
Martin Williams interview: New Evolv boss on aggressive growth and the closure of M May 22, 2025 In a new series interviewing the judges of our new Toast the City awards, our Life&Style editor sat down with new Evolve Collection boss to talk Terence Conran, aggressive growth and how it feels to see M Restaurant close Few people have had a bigger impact on the City’s food and drink scene than Martin [...]