Giant panda numbers are up: see them in Chengdu February 23, 2014 They famously eat shoots and leaves. LISA YOUNG gets up-close and personal with the Chinese city’s most famous residents IT’S a warm August morning, the time of year when the sizzling Chengdu summer gives way to cooler climes. Chengdu sits in a fog-filled bowl 500 metres above sea level in the Sichuan Province of south [...]
Heston Blumenthal serves up a double helping of profits February 17, 2014 PROFITS at Heston Blumenthal’s business empire, which includes the three Michelin-starred Fat Duck restaurant and Knightsbridge’s Dinner, doubled to £2.3m in the year to June last year, accounts filed on Companies House show. The celebrity chef’s holding company SL6 reported a 14.2 per cent jump in sales to £12.8m. It paid out a dividend of [...]
Pub backing helping Brasserie Bar Co think big February 17, 2014 A CHAIN of restaurants named after French chef Raymond Blanc has secured £13.5m of funding to grow its gastropub brand. Brasserie Bar Co, the owner of Brasserie Blanc restaurants, said today that the funds from private equity firm ESO Capital will be used mainly to expand its White Brasserie pub chain. The group, which runs [...]
Kickstarter says hackers stole customer data February 16, 2014 KICKSTARTER, the crowdfunding platform used by thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises, admitted yesterday that US law enforcement had informed it of a major data breach last week. The company said that user’s credit card information had not been accessed, but that some usernames, email addresses and encrypted passwords had been compromised. “We set a [...]
Focus on Kennington: Undiscovered gem in south London February 13, 2014 IT’S HARD to find an area in this city that hasn’t been re-discovered, re-packaged, and re-sold to the highest bidder in recent years. But one pocket of central London still remains an underrated gem, ripe for development, and increasingly attractive to investors. Kennington, located just south of the river from Westminster, has housed a heady [...]
This Valentine’s Day’s most unromantic gestures February 13, 2014 It’s the day before Valentine’s Day. Millions of people are no doubt racking their brains to think of something romantic to do for their loved one, manically typing “Valentine’s ideas” into Google and hoping some fresh idea will have appeared since they first Googled it this morning. The weather’s too bad for a romantic [...]
Londoners back developer plan for Smithfields February 10, 2014 HENDERSON Global Investors said that over half of Londoners had backed its £160m scheme to redevelop part of Smithfield market, as the developer prepares to battle it out with opponents at a public inquiry today. A YouGov poll carried out on behalf of the developer found that 54 per cent of the 1,100 people questioned [...]
West End popularity sees developer Shaftesbury close to fully let February 7, 2014 London’s whirring West End continues to benefit property business Shaftesbury. The FTSE 250 firm, which invests in the area exclusively, has said this morning that its portfolio is “substantially fully let” with domestic and international visitors continuing to flock to the area. Despite adverse weather over Christmas, people have kept up spending in Shaftesbury’s restaurants’ [...]
Inside Track: Supermarket set to repair Russian reputation in London February 6, 2014 THERE’S been many a well-known company, from the likes of retailer Harvey Nichols to the property website Zoopla or even the restaurant website Just Eat, tipped to float on the reviving London new issues market, but it looks likely one of the first companies to make it across the line will be Lenta, which is [...]
The battle for Smithfield Market is heating up. Here’s what you need to know February 3, 2014 As the day of public inquiry into the redevelopment the western end of Smithfield Market approaches, both sides – developer and multi-billion pound investment management firm Henderson on one side and SAVE Britain’s Heritage on the other – are gearing up with their respective arguments for and against Henderson’s proposed scheme. Here is a brief [...]