Greene King brews up record-breaking Christmas January 13, 2014 Pub retailer Greene King has posted a rise in like-for-like sales of five per cent for the last six weeks. The company achieved a six per cent rise in like-for-like sales over the years two most important trading weeks. Christmas Day proved to be the most successful in the company's history, with 62,000 meals sold, [...]
London skyline gets a £1.2bn Chinese fortune January 11, 2014 CHINESE state-owned Greenland Group has made its first foray into the UK market with a £1.2bn swoop on two major London developments – which could see it build the tallest skyscraper in Canary Wharf. The property giant yesterday signed a deal to buy developer Minerva’s Ram Brewery, a historic seven acre site in Wandsworth claimed [...]
The Long View: Stop speaking like a corporate robot – for the sake of capitalism itself January 9, 2014 HERE’S a new year’s resolution for business: learn to speak human. The state of business language as a whole remains an abiding scandal. HSBC’s coinage of “demising” as a euphemism for “sacking” led last year’s pack, but corporate statements that resemble something delivered by an alien with a glitchy translator are hardly rare. I’ve written [...]
Why raising the minimum wage is not the best way to help Britain’s poorest January 8, 2014 IT IS widely rumoured that the government is moving towards a commitment to increase the national minimum wage (NMW) well above levels suggested by the – usually fairly sensible – Low Pay Commission. This may be good news for some workers, but I’m not convinced that it is sensible policy. Temporarily recognising the constraints on [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 8 January 2014 January 7, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES UBS and Credit Suisse to pare back Switzerland’s two largest lenders are prepared to scale back their investment banking operations further if the country’s strict capital rules become even more onerous, their chairmen have said. UBS and Credit Suisse have made cuts of different magnitudes to their investment banks, but a heated political [...]
London skyline gets a £1.2bn Chinese fortune January 7, 2014 CHINESE state-owned Greenland Group has made its first foray into the UK market with a £1.2bn swoop on two major London developments – which could see it build the tallest skyscraper in Canary Wharf. The property giant yesterday signed a deal to buy developer Minerva’s Ram Brewery, a historic seven acre site in Wandsworth claimed [...]
Review: Ballaro, Haverstock Hill January 7, 2014 RESTAURANT WHERE 154 Haverstock Hill, NW3 2AY Tel: 0207 586 1107 FOOD One Star VALUE One Star ATMOSPHERE Two Stars Cost for two with wine: £130 THERE’S a theory that the range of choices available in our modern, Western lives, while producing a wonderful aggregate effect of driving standards up and prices down, can be [...]
Head to the glittering lights of Glasgow for culture and cuisine January 5, 2014 Helen Ochyra gets acquainted with the food, and cattle, of the city set to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014 IF YOU had asked me last month which UK city has the best shopping district (apart from London), I’d have gone for Brighton, with its bohemian boutiques, or Newcastle for its vast Metro Centre. I’d [...]
Arts and lifestyle highlights for the next twelve months January 5, 2014 From Glastonbury to Shakespeare to Matisse, you won’t be short of things to do in 2014 MUSICArcade Fire confirmed as headliners for Glastonbury 2014The Glastonbury 2014 lineup is being kept under-wraps until summer, but that hasn’t stopped rumours surfacing thanks to loose-tongued artists and hints dropped by organiser Emily Eavis. Arcade Fire instigated a flurry [...]
A Merry Christmas and thanks for your support during 2013 December 19, 2013 AFTER months of speculation about how the markets would react to the gradual phasing out of monetary stimulus in the US, we got part of our answer over the last 36 hours. And, it has to be said, it’s so far so good. Some assumed that even a hint of a tightening of monetary policy [...]