Serenity and decadence at Dubai’s hottest new hotel June 12, 2011 DUBAI seems an unlikely place for a relaxing holiday at first. Even 2,700 feet up, at the top of the Burj Khalifa tower, the whirr of cranes and speeding Jeeps in every direction makes the sea view throb with activity. My guide points past the hollow half-built skyscrapers jutting across the city skyline to the [...]
Top hampers for summer picnics June 8, 2011 SUMMER is on its way and with that the promise of picnicking with friends, taking in concerts, tennis, festivals and Polo events outdoors (the vision, of course, never involves British rain.) Preparing for such affairs can be a kerfuffle, not least the task of arranging a good picnic and drinks, but thankfully London’s food purveyors [...]
Punch sees sales rise as demerger takes shape June 8, 2011 Pub landlord Punch Taverns has seen food and drink sales rise more than seven per cent in its Spirit division of managed venues in the past quarter. In a bullish trading update, the branded pub and restaurant manager said sunny weather helped like-for-like food sales grow 8.4 per cent while drink sales rose 7.3 per [...]
Two spectacular Mexican resorts, two special locations June 5, 2011 ONE is The Tides, Riviera Maya, a five star resort on Mexico’s east coast in the upmarket district of Riviera Maya, south of Cancun and surrounded by lush, tropical rainforests. The other is Las Ventanas al Paraiso, Cabo San Lucas, an equally lavish resort on Mexico’s west coast, on the Pacific side of the desert [...]
Welcome to London’s business paper June 3, 2011 WELCOME to our first ever Saturday edition to celebrate the greatest and most exciting sporting event of the year. Here at City A.M., we are truly passionate about the Investec Derby as well as horse-racing in general. Our growing numbers of readers in and around London work very hard – but they also love to [...]
WHISKY AT MIDDAY FOR ABERDEEN’S POLAR FEAT June 2, 2011 THE WHISKY came out at noon at Aberdeen Asset Management yesterday to christen the boat the fund managers are sponsoring on its voyage into the Arctic unknown. The Old Pulteney has been designed to withstand some of the harshest conditions on earth, and her six-man crew – led by Scottish explorer Jock Wishart – will [...]
RAMSAY COOKS UP A PROFIT June 1, 2011 GORDON Ramsay shrugged off the acrimonious sacking of his father-in-law Chris Hutcheson last October to post an overall return to profit for his companies yesterday. Cost cuts and the sale of Boxwood Cafe pushed pre-tax profit at Gordon Ramsay Holdings to £2.05m in the year to August 2010, from £0.57m in 2009, although sales fell [...]
REVEALED: HOW RICHARD DESMOND FIRST DRUMMED UP NEW BUSINESS June 1, 2011 EVERYONE has to start somewhere. Even Richard Desmond, the media baron with a personal fortune of £950m who bought Channel Five last July with some spare change he found down the back of his sofa. Desmond started on the road to founding his media empire early – aged 13, in fact, when he took his [...]
Foodie heaven with summer cookery books June 1, 2011 OOOZING summer puddings with fresh forest berries, flame grilled juicy sausages, vibrant crunchy leaf salads and jugs of fragrant fruity Pimms, sipped slowly over balmy evenings. So much of summer is about the food. And, as the holidays approach, culinary enthusiasts are already scanning the cookbooks on offer to see what new treats they can [...]
ALL CHANGE AT LLOYD’S AS IT RINGS 25 YEARS May 26, 2011 IT MAY seem like only yesterday for many City veterans, but today marks 25 years since the first managing agents moved into the landmark Lloyd’s building on Lime Street. So happy anniversary to the insurance giant, which still shows traces of more than 300 years of Lloyd’s history, such as the famous Lutine Bell, which [...]