Shaftesbury raises cash to expand March 3, 2011 LONDON landlord Shaftesbury yesterday tapped investors for £102m in a share placement to help fund acquisitions as more assets come up for sale in its core West End market. The real estate investor, which owns more than 500 shops, restaurants and bars in the West End, said it had placed 22.7m new ordinary shares at [...]
Whitbread in sales setback from Premier March 2, 2011 WHITBREAD yesterday reported slowing sales growth at its Premier Inn chain and warned over tough times for consumers. The group, which also owns Britain’s biggest coffee shop chain Costa, reported sales growth of 5.1 per cent at Premier Inn hotels open for more than a year in the quarter to 17 February, a slowdown from [...]
Why Marrakech is now the fashionable place to relax February 27, 2011 WANDER into Marrakech’s famous souk and you can find all manner of unctions, ointments and powders intended to cure ills, sooth skin, clear airways and put a spring in your step. Among alley after alley of cloth and leather merchants, pottery shops, brass vendors, blacksmiths, and hawkers of every kind of tat, are spice stalls [...]
Travel Notes February 27, 2011 ROCK OUT AT ZERMATT Those after late-season Alpine adventures – with a twist – should make for Zermatt, where Zermatt Unplugged, the resort’s annual music festival, will be rocking out in the shadow of the mighty Matterhorn. Past performers include Suzanne Vega, Alanis Morissette and Lionel Ritchie and this year Seal, David Gray and One [...]
London’s hidden property gems February 24, 2011 ROTHERHITHE, SE16 The renaissance of this former dock has gone largely unnoticed, and house prices are generally cheaper than surrounding areas. Carl Davenport, of estate agents Chesterton Humberts, says Rotherhithe is the “overlooked neighbour” of Tower Bridge. “Prices are in many cases cheaper by up to 20 per cent on a like to like basis,” [...]
Wareing’s next stop: St Pancras February 23, 2011 MARCUS Wareing appears, sleek in dark clothes, at the building site that is soon to be the Gilbert Scott, his first restaurant since his flagship at the Berkeley. With his silky-looking clothes, graceful step and searing blue eyes, he looks like what he is: the sort of man who understands and presides over Michelin stars [...]
PROOF THAT SEX SELLS AS RACY DOMAIN NAME BREAKS WORLD RECORD February 22, 2011 ACCORDING to the famous TV theme, “Dedication’s what you need; if you wanna be a record breaker”. And it looks like the sellers of the Sex.com domain name should be grateful to internet users everywhere for their dedication to illicit surfing – the £8.2m sale of the address last year means it has been officially [...]
Brewing up a storm February 21, 2011 LIKE so many people, I take my food and wine seriously. I won’t drink unnaturally pink California zinfandels and I turn my nose up at Jacob’s Creek. Wine-tasting courses and many meals in good restaurants have left their imprint. I care about quality – I’m a snob, and I’m not afraid to show it. Why [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 20, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS JET TRAVEL REBOUNDS AS RICH SPLASH OUT FOR PRIVACY Private jet travel, shunned in the recession as a sign of ostentation, is recovering in a further sign that the world’s richest people are spending more freely again. The number of business flights – which includes celebrity, state and business hire – grew [...]
2011 is the year that London becomes the world’s best place to stay February 20, 2011 JUST when it seemed as though London couldn’t fit another slice of luxury into its five star-crammed hotel scene, along comes… well, everything. This has been a huge year for the capital. The completion of the spectacular £200m refurb of the Savoy sparked the buzz of excitement. Since then, Park Lane has seen the rebirth [...]