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 [...]
Shaftesbury sees income growth on West End sites May 25, 2011 LONDON landlord Shaftesbury yesterday posted a first-half rise in underlying net asset value and said it was confident of maintaining outperformance in its income, dividend and capital growth. In the six months to 31 March, the company posted a 5.3 per cent rise in underlying net asset value (NAV) per share to 436p, partly on [...]
An exclusive way to sample the simplest, best Gallic food May 25, 2011 AS dinner parties go, this one’s a bit different. Over to my left sits double Michelin-starred chef Claude Bosi of Hibiscus, on the right is Joel Antunes of South Bank’s acclaimed Brasserie Joel and opposite him is Russell Norman, the rising star of London’s restaurant scene with his hugely popular “Venetian tapas” joints Polpo, Spuntino [...]
Fancy yourself as a top chef? Sign up to The Big City Cook May 25, 2011 WE’VE all been there – Sat in front of the television watching “Masterchef” frustrated, as yet another builder/housewife/Z-list celebrity turns out a deflated soufflé. Suddenly the thought pops in to our heads: “I could do better than that.” Well soon, the suffering could be over. September sees the launch of The Big City Cook, a [...]
Stelios rants as Michels exits easyJet May 23, 2011 SIR DAVID Michels, the former Hilton chief executive who once hoped to chair Marks & Spencer, said he would step down from the board of easyJet yesterday in his second such announcement in a month. Michels, easyJet’s deputy chairman, will leave the airline at the end of this year, when he completes his second three-year [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 23, 2011 Agent Provocateur Retail veteran Chris Woodhouse has been appointed as non-executive chairman of luxury retailer Agent Provocateur. Woodhouse, director of Debenhams and chairman of restaurant group Gondola, which owns Pizza Express and ASK, will take a small stake in the lingerie business, which he will oversee alongside his existing role. Agent Provocateur, owned by private [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 23, 2011 MITCHELLS & BUTLERS JP Morgan has downgraded the bar and restaurant operator from “overweight” to “neutral” on the back of recent share price strength, and has lowered its target price by 48p to 360p. The broker thinks the current share price reflects the dilutive impact of major disposals including 333 pubs. However, it expects M&B [...]
French fare with added va va voom May 23, 2011 CHABROT BISTROT D’AMIS 9 Knightsbridge Green, SW1X7Q1, 020 7225 2238, www.chabrot.co.uk FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £45 ON a wall inside the entrance to Chabrot Bistrot d’Amis hangs a large black and white photograph of a grizzled paysan emitting a gummy grin as he pours red wine from a magnum bottle into [...]