RUBENS AND CHARLES I WATCH LUXURY GONGS November 15, 2010 THE great and good of the British luxury brands industry gathered for one of the biggest events of the year last night, as its lobbying group, Walpole, held its annual awards. In Whitehall’s Banqueting Hall, under the glow of a delicately lit ceiling of Rubens masterpieces and near the site where King Charles I was [...]
Majestic sees its wine sales flow faster November 15, 2010 MAJESTIC Wine said yesterday its half-year profits had jumped by a fifth as it said it continued to benefit from slashing its minimum order from 12 bottles to six. Reduced competition on High Street sales had a positive impact after the First Quench group – whose brands included Threshers – plunged into administration. Majestic made [...]
The man who is set to bring more luxury to London’s five-star hotels November 14, 2010 LONDON’S five-star hotel market is set to take off over the next six months and a septuagenarian Maltese businessman called Alfred Pisani will be at the heart of the glamorous action. His £300m luxury Corinthia Hotel London, on Whitehall Place, is being completed and will take its first paying guests in April 2011. It is [...]
TRAVEL NOTES November 14, 2010 Foody heaven in Cairo’s plush new hotel One of the more exciting hotels to open in the Middle East in the last few months is the Kempinski Nile Hotel – a place of truly swell luxuries that’s also raising the culinary stakes for the Egyptian capital. Its rooftop restaurant, Floor 10, mixes modern French cuisine [...]
Beauty, isolation and serious bling November 11, 2010 THE Cornish coast is known for many things – ancient ruined castles, desolate cliffs, a thriving arts scene, high-grade surfing – but blinging property isn’t generally one of them. Blue Point, a £3.25m home overlooking the bobbing fishing boats of the tiny fishing village of Gorran Haven on Cornwall’s eastern coast, is the kind of [...]
THREE OTHER FIRST-RATE STEAKHOUSES November 8, 2010 GOODMAN – MAYFAIR AND CITY With a cultish following at its Mayfair restaurant, only the best cuts of beef need apply at this Russian-owned New York-style steakhouse. Beef is aged in a room on-site and served in a multitude of cuts, all cooked on a charcoal grill. A stylish, atmospheric interior and good drinks have [...]
Vue on verge of tying up a £450m sale November 7, 2010 CINEMA chain Vue Entertainment was last night on the brink of being sold to private equity firm Doughty Hanson for around £450m. Although a finalised deal has yet to be signed off by both parties, it is understood that Doughty Hanson is now the only bidder left in the race, after Vue’s management team stopped [...]
The expat life: a tale of two Swiss cities November 4, 2010 CLEAN, efficient, low taxes and great skiing – Switzerland is quite frankly fantastic. Far from being somewhere you are exiled, it’s the sort of place that you should be begging to be sent. And it could happen to you sooner than you think: punitive taxes in the UK have already forced Brevan Howard amongst other [...]
The dining scene is hotting up this winter November 3, 2010 AGAINST the odds perhaps, but 2010 has been a cracking year for restaurant openings in London. From the old-fashioned cool of Soho’s Dean Street Townhouse to Pierre Koffmann’s return to glory, the cosy joy that is Polpo to Daniel Boulud’s Knightsbridge bistro, there’s been plenty to love. And if anything, the openings are accelerating. The [...]
The return of the Turtle Traders: nature vs nurture November 1, 2010 DO YOU have to be born a successful trader or can anybody learn how to play the financial markets and make a tidy profit in the process? This debate has divided Wall Street and the Square Mile for decades and in 1984 35 year-old Richard Dennis, a commodities analyst from Chicago, set out to prove [...]