Managers buy out Searcys June 21, 2010 SEARCYS, the operator of the restaurant at the top of the iconic Gherkin tower, has been bought out by its management team in a deal valuing the business at around £8m. The deal will see the upmarket restaurant group return to private ownership three years after it was bought by Alternative Hotel Group (AHG), the [...]
Flawless food from a French master June 21, 2010 FLASH back five years. I’m in the new Covent Garden Market with Alexis Gauthier, then the chef patron of Gallic jewel Roussillon, researching a feature. It’s 4AM and Gauthier is getting very excited indeed. Never mind the fact that it’s pitch black and freezing, even under the market’s neon lights – no, he has just [...]
FOOD & BOOZE NEWS June 21, 2010 SUMMER OFFER ON FRENCH CITY DINING Le Café Du Marché, the atmospheric French restaurant in Smithfield and firm favourite among City folk, is offering three courses for the price of two for lunch until the end of the summer. Hidden up an ancient cobbled lane off Charterhouse Square, there’s nothing ersatz about the place’s romantic [...]
Celebrating all things pretty, pricey and rare June 17, 2010 Fancy getting your hands on a 1932 Bugatti Grand Prix car? How about a magnificently ornate Victorian billiards table? Alternatively, you could furnish your living room with a pair of stunning globes from the 17th century. Of course, you’ll need to stump up over a million quid to own any of these – £3.2m in [...]
Claridge’s owner in talks with Deutsche Bank to refinance £610m of borrowings June 14, 2010 THE owner of some of London’s most luxurious hotels is in talks to refinance £610m of debt, it was confirmed yesterday. Maybourne Hotel Group, owner of the Claridge’s, Connaught and Berkeley hotels in London, is in talks with Deutsche Bank about a refinancing that needs to take place by the end of the year. The [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 13, 2010 MICHELIN Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) initiates a “buy” rating for Michelin and says that despite rising material prices, it sees room for Michelin to profit from early implementation of price increases, stronger replacement business momentum, and better underlying earnings due to the cost cuts in 2009. GREENE KING Seymour Pierce has given Greene King [...]
Jungles, sea and history in old Malaysia June 13, 2010 A 100-mile ferry-ride across the South China Sea is Langkawi, one of the world’s most idyllic spots for sunbathing, swimming in crystal green waters framed by lush jungle, and the total luxury of a world-class beach resort. It’s gorgeous – but probably quite similar to retreats in Thailand, Indonesia, the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Mauritius…you get [...]
Sun, sea, safari, wine… Welcome to paradise on earth June 10, 2010 IN 2005, South Africa’s property market was the fastest growing in the world. Although its rate of growth has slowed, property in Africa’s most developed economy is increasingly in hot demand. This appetite has been fuelled in part by the World Cup, but more sustainably by the fact that at last, foreigners are catching on [...]
Honeypot homes are luring buyers up to Stanmore June 10, 2010 STEPPING off the end of a Tube line seems like entering a vacuum to most Londoners. One imagines a tangle of motorways, perhaps. Some cows. A few car parks. Visitors to Stanmore might be surprised. Stanmore is a place whose name anyone who regularly rides the Jubilee line will have heard, but the town is [...]
See the World Cup in world-class style June 8, 2010 FEVER PITCH, FULHAM You won’t miss a second of build-up if it’s up to World Cup pop-up bar Fever Pitch in Fulham. Open since May and closed after the final, this is the place to enjoy the action on nine screens spanning 360 degrees while sipping a pretty decent selection of beer. The 400-capacity venue [...]