BANK OF ENGLAND BOFFIN KNOCKS THE SPOTS OFF THE COMPETITION March 31, 2010 WHEN it comes to pepping up weighty speeches with witty references to popular culture, the boffins from the Bank of England aren’t exactly known for being trailblazers. But Andrew Haldane, the Bank’s executive director for financial stability, tore his peers’ stuffy image to shreds in a speech in Hong Kong this week by managing to [...]
Carluccio’s sees profits drop March 31, 2010 Restaurant group Carluccio’s has seen profits before tax for 2009 drop to £4.7m from £5.6m, after the company faced a challenging year. Revenue climbed by eight per cent to £69m from £64m it posted the year before. During the year Carluccio’s opened 44 new stores across the UK, up from the 38 stores it opened [...]
The celebrity chef bringing peasant food to the City March 29, 2010 I’M like a snail,” drawls chef supreme Raymond Blanc in a French accent that, 38 years after he arrived in the UK, remains as textured and ripe as a perfectly aged Camembert. “I’m stuck in my shell, and can only move very slowly.” The reason for Blanc’s despondency is a fall he took at his [...]
A taste of the Raj in Marylebone March 29, 2010 Colony Bar & Grill 7-9 Paddington Street, W1U 5QU, tel: 020 7935 3353 FOOD **** SERVICE **** ATMOSPHERE *** Cost per person without wine: £50 Anyone who has eaten at Benares will have a soft spot for its executive chef and owner, Atul Kochhar, who makes brilliant, inventive Indian food that made it the first [...]
American-style glitz and glam come sailing into Barcelona March 28, 2010 WHATEVER the brand values are that the W Hotel group holds dear, subtlety probably sits low on the list. Take, for instance, the way it classes its rooms. Not for W those fuddy-duddy words like Superior (meaning bog-standard) and Deluxe – instead, W offers you Mega rooms and Fabulous rooms, or if you want a [...]
Beat the blues with a slice of Caribbean sun March 25, 2010 WINTER is finally over, and the sun has been reminding us all of its existence in the past week or so. If you are already thinking ahead to next year and wondering how you will get through another few months of darkness and “snow days”, there’s a solution: buy a home in the Caribbean. Barbados [...]
2010 is the year of the big move to the country March 25, 2010 MANY who earn their crust in London dream of living in the country, and there are good reasons to make 2010 the year to make the move. While the property markets in the desirable parts of London have now fully recovered, with prices similar to those achieved in the 2007 peak, the same isn’t true [...]
A central London property means you can avoid the Tube crush and commute on foot March 25, 2010 ONE in 500 Londoners currently walks to work, and those who have witnessed the capital’s rush-hour crush, when mild-mannered professionals turn into a baying rabble, stamping over the elderly, the sick or the pregnant – anyone who gets in between them and a seat – will understand the appeal of this arrangement. The journey to [...]
Starbucks set to pay its first dividend as its overhaul succeeds March 24, 2010 STARBUCKS announced its first dividend yesterday joining companies like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola in making payouts to shareholders. Starbucks set a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share to be paid on 23 April to shareholders at the close of business on 7 April. The payout is part of a new plan to return 35 to [...]
NEWSPAPER VETERAN APPROACHES GUARDIAN WITH A HEAVY HAND March 24, 2010 HEATED words in the media world yesterday after Carolyn McCall’s abrupt defection from the helm of Guardian Media Group to easyJet. Some say McCall won’t be too sorely missed by her former charges at the Guardian, given the messy state of the group’s finances and her recent controversial decision to sell the Manchester Evening News. [...]