MODELLING LEAVES METRO BOSS RED-FACED April 5, 2010 MOST of the management over at shiny-new high street lender Metro Bank might be patting themselves on the back over their latest marketing ruse, a giant mascot for the bank, but some of the poor staffers have been left red-faced. The new mascot – an enormous foamy “M” in blue and red, the bank’s colours [...]
Curry in a hurry is a bit confusing April 5, 2010 Bangalore Express City 1 Corbet Court, Gracechurch Street, EC3 V0AT. www.bangaloreexpress.co.uk Cost per person without wine: £25 ONE of my first memories of arriving in London was going for a curry on Brick Lane. While I wasn’t particularly impressed by the food the décor has stuck in my mind – massive and slightly wonky paintings [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 5, 2010 VODAFONE Collins Stewart has issued a “sell” recommendation on Vodafone after Ofcom’s mobile termination rate (MTR) proposals to bring down rates. Collins Stewart said that it could have a 20 per cent drag on Vodafone’s UK revenue by 2015. Over the four years Collins Stewart expect it will have a £330m impact on Vodafone profits. [...]
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 [...]