On this day: the Royal Navy drinks its last daily rum ration July 31, 2025 On this day in 1970, sailors’ daily rum ration – a tradition dating back to the glory days of the Royal Navy – was abolished, an occasion now known as Black Tot Day, writes Eliot Wilson On this date, 31 July, 55 years ago, at 11am, the Royal Navy performed one of its cherished traditions [...]
Bleak ‘hospitality zones’ will make London nightlife even worse July 31, 2025 Proposed ‘hospitality zones’ for alfresco dining are little more than top-down attempts at vibrancy which will move nightlife away from where it’s already thriving into sterile Boxpark clones, says Tom Jones It is a Saturday night. Your exhaustion from a week of open-plan purgatory – the train delays, the Slack pings, the passive-aggressive tone of [...]
Nationwide wins big in mass switch from FTSE 100 banks July 30, 2025 Nationwide has raided the customer base of Britain’s banking titans as current account switchers flocked away from legacy firms. The building society welcomed nearly 73,000 switchers in the first three months of the year, compared to 17,000 outflows, according to Pay.uk data. This comes after the mutual returned billions to customers in 2024, whilst the [...]
Woad to success: How amateur Lottie took golf by storm July 30, 2025 “No, I’m not tempted to turn pro yet,” insisted England’s Lottie Woad after winning the Women’s Irish Open, her first Ladies European Tour title, as an amateur earlier this month. Just three weeks later, she is not only a fully-fledged pro but the bookmakers’ favourite to win the Women’s Open, which starts on Thursday. It [...]
Inside the amazing Pollocks Toy Museum in Leadenhall Market July 30, 2025 The grand Victorian setting of Leadenhall Market is the perfect backdrop to The Pollocks Toy Museum, a wonderful little City attraction offering a series of toy artefacts from across the generations. The central attraction is a fabulous exhibition about Pearly Kings and Queens. The first Pearly King was 1880s rat catcher and orphan Henry Croft. [...]
Why Evercore bought Robey Warshaw – the boutique bank that signed George Osborne July 30, 2025 With the announcement that Robey Warshaw has been bought for £146m by Evercore, the potent boutique dealmaker is set to morph into a UK foothold for the New York-based advisory firm. Evercore boss John S. Weinberg praised Robey Warshaw’s “extraordinary, long-standing relationships”, forged by its five partners – led by Simon Robey and Simon Warshaw. [...]
NBA to return to London for first time in seven years July 30, 2025 The NBA is to stage a regular-season game in London 2026, ending its seven-year absence from the capital. The Memphis Grizzlies and the Orlando Magic will play a regular-season game at the O2 Arena on 18 January 2026. This is the first time an NBA game will be held in the capital since 2019, while [...]
Klarna’s AI push takes centre stage ahead of IPO July 30, 2025 Klarna seems to be making all the right steps about its AI ambitions, but is the Swedish fintech giant genuinely building an AI-first model for its users or simply crafting a compelling narrative for its much-anticipated IPO? “I’m not sure it gets a choice in the matter” Chris Jones, managing director at PSE told City [...]
Bank of England officials set to clash on interest rates July 30, 2025 Bank of England policymakers are set to spar on whether to hold or cut interest rates as City analysts are expecting a three-way split in the final vote. The Bank saw a 6-3 vote in favour of holding interest rates at 4.25 per cent in June while the meeting before in May saw four dissenting [...]
Could Astrazeneca completely switch its allegiance to the US? July 30, 2025 The UK’s largest listed companies are turning their heads towards the glimmer of the Nasdaq after growing impatient at the lacklustre performance of the London Stock Exchange. Chief among them is pharmaceutical giant Astrazeneca, which cancelled plans for a Liverpool vaccine plant due to lack of economic support earlier this year and has expressed frustration [...]