Castore founder Tom Beahon on swapping life in the City and as a footballer to start fast-growing British premium sportswear brand March 12, 2021 Steven Gerrard wasn’t the only Liverpudlian celebrating when his Rangers team returned to the summit of Scottish football last weekend. Watching at home on Merseyside were Tom Beahon, 31, and brother Phil, 28, the founders of British sportswear brand Castore. Last year, Castore signed Rangers as their first football client. On Sunday, they toasted the [...]
Oxford Street: This is what the UK’s shopping destination could look like after lockdown March 11, 2021 Oxford Street – the world famous shopping destination that attracts millions of Londoners and tourists every year – is set to look drastically different when the city emerges from the latest coronavirus lockdown. An arts centre, 25 metre artificial hill and play areas in bus lanes are among the ideas that have been floated to [...]
Swingers goes stateside: Crazy golf club to open venues in New York and Washington March 10, 2021 Crazy golf club Swingers has today announced that it will launch in the US later this year, with two new venues in Washington D.C. and New York. The long-awaited stateside expansion comes on the back of a £20m funding raise backed by private equity group Cain International. Swingers said that its new venue in Washington [...]
Habito launches UK’s longest-ever fixed rate mortgages March 10, 2021 Habito has today announced that it will launch the nation’s longest-ever fixed rate mortgage, which will come without early repayment charges or exit fees. The “Habito One” will give buyers of all types access to long-term fixed rate periods starting at 10 years, going up to an unprecedented 40-year fixed rate term. The firm said [...]
Pandemic wipes almost £1bn off Covent Garden landlord Capco’s portfolio March 9, 2021 West End landlord Capital & Counties suffered a sharp drop in its property values last year, wiping almost £1bn of its portfolio. Capco, which owns Covent Garden, reported this morning that its total property value last year was £1.9bn, down from £2.8bn in 2019. The total property value of Covent Garden fell 27 per cent [...]
Marks & Spencer unveils plans to replace retail space with offices at Marble Arch store March 9, 2021 Marks & Spencer (M&S) has unveiled plans to redevelop its Marble Arch store, with some retail space set to be replaced by offices. Under proposals announced this afternoon, M&S said the lower levels of the West End store would remain as retail space offering its food and clothing and home ranges. However, the upper floors [...]
Business chiefs urge Boris Johnson to speed up return to office review March 5, 2021 The bosses of some of London’s top businesses have urged Boris Johnson to accelerate a review that will determine when people can return to the office. The government is set to carry out a review of Covid safety measures such as one-metre social distancing and mask-wearing that will pave the way for a return to [...]
Fight for the high street: Sunak’s Budget will stop the bleeding, but we must look long-term March 5, 2021 For London’s struggling retailers and leisure operators, Rishi Sunak’s budget provided some welcome respite. The three month extension to the business rates holiday, the £5 billion Restart Grant scheme and the extension to the furlough initiative should enable some of the brands on the high street to survive, at least until they have the opportunity [...]
Best of travel: Rampaging through Dartmoor in an Aston Martin March 5, 2021 To tide us over until we’re able to travel again, we’re republishing classic travel stories from our archives. Today we revisit Adam Hay-Nicholls’ tour through the rugged terrain of Dartmoor in an Aston Martin Vanquish. ••• It’s the tail-end of dusk in Devon and silence is broken. Thundering down the twisting A382 from Exeter to [...]
Sadiq Khan rules out driverless trains as a part of next TfL bailout March 4, 2021 Sadiq Khan has said today that the government will not try to force Transport for London (TfL) to implement driverless trains as a part of current bailout negotiations. Khan told a group of reporters at his re-election campaign launch that the government had dropped any request to bring in driverless trains, after initially asking for [...]