Shaftesbury shops provide profit jump November 30, 2010 WEST END property company Shaftesbury posted double-digit growth in its asset value for the full-year yesterday, and said it expected strong demand for its shops, pubs and restaurants to continue. Shaftesbury also said it was hunting for a new chief executive, after current boss Jonathan Lane announced his intention to retire in 2011 after 24 [...]
Crisis limits Eastern European FX’s upside November 30, 2010 FOR more than a decade, eastern European countries enviously looked west, chasing the desirable single currency membership that would signal that they had shaken off their Soviet-era shackles and were at a critical stage in their economic and political development. After more than 10 years of trying to achieve acceptance to the exclusive club that [...]
Traffic free day earns London shops £250m November 28, 2010 OVER £250m was spent in West End shops this weekend, as consumers took advantage of the sixth annual traffic-free “VIP Day” in Oxford Street and Regent Street. And retailers are delighted with a reported boom in sales of “big ticket” items, after recent data pointed to a slump in people’s willingness to splash out on [...]
Time for festive frocks November 28, 2010 CHRISTMAS party season attracts its share of Grinch-like moaners. But let’s face it: a chance to roll out one fun frock after the next is good fun. Regarding the phrase “fun frock” – feel free to substitute “fun” with “glamorous” or “hot” or “lovely”. Anyway, the point is that you have to have a party [...]
London’s railway is finally joined up November 25, 2010 IN the mid-nineteenth century the railway was banned from building lines and stations into the City and the West End by a Royal Commission. The effect of that decision is still felt today and – with the exception of the very busy original Thameslink route – we currently have no real cross London rail links [...]
West End shops go traffic-free this weekend November 23, 2010 REGENT Street and Oxford Street will be vehicle-free between 10am and 6pm this Saturday, allowing millions of Londoners to indulge in Christmas shopping on foot. Stores are offering up to 50 per cent off and opening as early as 8am, as they compete for the attention of an anticipated two million shoppers. By VIP Day [...]
Gifts with a sense of history November 22, 2010 IT’S no coincidence that the recession has overlapped with a surge in the popularity of all things old fashioned. If our confidence in a bold, sparkling future has faltered, our interest in the aesthetics of the past – and the values of quality, provenance and craftsmanship that go with it – has rocketed upwards. 1940s-themed [...]
The ex-investment banker who is shaking up the retail trading world November 22, 2010 ROBIN OSMOND does not come across as somebody intent on disrupting the status quo. But this is exactly what the softly spoken and quietly animated LMAX chief executive has in his sights with the launch of the firm’s new retail trading venue. The exchange, which currently offers contracts for difference (CFD) and rolling spot FX, [...]
In praise of French spirit November 17, 2010 HERE’S a strange thing: the French don’t like cognac. In fact, according to Patrice Pinet, master blender for Courvoisier, France imports more Scottish whisky than it makes cognac. Young people in France in particular, he laments, have given up on the drink, associating it with a naff, fusty past instead of a cool, cocktail-centric present. [...]
British Land eyes disposal of City assets November 16, 2010 LONDON landlord British Land intends to sell assets in the City financial district as it takes a more trading-focused investment strategy, adding an uptick in its exposure to prime offices may not last long. The company said yesterday its £1bn share in developing 2.1m square feet of prime offices in central London would see its [...]