HOME FROM HOME SOHO LAUNCH FOR IPAD CROWD January 3, 2012 IF THE late Lucian Freud had owned a crash-pad in Soho, what would it have looked like? Such was the starting point for Apartment 58, the first in a new breed of members’ clubs for the iPad generation. “We wanted something that works for a busy executive in a major metropolis,” said Notting Hill Arts [...]
Green to cut hundreds of shops as wary consumers stay home November 24, 2011 ARCADIA Group, the retailer owned by billionaire Sir Philip Green, yesterday said it planned to close up to 260 stores over the next three years after announcing a big fall in profits. The group, which owns fashion retail stores including Topshop, Miss Selfridge, and department store BHS, said it would not renew half of its [...]
Arcadia profits fall by 38pc November 24, 2011 Arcadia, the Topshop-to-Bhs British retail group owned by billionaire Philip Green, added to the bad news coming from the UK high street, posting a 38 per cent fall in year profit and a further deterioration in recent trading as mild weather deterred winter clothing purchases. The group, which also owns the Topman, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, [...]
Profits set to shrink at Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia November 20, 2011 THE EMBATTLED retail sector will claim a fresh casualty this week when Arcadia Group, the conglomerate that includes Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and BHS, reveals that its profit has plunged by a third. Billionaire chief executive Sir Philip Green is expected to report that pretax-profits at Arcadia have fallen to around £140m for the year to [...]
MADE IN CHELSEA DIAMOND HEIR DIGS DEEP FOR HIS NEXT VENTURE November 15, 2011 HIS FAMILY made their fortune digging for diamonds in the Congo and Sierra Leone, but Made in Chelsea stalwart Francis Boulle is interested in mines of a different kind. Fundmine, to be precise, an online investment platform that allows entrepreneurs to sell their company visions to private investors that has to date attracted £8.7m of [...]
Reflections on a positive year October 27, 2011 Q.Are you happy with One New Change a year on? Has it been a commercial success? A.In just 12 months, and despite tough economic conditions, One New Change is playing a leading role in transforming the City of London into a desirable weekday and weekend shopping and eating destination for Londoners and visitors to the [...]
High street brands in fight for middle ground October 11, 2011 ACCORDING to YouGov’s Household Economic Activity Tracker, 55 per cent of UK consumers are more price conscious than they were a month ago, compared to only two per cent who are less price conscious than in September. With the uncertainty about the economy continuing and people keen to make sure they are not overspending, winning [...]
Bag it up baby: luxe goes practical October 10, 2011 NOTHING makes a female mouth water quite like a beautiful bag. And, as the City fashionista will know, practicality must merge with style for maximum wearability – after all, what’s the point in having a beautiful tote if you can’t show it off? With fashions changing like gusts of wind, it’s important to choose a [...]
MINERS DIG DEEP TO AID OLIVIA’S RECOVERY October 9, 2011 IT’S NOT often you see people spending £3,700 on “thin air”. But last Thursday night, the Berkeley Square silver merchant Jim Williams raised his hand to bid on nothing at all to take the Olivia’s Vision auction to the “nice round number” of £80,000. The Arian Silver Corporation’s “huge mining character” was bidding at the [...]
END OF AN ERA AS CITY SAYS FAREWELL TO TOP LINKLATERS PARTNER September 22, 2011 IT WAS “hangover central” in the City yesterday, said one mole, thanks to some enthusiastic networking at the City A.M. awards that continued into the early hours of Thursday morning in the basement nightclub in the Grange Hotel at St Paul’s. However, the retirement party for Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne on the same evening [...]