Aldi taps into UK craft beer market in £600m deal with 18 new offerings May 22, 2016 Cut-price supermarket Aldi has launched a £600m initiative to tap into the UK's burgeoning craft beer industry. From 29 May, the bargain grocer will stock 18 UK brewed craft beers in its English and Welsh stories. The beers will be sold as a "Specialbuy" purchase, meaning a limited number of beers have been brought in as [...]
Google’s Apple Pay rival Android Pay is finally here in the UK May 18, 2016 Good news for anyone eager to pay using just the swipe of their mobile, but who doesn't own an iPhone. Google's Android Pay is launching in the UK today, bringing the tap and pay technology to millions of smartphone users across the country. A rival to Apple Pay which launched last year, the app lets users pay by [...]
Five challenges Amazon faces plotting its own-brand products May 17, 2016 Reports that Amazon is branching out into private-label groceries make sense for the retail giant. In a sluggish market own label is one of the few healthy areas, growing by 1.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. Retailers aren’t seen as credible without an own label range, but developing a strong offer takes time and Amazon will [...]
British Airways could be about to charge for food on short-haul flights May 16, 2016 British Airways looks set to cave in to the pressure from low-cost airlines and start charging economy passengers for in-flight meals on its short-haul flights, according to reports this afternoon. The flag-carrier has clutched on to its in-flight perks as a key point of differentiation with the likes of Easyjet and Ryanair after the budget [...]
These are the strangest items Londoners have tried to take on planes in the last year, according to London City Airport May 11, 2016 Posh dog shampoo, furry handcuffs, a wooden meat hammer and snow globes: an unlikely bunch of items, but all products that passengers have tried to take onto flights as hand luggage in the past year. London City Airport has revealed its list of the 10 most unusual items confiscated at its security check-in, as well [...]
Supermarket wines from Aldi, Asda, Tesco, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and others uncork victory at International Wine Challenge May 11, 2016 Supermarket wines won big yesterday at the 2016 International Wine Challenge (IWC), with budget grocers Aldi and Asda joining premium brands such as Waitrose and Marks & Spencer in the gold-winning big leagues. Gold medals were award to 28 wines created for supermarkets in total at the world-renowned competition, which included offerings from Aldi, Asda, [...]
New Holland Park restaurant Six Portland Road serves black-pudding to die for May 10, 2016 Remember Neil Webb? He was a roving midfielder who played for Manchester United and England, but in my mind he’ll always be synonymous with the generation of footballers who retired just before the unfathomable riches of the Premier League rolled in. Unlike today’s players, these guys had to carve out new careers in their mid-30s, [...]
Sales at Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury’s all drop for the first time in a year May 4, 2016 The supermarket sector has suffered yet another setback, with sales at all of the Big Four declining in the last quarter, while – you guessed it – Aldi and Lidl posted double-digit growth. Asda was the poorest performer of the biggest supermarkets, with sales dropping 5.1 per cent according to Kantar Worldpanel, followed by Morrisons, which dropped 2.6 per cent. Sales at Tesco [...]
Cheers to that: Waitrose doubles Scottish craft beer offering in its Scotland stores May 2, 2016 Waitrose has become the latest supermarket to significantly expand into the world of craft beer, placing 49 new Scottish-brewed offerings on its shelves in the country from today. The upmarket grocer, which only has seven stores in Scotland, has doubled the number of Scottish craft beer and ales it stock and has increased the number of breweries it [...]
Incredible shrinking toilet paper: The six products you’re getting less of, but are not getting cheaper April 20, 2016 When you're spending a penny, you're being short changed, it turns out. One brands' toilet rolls have been quietly shortened, but you're still paying the same price, and it's just one of several products where you're now getting less bang for your buck – and may even pay more for less – according to research from consumer [...]