The Co-op admits blocking rivals from opening competing stores March 5, 2025 The Co-op has become the latest major UK supermarket to fall foul of a targeted campaign by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to stop the use of ‘unlawful land agreements’ in grocery retailing. The group has admitted to 107 breaches of an order to stop supermarkets imposing restrictions that block rivals from opening competing [...]
International Women’s Day: The future of women in wine March 3, 2025 This International Women’s Day, I caught up with Queena Wong, a wine enthusiast who is helping to reshape the industry for the better Queena Wong has become a controversial character in wine after spearheading the first UK Women in Wine Survey. According to marketing research agency PROOF Insight, 78 per cent of the women who [...]
Who watches the Watches? February 19, 2025 As a newly minted Picture Editor and thus part of the management team of a then-popular left-wing national newspaper, I sat in on a discussion about why the poor ate so badly. Having only recently landed the job and as keen as mustard – and oh so naive – my feet were still planted firmly [...]
Mark Kleinman: Bonfire of the regulators just beginning February 13, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column. This week, he tackles churn at the regulators, bankers’ bonuses and dilemmas at Deliveroo. Bonfire of the regulators is just beginning For Marcus Bokkerink, read Abby Thomas? The chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service last [...]
John Lewis misses festive sales target as turnaround falters January 31, 2025 Sales at John Lewis are reported to have fallen short over the key Christmas trading period as middle-class Brits increasingly switch to shops like Marks and Spencer. According to reports from the Daily Telegraph, sales at Waitrose similarly missed targets. The employee-owned John Lewis Partnership (JLP) blamed “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” for [...]
7 incredible places for food and wine in South Africa January 30, 2025 A culinary cruise around South Africa, with our restaurant columnist Martin Williams As a restaurateur, January is the perfect time of year to take a holiday; exhausted from the efforts put in to maximise Christmas business. As an entrepreneur with M, and whilst leading Gaucho, it’s a period when, after setting objectives for the months [...]
What you should be pouring in time for the Six Nations January 28, 2025 IT SEEMS like every retired Rugby player has a keen interest in wine. Former England player Andrew Sheridan achieved a wine Diploma and filmed a series with me in the Rhone; Brian Moore became a wine writer and critic; Mike Tindall launched The Rugby Wine Club; and Joe Marler had me on his podcast, Things [...]
Deliveroo: Push into retail and groceries drives growth January 16, 2025 Deliveroo has said its retail and grocery partnerships drove growth in the last quarter of the year despite a still-tough trading environment. Its share price rose nearly five per cent in early trades. The delivery company launched its on-demand grocery service in March 2020, and has since partnered with a range of brands, with companies [...]
Wine without the Snobbery January 7, 2025 JANUARY always feels a rather grim time to decide to go “dry”. I feel no reason to punish myself for enjoying the indulgences of festive season and besides, being a wine writer and consultant, I would be out of a job. I do however like to embrace the “damp lifestyle” and over the years have [...]
Why Dry January is just another month for this alcohol-free beer brand January 3, 2025 Highlighting a year of growth, we take a look at some of the biggest and most recent achievements of the rapidly-growing alcohol-free beer brand, Days Brewing. Two friends, one pandemic and a few cold (alcohol-free) beers later – a long-lasting business was created. In 2020, former AB InBev man Mike Gammell and ex-Propercorn marketing chief [...]