West End ‘extremely concerned about long-term survival’ as new guidance comes into force December 13, 2021 Central London retailers are hopeful eager Christmas shoppers will offset the absence of office workers in the capital this month while warning businesses are running out of cash. New West End Company, which represents 600 brands, restaurants and businesses in the West End, said footfall for the week of 6 December was up three per [...]
City boss calls work from home guidance ‘absurd’ and ‘frustrating’ December 13, 2021 Andrew Monk the chief executive of VSA Capital has spoken out against inconsistencies in new government guidelines on working from home.
Oil prices maintain recovery amid US inflationary pressures and defiant Omicron outlook December 13, 2021 Both major oil benchmarks consolidated last week’s mini-rally with rising inflationary pressure in the US and increasing Omicron optimism.
King’s Cross hotspot for rental growth in city as student demand pushes prices higher December 13, 2021 Real estate experts have said it would take more than a minor setback with Covid variant Omicron to dent the sector’s recovery. The country would have to rewind to a situation like the start of the year, when the vaccine was in its early rollout and working from home was enforced for a long time, [...]
Two-fifths of London SMEs plan to shed workers as furlough ends and pandemic restrictions return December 13, 2021 Two-fifths of owner-managed businesses in London are reportedly planning to make redundancies this winter.
Daily rapid testing for vaccinated COVID-19 contacts starts from Tuesday December 12, 2021 Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid announced this afternoon that fully vaccinated contacts of a COVID-19 case will be advised to take a daily lateral flow test for seven days to slow the spread of the virus from Tuesday.
Police searching for missing Petra Srncova find body in London park December 12, 2021 Police searching for London nurse assistant Petra Srncova, who was missing for more than a week, yesterday said they had found a body in Brunswick Park. Officers remained at the scene last night while the formal indentification of the body was awaited. The police said Srncova’s death was still being treated as unexplained. Petra Srncova, [...]
Private equity snaps up Canary Wharf office block in cut-price deal December 12, 2021 Private equity firm Brookfield has inked a deal to buy a Canary Wharf office block for a slashed price while a fresh work from home order will see offices empty next week. According to reports in The Sunday Times, the private equity firm has agreed a deal to buy the headquarters of investment firm State [...]
One-third of London Covid cases is Omicron variant, says Zahawi December 12, 2021 One-in-three Covid-19 cases in London are now the Omicron variant, according to education secretary Nadhim Zahawi. Zahawi said there could be up to 160,000 cases of the highly transmissible variant in the UK already, despite the official recorded number being only 1600. The education secretary also confirmed that there are now people who have been [...]
Staying Covid-secure in the run-up to the festive period December 11, 2021 The success of the UK’s vaccine rollout means that we know more about the virus and can implement the necessary precautions to keep ourselves and others safe over the festive season. Preparing for the festive season The emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has reminded all of us that the virus is still all [...]