Property of the Week: This former hosepipe factory in Peckham is made for people who love hidden bookcases February 8, 2017 The Hosepipe Factory, Peckham, £2.295m It’s surprisingly easy to walk past this enormous former hosepipe factory. I did, three times, to be exact, pacing between a timber merchants and a row of Victorian terraced houses. Eventually, I spot the estate agent from Urban Spaces and he ushers me past a slim electric gate, like he’s [...]
The bastard’s guide to business: How to grow a company the Ray Kroc way February 8, 2017 Ray Kroc may be the man who created arguably the western hemisphere's most recognisable symbol – but he wasn't always nice about it. In new movie The Founder, Michael Keaton stars as McDonald's founder Kroc, telling the story of his unlikely rise from small-time milkshake mixer salesman to big bucks entrepreneur after he was dazzled by Mac and Dick [...]
Our resident chef Mark Hix on how to celebrate the year of the rooster in style February 7, 2017 I hadn’t realised what a big deal Chinese New Year had become in England until I tried to get a table in the Mayflower in Cheltenham last weekend. It was packed out and I had to call in a favour to get in. The weird thing was, there wasn’t a chicken in sight! Maybe nobody [...]
Pizza and pasta restaurants continue to flourish in the capital, here are some of the top new openings February 7, 2017 Dough-nt settle for anything than the best pizza and pasta. 1. Hai Cenato 2 Sir Simon Milton Square, SW1E 5DJ Victoria’s new Nova development is now open, housing over a dozen restaurants, including Hai Cenato, an Italian from globetrotting chef Jason Atherton. The Pollen Street Social and Berners Tavern owner will serve up a wide [...]
Working Lunch review: Roast in Borough Market unleashes a dinner in a burger that’ll put your mum to shame February 7, 2017 Roast Borough Market, SE1 WHAT? Roast celebrates British food in all its gravy-sodden, stodgy glory. As you’d expect, it’s famed for its roast dinners, custard-drenched puddings and fantastic fry ups. Tourists flock to it to get a taste of proper British cuisine done well, and City types go there to stock up on red meat. [...]
Is the British motorist falling out of love with diesel cars? February 7, 2017 Ever since news of the VW emissions scandal broke in 2015, the automotive industry has been waiting for a sign that British motorists are falling out of love with diesel cars. The latest new car sales data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) shows a definite swing away from diesel in [...]
BMW 740Le xDrive review: The latest BMW 7 Series is a City-friendly plug-in hybrid February 6, 2017 When he’s not running across sand or wooing Audrey Roberts, actor Nigel Havers likes nothing better than to walk around London tapping on the windows of chauffeurs sitting with their engine running, telling them to turn it off. The number of cars sat idling by the side of the road, doing nothing, is “extraordinary” he [...]
This curious series of matchbook prints pays homage to a lost Japanese advertising artform February 6, 2017 Today, the chances are you don’t even own a box of matches, let alone appreciate the lost artform that used to adorn them. But in the early to mid-20th century, Japanese advertisers created tiny wonders of graphic art on these pocket-sized canvases. As urban centres began to proliferate and the population was drawn away from [...]
Forget about demure, pink or sparkly – this year’s women’s watch mood is fiercer than a Beyoncé half-time show February 6, 2017 Move over Princess Grace, forget the “twinset-and pearls” brigade; the new watchmaker’s muse is strong, forthright and possibly wearing shoulder pads. Think Melanie Griffith’s Tess McGill in Working Girl and you’re most of the way there. It seems, finally, that the “shrink pink” treatment of existing men’s watches – with a liberal sprinkling of diamonds [...]
When McLaren met Mille: A British F1 legend collaborates with a Swiss watchmaker using material made in Manchester February 6, 2017 If you had £996,500, the first thing that springs to mind might be a new house, or a yacht perhaps – but a wristwatch? Surely not? Well, yes, absolutely for sure in the case of 75 collectors, who have already put their name down for a piece of extraordinary technical wizardry unveiled just last week [...]
