Category: Business

The collapse of three major chains last week has put 30,000 retail jobs at risk and triggered fears for the future of town centres. But the picture isn’t all bleak, according to experts including the former government retail tsar, Mary Portas, who says there is too much nostalgia and too little optimism about the future […]

The mayor of London was among thousands of shoppers who made their way to England’s high streets on the first Saturday after the second national lockdown was lifted. In areas such as York, Colchester and Bournemouth, people went out in droves to buy items for Christmas, and in London Oxford Street was filled with people […]

Finally, the ultimate kitchen gadget you never knew you wanted is here – but it will cost you about the same as the average UK house. For those stumped as to what to buy the super-rich person in their lives this Christmas, how about a fully robotic kitchen that promises to whip up a choice […]

When the prime minister announced, in the last week of October, a second national lockdown in England, the best thing to do, it turns out, was to buy shares in pub companies, airlines, gyms, retailers and restaurant operators – in other words, those businesses that were about to get clobbered again. No stock-picking skill was […]

Recent headlines declaring a boom in the housing market look set to continue on Monday, when Halifax unveils its latest monthly price report. Its numbers have tended to run ahead of rival Nationwide’s, and may even show annual price growth nearing double figures. In October, it said prices were up 7.5% on a year earlier. […]

Britain must end all oil and gas extraction in the North Sea as a matter of urgency if it is to maintain its position as a credible climate champion. That was the stark warning issued by green campaigners yesterday in the wake of last week’s decision by Denmark to halt its exploration for new North […]

It is in the nature of stories about the hospitality industry that they come with a selection of ready-made metaphors. And so it is that the newly introduced tier regulations for the hospitality sector can variously be described as a collapsed soufflé, a split sauce or, perhaps most appropriately, a complete dog’s dinner. Last weekend, […]