Gilts steadied and the FTSE edged higher after a tax rise on banks that turned out smaller than some had feared. LONDON, England (Biz House) – The most interesting thing about John Healey’s first Budget as Chancellor was how little the markets cared. Investors had […]
The Farmer Has a Better Credit Department Than the City of London
Chelsea Bloom investigates why the people who produce our food are still expected to finance their businesses with the optimism of a lottery winner. The Farmer Has a Better Credit Department Than the City of London By Chelsea Bloom There are two kinds of people […]
The Rural Economy Is Not a Nostalgia Project
North London’s business community loves innovation, but the countryside is still expected to provide food, jobs and picturesque views without sending an invoice for the scenery. The Rural Economy Is Not a Nostalgia Project By Chelsea Bloom There is a particular kind of photograph that […]
The Tractor Dealer Has Become an Unofficial Technology Adviser
As agricultural machinery becomes more sophisticated, the people selling and repairing it are finding themselves at the centre of a business revolution that rarely gets a keynote speech. The Tractor Dealer Has Become an Unofficial Technology Adviser By Chelsea Bloom In London’s technology sector, a […]
The Agricultural Calendar Is a Better Business Forecast Than Another City Spreadsheet
From planting decisions to market prices, farming demonstrates why business planning must account for seasons, uncertainty and the inconvenient fact that reality does not follow quarterly targets. The Agricultural Calendar Is a Better Business Forecast Than Another City Spreadsheet By Chelsea Bloom In a London […]
The Great Rural Skills Shortage Is Also a London Business Problem
When agricultural employers cannot recruit engineers, technicians and skilled workers, the consequences travel through supply chains and eventually reach the city. The Great Rural Skills Shortage Is Also a London Business Problem By Chelsea Bloom London has a habit of treating the countryside as somewhere […]
New 70m pound London fund targets scale-ups that banks overlook
The Future London Growth Fund will lend 1 million to 3 million pounds a time, in a city where fewer owners report a profit than elsewhere. LONDON, England (Biz House) – London enjoys telling the world it is the best place to start a business, […]
UK inflation hits 3.5 percent as petrol jumps almost 30 percent
Fuel sits at the centre of the latest cost-of-living figures, with energy bills expected to add to the pressure. LONDON, England (Biz House) – If you want to know why the cost of living feels as though it has found a second wind, look at […]
UK job vacancies hit lowest level outside pandemic since 2014
Unemployment edged down to 4.7 percent, yet firms are advertising fewer jobs, and the ONS points to the cost of hiring. LONDON, England (Biz House) – Here is a puzzle for anyone squeezed onto the morning Tube: unemployment fell, the employment rate rose, and yet […]
The Bank of England Holds at 3.75 Percent for a Sixth Time and Asks London to Be Patient
A 6-3 vote, inflation back up to 3.1 percent and a warning about 4 percent in early 2027: Chelsea Bloom reads the small print from Muswell Hill The Bank of England Holds at 3.75 Percent for a Sixth Time and Asks London to Be Patient […]
Central London Offices: 2.5 Million Square Feet Let and a Vacancy Rate That Has Not Panicked
BNP Paribas Real Estate’s first-quarter figures show the City and West End moving in opposite directions, with prime rents still rising Central London Offices: 2.5 Million Square Feet Let and a Vacancy Rate That Has Not Panicked BNP Paribas Real Estate’s first-quarter figures show the […]
Budget Week in London: Business Rates, Pubs and a Fiscal Headroom That Has Halved
With the Autumn Budget set for 28 October, Grant Thornton’s preview lists what is ruled in, what is ruled out and what nobody will confirm Budget Week in London: Business Rates, Pubs and a Fiscal Headroom That Has Halved With the Autumn Budget set for […]
Prime Central London Is Down 5 Percent in a Year. Spare a Thought for the Broker in Cebu.
Savills reports a subdued prime market in the capital, while retirees weigh a condominium abroad; Chelsea Bloom compares the two Prime Central London Is Down 5 Percent in a Year. Spare a Thought for the Broker in Cebu. Savills reports a subdued prime market in […]
London’s Stock Market Is Open for Business Again, and the Takeover Bids Have Noticed
UK IPO proceeds more than trebled in the first half of 2026, while easyJet and part of ITV drew offers; the reforms behind it are five years in the making London’s Stock Market Is Open for Business Again, and the Takeover Bids Have Noticed UK […]
Your Deposit On A Flying Car Is An Unsecured Loan: What British Consumers Should Know
A North London business journalist reads about deposits for the long-delayed flying Tesla Roadster and explains how pre-orders really work, and what protects you if they go wrong A Car With A Deposit But No Price The London Prat reports that Elon Musk has unveiled […]
The Price Of Diesel Is A Foreign Policy: Why Ukraine’s Refinery Strikes Reach A North London Van
A North London business journalist reads about Washington slowing Ukraine’s drones to protect fuel prices and traces the line from Russian refineries to British haulage and the interest rate A War Over A Fuel Bill The London Prat reports that Trump tried to stop Ukraine […]
Money In Transit: What France’s Spending Puzzle Tells Britain Before The 28 October Budget
A North London business journalist reads about French school money that never arrives and asks the question every British taxpayer should put to the new Chancellor The Money Exists, It Is Just Somewhere Else I cover business and markets from a desk in Crouch End, […]
Why Husbands Check For Sky Sports: The Six Billion Pound Business Behind A Dinner Party Question
A North London business journalist reads about dinner party guests hunting for the sports package and explains the economics of football broadcasting rights and subscription television The Most Important Question At The Table The London Prat has a report on British dinner parties and why […]
Fined For Being Late, Then Told To Fight: What Bramblewick Rovers Teaches British Employers
A North London business journalist reads about six non-league players suspended after a lateness policy turned violent and looks at the law on workplace discipline and wage deductions A Very Bad HR Policy The London Prat reports that six Bramblewick Rovers players were suspended after […]
London Offices Leased 3.1 Million Square Feet in the Second Quarter and 8 Percent Still Sits Empty: What the West End and the City Are Telling Tenants
Knight Frank figures show a rebound from a weak first quarter, a tighter West End and a City with more space and far more people looking for it The London office market has spent several years being declared dead and then reported as busy, sometimes […]
The FTSE 100 Closed at 10,378.82 on a Day That Included a 3,800-Job Cut and a Rejected Takeover: Reading a London Market Report
A 30 April snapshot shows a 1.6 percent rise, an 8 to 1 rate vote, oil above 114 dollars and a handful of company announcements that moved the index The London stock market report is a small literary form. It reduces a day of anxiety, […]
Your Local Coffee Shop Is a Property Business That Happens to Froth Milk
A north London high street, a flat white and the honest numbers behind the capital’s favourite small enterprise Your Local Coffee Shop Is a Property Business That Happens to Froth Milk On the high street nearest my flat there are, at the last count, nine […]
The Knowledge Is London’s Hardest Exam and Its Strangest Business Decision
Why people still spend years memorising every street in the capital when a phone will do it for nothing The Knowledge Is London’s Hardest Exam and Its Strangest Business Decision On a wet Tuesday morning in north London, a man in waterproofs is riding a […]
The Arithmetic of a London Pint, Explained by People Who Pull Them
Where the money in your glass actually goes, and why the landlord is not the one getting rich The Arithmetic of a London Pint, Explained by People Who Pull Them There is a moment, familiar to anyone who drinks in this city, when the card […]
The Tuesday-to-Thursday City: How Hybrid Work Rewired London’s Lunch Trade
Sandwich shops, dry cleaners and shoe repairers are learning to live on three days a week, and not all of them will The Tuesday-to-Thursday City: How Hybrid Work Rewired London’s Lunch Trade At a quarter to one on a Wednesday, the queue outside a salad […]
Under the Arches: The Small Firms Powering London From Beneath the Railway
Brewers, bakers, mechanics and metalworkers share the capital’s most characterful industrial estate, and the rent is the story Under the Arches: The Small Firms Powering London From Beneath the Railway Every few minutes the ceiling rumbles. Nobody looks up. In the arch where I am […]
Six to Three: The Bank Rate Is Stuck at 3.75 Per Cent and the Next Move May Be Up
For a year small firms have been waiting for borrowing to get cheaper, and the talk in the markets has turned the other way Interest Rates and What Comes Next I have a small overdraft on the business account and a slightly larger opinion about […]
City Office Rents Have Hit 130 Pounds a Square Foot. The Rest of London’s Offices Would Like a Word
Record prices for the best towers and empty floors in the tired ones: the capital’s office market has split in two, and I have been doing the sums London Office Rents Hit a Record as the Market Splits in Two I work, most days, from […]
The Laundrette’s Gas Bill: What Rising Energy Costs Mean for the Smallest Firms
Household bills are forecast to jump in January and diesel is near two pounds a litre, and a business has no price cap to hide behind Energy Bills and Small Businesses There is a laundrette at the end of my road that has been there […]
Record Rents, Falling Construction: Why London Is Not Building the Offices Everyone Wants
When prices go up, supply is supposed to follow, yet forecasts say office building will decline this year, and the reasons say a lot about British construction UK Office Construction Is Set to Fall Even as Rents Reach Records I did economics at A level, […]
Ninety-Three Thousand Hospitality Jobs Gone in Two Years, and a Row About VAT
The trade bodies want the tax on a restaurant meal cut, the Treasury has no money, and I counted the closed doors between my flat and the Tube Hospitality’s Bad Two Years Between my front door and Turnpike Lane station there are, by my count […]
Four Weeks to the Budget and London’s Businesses Are Holding Their Breath
Confidence is falling, costs are rising and a Chancellor with little room to move is due to speak on 28 October UK Budget 2026: What London Businesses Are Worried About There is a mood that descends on the British business community in the weeks before […]