Downing Street refuses to call for Londoners to go back to work August 24, 2020 Downing Street has refused to call for more people to return to their offices, despite increasing fears that decreased foot traffic in central London will cripple the economy. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said today that it was up to individual employers to decide whether to bring back employees, while also refusing to say if [...]
The City View: Moneypenny CEO on why it’s time to come out of hiding and find some confidence August 24, 2020 In this episode Christian talks to Joanna Swash, chief executive of the customer services and office support provider Moneypenny, which has 20,000 corporate clients in the UK and US. Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Joanna talks about the impact of the early stages of lockdown on her company and explains how she transitioned 1,000 [...]
Four-fifths of Londoners want to get back to the office August 23, 2020 More than four-fifths of Londoners want to get back to working from the office, the highest such proportion in the UK, City A.M. can reveal. According to new statistics from IT provider Atlas Cloud, residents of the capital are the keenest in the country to get back to office life, above an average of 74 [...]
Back to Business: Merlin Labron-Johnson on how Covid could change hospitality for the better August 22, 2020 We talk to London’s top chefs about how they are dealing with the strange ‘new normal’. This week Merlin Labron-Johnson, chef-founder of Osip, speaks about the silver linings he found during lockdown. Who are you and what do you do? I’m Merlin Labron-Johnson and I’m the chef-owner of a little restaurant called Osip in Bruton, [...]
Where to eat in London: Old favourites reopening and new places to check out August 22, 2020 Coronavirus may have shuttered the food industry for months, but the business is bouncing back, with more of our favourite places to eat and drink reopening every day, and some new ones joining them too. In this regular column, we’ll bring you the latest news from the front-line of the food business, complete with the [...]
How it felt to own a gym during lockdown and why the fitness industry will change forever August 22, 2020 The last few months will stay with us for the rest of our lives. Virtually every person from every country has been affected in some way, and will continue to be affected in the years to come. It goes without saying that those hit hardest are the frontline workers and the people who have lost [...]
Home Grown Club boss on why the future of work is flexible August 22, 2020 While shops and restaurants are beginning to return to some semblance of normality, the evidence of coronavirus is still stark in London’s commercial districts. The City, perhaps more than anywhere, remains a ghost-town, its skyscrapers empty and its streets unclogged by the half a million commuters who used to make their daily pilgrimage. Offices will [...]
Offices should be a ‘safe haven’ for suffering staff August 21, 2020 Offices across London are slowly beginning to reopen again after Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave firms “more discretion” from August to bring staff back in after lockdown. One such company is engineering consultancy Arup, which houses half of its 6,000 UK staff in its headquarters on Fitzroy Street in Bloomsbury. Tim Chapman, the firm’s London [...]
No substitute for creativity in the office, says adland boss August 20, 2020 There is no substitute for face-to-face interaction in the creative process, the boss of advertising giant Havas London has said. Speaking on City A.M.’s The City View podcast, Xavier Rees, chief executive of Havas London, said there is a limit to what people can do away from the office. “It’s true to say we can [...]
Square Mile builder: It’s time to get London back up and running August 20, 2020 “I’ve been getting on trains for six weeks and not once have I felt uncomfortable because I wasn’t able to socially distance,” says Square Mile construction firm Mace’s chief executive Mark Reynolds. The company, which is headquartered in Moorgate in the heart of the City, is slowly encouraging staff to return to work at the [...]