Are high street retailers doomed? We’re only two months into the New Year and established businesses such as Jessops, HMV and Republic have been claimed victims of administration - will high streets become ghost towns? The internet has had a profound effect on brick and mortar retailers. In fact, shoppers spent 12% more online in [...]

Making predictions about the economy is notoriously difficult and a challenge that is best met by looking at all the sources – somewhere in the middle the truth might yet be glimpsed. This post is a curation of what has been said online over the last couple of months with regards to the Economic outlook [...]

In some more bad news for the banking industry on the Emerald Isle, Ulster Bank have announced they are to close around 20 (correction - the number is now 22) branches/sub-offices island wide.   As the 3rd largest bank in Ireland, Ulster Bank currently operate 146 branches south of the border and 90 in Northern [...]

Peter Anscomb, the former head of hotel finance at RBS, has been hired as a senior corporate director by Raddison Blu’s Edwardian London. The travel and hospitality specialist has been brought in to the hotel chain to aid with overseeing the financial management of the Manchester and London branches of the Raddison Blu Edwardian portfolio. [...]

  It is the time of year when people in America go a little loopy with their shopping habits and see no problem with queuing overnight to make sure that they get the best deals possible heading into the festive period. Black Friday has already taken place and it looks like it was an interesting [...]

In more gloomy news for high street retailers it’s been revealed that more than one in ten town centre shops are lying empty. The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which has been gathering data on empty shops in town centres since July 2015, announced that the latest vacancy rate of 11.3% was the highest they’ve seen. [...]

One of, if not, the most loved franchised coffee shops operating in the UK has been heavily criticised in recent days. It has come to light that Starbucks have not paid any tax for the last three years; despite sales of £1.2 billion. That might sound inappropriate behaviour for such a large corporation, but Starbucks aren’t doing [...]

This week will see ethical investment look at ways people can invest their money in businesses and projects that are considered green finance. There has been something of a boom surrounding ethical investment as people are becoming more aware of where their money is going and how it can have an impact on the environment around [...]

  Economic growth is what people are hoping for; the smallest sign that the economic woes that have been affecting the world  are starting to recede would make many jump for joy. However, sadly this in not the case. This can be seen if you look at the manufacturing activity of countries and recent news [...]

‘Hot desking’ is a good alternative to working from home for any freelancer.  One of my friends, unhappy with her boss and tired of working long hours, recently quit her big agency job and started freelancing as a graphic designer. We’ve sat together over some coffee and thought about all the pros and cons of [...]