Monthly Archives: September 2008

Google AdWords

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So don’t worry if you don’t know where to start. Watch this introductory video from Google and see how it works…

The 5 best pubs for a good English brunch

Sunny Friday and the mind is running away from business towards the weekend… It’s time to take a break – have a look in Time Out to find some fresh ideas and discover a new part of London.

Time Out has just published the results of the Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards 2008. Similarly we thought we’d compile a list of 5 great pubs where you can have a good English Brunch:

  1. Princess Victoria (Shepherds Bush) – It’s a new pub, born to win its customers with the freshest and tastiest ingredients from the market close-by: freshly baked bread, cheese, wine, sausage and mash. Perfect!
  2. Founders Arms (South side of the river very close to Blackfriars bridge) – It offers the usual Young’s range of drinks and pretty decent food but its location is what makes this place popular: it has a large terrace with seats and tables by the river, there are no major roads nearby and there’s an amazing view.
  3. The Punch Bowl (Mayfair) -It’s “the Madonna and Guy Ritchie” pub that boasts flowers and hanging baskets outside, whilst inside there’s dark oak paneling, candles wedged in champagne bottles and artwork that ups the nostalgia ante. Food and wine are excellent and the location maintains that this is a classy place (even if Madonna’s name’s in there somewhere).
  4. Monkey Chews (Camden Town) – This little hidden bar is in the residential area of Camden. The antique furniture contributes to this atmospheric and unique establishment that serves high quality food. Whilst the menu lacks depth, everything is cooked to perfection in the open kitchen.
  5. The Trafalgar (Chelsea) – This trendy pub on the Kings Road may not appear to be anything special from the outside, but inside it’s huge and aimed at making their customers feel as comfortable as they can. The food’s great, not cheap of course but then you pay fro the location!

Have you eaten at any of these restaurants? What others haven’t we mentioned that you’d recommend?

New Business Support Programme

A new business support programme goes on trial: today we’re looking at an interesting news item found on Westbury.co.uk! The Government plan will introduce a new simplified system support business. This Business Support Simplification Programme (BSSP) was announced in the 2006 Budget to reduce the number of publicly funded business support schemes from over 3,000 to less than 100 by 2010. Because easier is better!

And a select number of local authorities are already starting this new system!

To get more news about business here are the two links to follow: westbury.co.uk and businessmadesimple.co.uk! Don’t waste a second.

Happy Birthday TimeOut London! 40 years of young news

September 1968 – September 2008: Time Out celebrates its fortieth anniversary. Tony Elliott was just a Keele University student when he launched Time Out with the £70 his aunt gave him for his twenty-first birthday. Now he is sixty-one and the chairman of a multimillion-pound empire. To celebrate this success the main story this week covers the forty most famous Londoners in this anniversary edition (today in the shops for £2.95).

Time Out is quite simply the best resource to find out what’s going on in London. It’s a weekly listings magazine, famous for its cultural reference value with listings for film, theatre, fashion, literature, restaurants, clubs, parties, festivals and events – tailored to each city. It expanded from the London edition to cities across the globe. It has established a worthy online presence to provide its readers with news and useful information that constitutes twenty-three different city editions.

You can find Time Out everywhere: London, Chicago, New York, Paris, Beijing, Dubai, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Cyprus, Moscow, Athens, Singapore, Saint-Petersburg, Bucharest, Almaty, Jerusalem, Kiev, Mumbai, New Delhi, Abu Dhabi, Sydney, Shanghai and Barcelona, and from 2008, also in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Every edition is unique and rich with event listings, complemented by articles, typically featuring celebrities appearing in one of the listed events.

40 years, 52 covers per year and 86,000 copies for about 374,000 readers every week: Happy birthday Time Out!

The world is changing: investment banks are no more…

The recent developments in the financial world are forcing vast changes to the economic climate and the markets are desperately trying to right themselves amidst the evolution many banking sectors are experiencing. In one week the era of the independent investment bank has ended, deeply changing the worldwide financial landscape.

‘Wall Street as we’ve known it for decades has ceased to exist’, explains The Wall Street Journal, though the gravity of such a change is of course affecting London: six months ago there were five major investment banks, now a portion of the market has vanished overnight; Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns have collapsed, Merrill Lynch is getting bought out by the Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are becoming commercial banks.

Two banking giants filing for bankruptcy is a clear sign of a problem with the system, and now the survivors have to arrange their affairs to conform to the capital requirements and other rules that govern such commercial banks.

Perhaps this is one of the greatest tests to the global economy in decades: and a strong example of rules required. Lax regulations have allowed investment banks to boost their profits for almost twenty years by borrowing money and investing in ever more risky schemes. And now they are paying the price.

What will happen now? Can we be sure that the worldwide economic machine is correcting itself against the greed of man?

Free theatre tickets for redundant bankers!

If you’ve recently lost the security of employment under an investment bank and your highly lucrative job has turned you into one of the thousands of well-qualified investment bankers looking for another similar position then don’t panic; Andrew Lloyd Webber’s to the rescue!

As a recently unemployed banker you can claim free tickets to The Sound of Music and The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat from now to 15th October. And the Telegraph.co.uk reports the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s words: ‘Both The Sound of Music and Joseph are feel-good shows and I thought that free tickets might offer some respite, albeit for a couple of hours, for some of those people who have sadly lost their jobs in the current economic upheaval’.

Interestingly the offer depends on the theatre-goer bringing along the P45 issued from they’re recently folded bank employers, the very piece of paper that embodies their redundancy and the demise of their secure livelihood. Can you imagine all the recently fired bankers brandishing this piece of paper in public amongst their ex-colleagues in the queue for the theatre… we think not. I’m sure the column inches devoted to this offer (such as this blog!) will serve to publicise the shows even more. As such this promotion should clearly be noted for its value as a stunt marking Webber’s unfailing business savvy rather than a legitimate offer for those it is purporting to be targeting.

The 10 best London songs!

Good afternoon. Today we want to distract you from the tumultuous economic instability with something a little more cheery…

Here are our 10 favourite London Songs!

  1. God Save The Queen – Sex Pistols
  2. Streets Of London – Ralph McTel
  3. London Belongs To Me – Saint Etienne
  4. Down In The Tube Station At Midnight – The Jam
  5. Primrose Hill – John & Beverly Martyn
  6. London Is The Place For Me – Lord Kitchener
  7. Waterloo Sunset – The Kinks
  8. London’s Burning – The Clash
  9. London Town – Light Of The World
  10. For Tomorrow – Blur

Do you agree with our choices? Tell us your opinion. Time Out (the best London magazine) seems to disagree. See what they suggest and tell us what you think.

Enjoy!

Post a comment: it’s free and powerful

Everyday we provide you with up-to-the-minute news and ideas from London. Everything on this blog is written for you so why not let us know what you think? What do you want to read? Would you like to ask anything? You can post a comment on any blog entry which we will be happy to respond to. Comments are a powerful web tool.

In every blog post you can find and leave comments: there are many people who work for or deal with companies related to the subject of each post, people who are involved in or just keen on a topic: posting a comment is the way to join in on a conversation online. You can state your opinion and receive an answer: in two words, you can get involved quickly and easily.

How does it work? Posting a comment is easy – you just have to click on ‘comment’ (at the bottom of each post) and write what you want. For maximum effect, your comment should be interesting and not too long, since the main point is to generate response, create links and exchange ideas. In this way you can add more value to your company’s name and a link back to your own site.

So feel free to comment when and how you want: we are waiting for you…

Inflation and bankruptcy! Don’t panic.

Don’t panic. Even if all todays news is very very bad: don’t panic, business and life keep going on! But let’s have a look at the 4 most read news stories of today from London about London:

  1. The collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings has brought several consequences: markets everywhere have never been so down, overnight the cost of borrowing in dollars has more than doubled to the highest since 2001 (from 3.33 percentage points to 6.44 percent today: the biggest jump, according to the British Bankers’ Association), 7000 bankers are now sending out their cv’s and hoping to quickly solve their personal situations.
  2. ‘Inflation surged above forecasts to 4.7 per cent in August to the highest rate since Britain’s last recession, after the price of food and energy rose. – Thetimesonline.co.uk says: – Households are now paying 27.7 per cent more on their gas bills and 18 per cent more for electricity. The cost of banking services also increased as lenders cut their mortgage arrangement fees by less than they did last year. Food prices also rose by 1.3 per cent last month and, in the year to August, by 13 per cent’.
  3. Problems in the City, at home and at City Hall: – David Cairns, Minister of State at the Scotland Office, believes Mr Brown is showing a lack of leadership and direction to the country -, says the Timesonline.co.uk – He is unhappy about the lack of direction and believes the leadership is all over the place and making lots of mistakes. He has been unhappy for some considerable time and could decide to go today.
  4. And in London the crimes are increasing. Spokesman Chris Huhne has set out his vision for tackling crime, calling for better policing rather than tougher sentences. He said people should not be sent to jail for minor offences when other punishments would be more effective. Resources must be directed towards more effective policing and detection rather than more prisons, Mr Huhne added.

But don’t worry life is an up and down of events, the famous destiny’s waves! Londoners (and not just them) have to try to resist, never give up and learn from the brave Lehman’s workers that kept going to work, knowing well what was going on and now are at work to find a new employer. Being up to date and connected is indispensable in order to succeed and to survive: for this reason London Presence continues to provide you with efficient customer service from Monday to Friday (9am – 5,30pm) and with a unique blog!