Good morning. Pour the coffee and slice up some sourdough, its news time.
Robert Jenrick has admitted to “apparent bias”(£) in granting planning for Richard Desmond’s £1bn Westferry Printworks plans. The plans will most likely be rejected.
Savills has joined those reopening offices, although capacity will be limited to 30%, full PPE will be provided and strict social distancing will be in place.
Global stocks rose(£) yesterday as lockdown measures began to be relaxed across the world.
Shares in the major retail REITs rose yesterday on the back of news that non-essential retail could reopen from 15 June.
But barely a fifth of shops(£) are likely to resume trading on the Glorious 15th, with the BRC warning that most are still fighting for survival.
Those that do open(£) will have to get used to a very different way of shopping.
The steep decline of retail sales has started to flatten(£), though…
… To the point where Shina’s crew has decided it won’t pull its £22m deal(£) for Moss Bros after all.
And the slowdown of the UK economy is starting to flatten out(£), too, says Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane. Don’t get too excited, though, he says. The outlook is still “ugly”.
The chancellor will this week announce tighter rules(£) to the furlough scheme.
Alliance Property Asia will submit revised plans for 101 Whitechapel, E1. The scaled-back proposals feature a 14-storey office tower.
Demand among house buyers is now higher than before the lockdown(£). But that is probably a blip, says Zoopla.
In Paris the VIP Rooms is calling time(£), after its owner declared that “Paris is no longer a party.”
And in the US department store doyen Macy’s(£) has put $2.2bn of real estate up as collateral for a $1.1bn bond.
The FT (£) and The Guardian have obituaries for Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho.
And finally, the “working” lunch could be another unfortunate victim of the coronavirus. Regular luxury London lunchtime haunts, from Veeraswarmy to the Bleeding Heart are worried that their regulars will not be heading back(£) even when they are able to do so. Its a good thing Greggs has announced it is reopening 800 of its bakeries, then. Just grab a vegan sausage roll and do the facetime over FaceTime. Vive la nouvelle normalité!
