Sweet digs for Sugar’s lackeys
Incompetence, back-stabbing and boardroom fails, flails and flirting can only mean one thing: The Apprentice is back.
The show kicked off this week and Diary was excited to learn that this year’s house is just down the road from our offices.Check out 35 John Street London, W1.
Here’s hoping it will be the set of some good old Machiavellian antics.
How the other half drive
Driving licences are useful things. Apart from being a legal requirement they are also, rather crucially, proof of a certified level of skill behind the wheel.
Reassuring and, one would think, a bare minimum hurdle to get over before being let loose on the roads. It turns out that not everyone sees it the same way.
Diary heard this week from a contact who specialises in helping Russian investors splash their cash in London that at least one of our overseas visitors has taken a far more laissez faire attitude to road safety.
When he asked her if she had a driving licence, she replied: “Oh yes. I got one for my birthday.”
Money might not be able to buy you love. But apparently it can buy you a decent shot at a death wish.
Jezza! Focus One direction!
Once again pop band One Direction was in town for one of EG’s Focus receptions.This time the boys were in Glasgow last Friday, which was also the final stop on the Focus reception 2015 tour.
Regular readers of Diary will know that the band (and other pop bands, including S Club, obvs) has actively followed EG around the UK, popping up in various cities “coincidentally” on the same day, under the cover of doing their own shows.
But for the first time ever, it appears that EG’s popular event also has political backing, as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was also in Glasgow on the same day to give a keynote speech at the Grand Central hotel. Jezza’s engagement meant that he missed the chance to meet the Queen and be sworn in to the Privy Council in London.
An oversight, surely.
Out to lunch on Fenchurch Street
Just look at this piece of prime real estate. Who wouldn’t want to sit on one of the five rooftop terraces planned at the proposed 80 Fenchurch Street, EC3, development?
Well, plenty of people, if the number of people enjoying the terrace on the CGI that reached us courtesy of Knight Frank was anything to go by. OK, hands up, we counted and made it 11 people.
With office rents in the City now heading north of £70 per sq ft (see this week’s EG London supplement) we assumed that most of the workers must be at their desks instead. But after much squinting at our screen, how many people could we locate in the 245,000 sq ft shiny modern interior? Um, precisely none.
We wonder which City occupiers are wealthy enough to hold on to so much empty space…
Bants and rants at PROPS
What’s a little outrageous banter in the name of charity?
Helical Bar’s Mike Slade and Residential Land’s Bruce Ritchie proved there is no topic of conversation – or swear word – off limits before 9am at this year’s Variety PROPS breakfast.
The colourful duo took to the stage to battle it out in the annual commercial v resi debate. After a sea of guests voted that they put their money into the latter this year, Slade kicked off proceedings as he meant to go on: “I may as well just f***ing go home, then.”
Subsequent tales of leggy ladies in the Bahamas, posh chaps at the Tory party conference and underwear choices aside, the debate between two of the industry’s biggest players was a roaring success, not least because the event raised £60,000 in an hour-an-a-half to support disabled children.
A cracking result for a wonderful cause. All the colourful language was forgiven.
