MORNING NEWS: Why did the fried chicken cross the pond?

Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of real estate-relevant headlines from the national papers. Your feature read this Friday – sorry, FRYday – takes a look at the US fried chicken chains hunting for UK sites. For newcomers like Chick-fil-A and Bonchon, the moves position the UK as their “gateway” to Europe, says Simon Chaplin, head of restaurants at Christie & Co. Catherine Stevenson, cross-border retail and leisure associate at Cushman & Wakefield, adds: “Despite the competitive nature of the fast-food market, there are still opportunities for chicken brands in the UK.” Established fast-food chains are hungry too. McDonald’s plans to invest £1bn in more than 200 new restaurants in the UK by 2027. The company outlined its ambitions, which it said would create more than 24,000 new jobs, in a report to mark its 50th anniversary in the UK. Troubled investment firm Home REIT is putting its proposed wind-down to a shareholder vote. It said last month that having been unable to refinance its existing debt with Scottish Widows, a managed wind-down and sell-off of assets was in the best interests of shareholders.  Today the company has published a circular with details of proposed changes to its investment policy that would effectively implement a managed wind-down. A general meeting will be held at 8 Bishopsgate on 16 September. JLL and Allsop will manage disposals. And a survey of more than 750 Gen Z and Millennials across the UK on workstyle preferences by CBRE found that aspirations differed based on gender, with a higher proportion of men than women wanting to become leaders at both business department and C-suite level. EG editor Samantha McClary has some thoughts – join the debate here. There’s also news on a new co-living scheme in Tower Hamlets, a fresh tenant at a Helical tower, and a looming approval for a huge Whitechapel life sciences cluster. All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:US fried chicken brands hatch best-laid plans for UK growthAbrdn logistics fund sees ‘good interest’ in salesHome REIT puts wind-down to voteWhy it’s more important than ever for our CSR activities to make an impactFrench investor buys Trowbridge retail park for £11mBlue Coast plans 220-bed co-living scheme in Tower HamletsMcDonald’s to open 200 new UK restaurants by 2027Desmond’s £1bn Westferry Printworks resi revamp recommended for approvalNext gen wants the office and the top job, finds CBRETristan Capital Partners docks housebuilder at Hertfordshire hubHarbour Exchange offices set for resi makeoverMammoth Whitechapel life sciences cluster lined up for approvalBeauty platform operator moves in at Helical’s TowerNew Labour MP is biggest landlord in House of Commons (£)Starmer to reconsider building scrapped HS2 route (£)London landlords leave the market in increasing numbers (£)AstraZeneca threatens to move UK vaccine manufacturing to US (£)UK businesses report more growth momentum in August (£)