Business

The meter has long been the cornerstone of a fair and functioning taxi industry in London but finds itself under siege by a 21st century shake-up in the form of m-commerce which has placed the meter in the pocket of the consumer. The legality of minicabs that use Uber as a fare meter has been the cause of uproar amongst London’s brotherhood of cabbies. Private prosecutions have been launched, strikes called and the transport authority has been inundated with a...

A new infographic has been created by CurrencyFair looking at the world of alternative finance to unveil historical innovations in making payments. From crowdfunding, peer-to-peer, online payment, cryptocurrency, contactless payments and the bitcoin system, most of us have heard of alternative methods of finance, but might not have a good idea what they actually are and how they function. This infographic explains some of the popular methods of payments, and also a brief history of each.

Jack Peat reviews The Tasting Room, Liverpool Street  Sat overlooking an ice rink suspended above Liverpool Street station with a citrus-infused, hoppy craft beer in hand and a whiff of smoked meats in the air I realised; winter doesn’t have to be so depressing. We had been invited to a new pop-up venture borne of a marriage between artisan food shop Sourced Market, seasonal drink specialists Peppermint Bars and smoked meat authority Smokestack which have collaborated to form a pseudo Winter...

By Simon Wilsher, the Wilsher Group It started in Greece, about 2400 years ago, when Hippocrates introduced the concept that we are a combination of four core personality types: sanguine (pleasure-seeking and sociable), choleric (ambitious and leader-like), melancholic (analytical and quiet) and phlegmatic (relaxed and peaceful).By 1921 the founder of analytical psychology, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung was taking this further in his book Psychologische Typen (Psychological Types) in which he outlined the four principal psychological functions by which we experience our environment:...

New research commissioned by American Express has quantified the social and community value of shopping in small independent shops ahead of this year’s Small Business Saturday on 6th December. The results showed that small shops across the country are providing £537 million worth of added-value services and going above and beyond for their customers and local communities. This equates to £3,058 worth of time donated each year by the average small shop. The most common examples cited were checking in...

In London, achieving healthy work/life balance can be a tricky prospect. According to the HSE, 39 per cent of all work related illnesses in 2013-14 were caused by work stress, depression or anxiety which can cause early burnout. A recent change in UK legislation has extended the right to request flexible working hours to all employees, who now have the right to request to adjust their schedules according to their needs. This could allow them to work from home part time, stagger...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Guardian and Observer readers have just voted Newcastle the best city in the UK. Well there is even more good news; Tyneside is becoming an ever popular choice for businesses taking up office space. Instant Offices sees the city of Newcastle as a prominent growing hub for UK businesses. With university graduates choosing to stay in the bustling city rather than migrate to London, and organisations such as NE1 lobbying for business growth and securing...

London is a hub of roller-coaster house prices, new research has revealed, with the cost of a house per square foot varying by hundreds of pounds across the boroughs. Property buyers searching around Hounslow can expect to pay just £338 per square foot on average, while those with their hearts set on a home in Kensington and Chelsea should prepare to shell out £1,008 per square foot, reveals national housing and regeneration specialist, Keepmoat. Comparing Kensington and Chelsea and Hounslow...

Open-office plans are all the rage today. As companies occupy old warehouses with big open spaces the notion of having everything in the open has become quite appealing, and it can also make good business sense. Rather than having everyone stuffed into cubicles and behind office doors, open-office spaces have been found to be conductive to a creative environment and ripe for collaboration and a free exchange of ideas. One survey found 81 per cent of respondents said they believed...