PLANS HAVE been submitted to transform a 17th century Grade II-listed mansion near Ripon into a £25m country house hotel and spa. The proposals would see Grantley Hall, which is set in 30 acres of wooded parkland and grounds, converted into a 52-bedroom hotel, which would aim to be one of the leading country house hotels in the UK.The development would retain and showcase its many Georgian features. As well as accommodation, it would include a signature restaurant, Read more [...]

A grade II-listed Cardiff church which is home to a First World War memorial window is to hold a final service before closing – for a refurbishment which could see much of the building turned into flats. The thanksgiving service at the 126-year-old St Paul’s, in Grangetown , takes place on Friday, February 5, after which the church – which provided the setting for a 2005 episode of Doctor Who – will be gradually emptied. That is to allow much-needed renovations to take place which, it Read more [...]

With the virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) from Oculus VR, HTC and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) so tantalisingly close to release one of the great unknowns for two of them currently is price. The Oculus Rift opened up pre-orders earlier this month with a price of $599 USD (around £420 GBP) which was seen as expensive, but the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR are still keeping that under wraps. But it looks like a Swiss retailer is taking guess at the pricing with a new online Read more [...]

A listed Australian law firm which once had plans to expand into the UK today halted trading in its shares after a profit warning.Shine Corporate Ltd today placed securities in a ‘trading halt session state’ pending the release of an announcement to the Australian stock exchange, likely to be made on Thursday. Advertisement Yesterday the company said it was reviewing its work-in-progress recovery rates and provisioning and expects to announce a ‘material reduction’ in the profit forecasts Read more [...]

The pledging of shares by promoters of NSE-listed companies hit a seven-year high in the quarter ended December as the equity markets tumbled in 2015, data from PRIME Database show. Promoter share pledging increased 14% in the last quarter of calendar year 2015, with the value of pledged shares going up to Rs 2.03 lakh crore as on December 31, compared with 1.78 lakh crore on September 30. The percentage of promoter holding pledged rose from 43.92% a year ago to 46.35% on December 31. Shares Read more [...]

Comments (1) The chairman of Fishermead Residents' Association has spoken of his relief that his estate was not chosen for regeneration by Milton Keynes Council.Terry Baines has criticised the council's possible regeneration of estates in Milton Keynes, while also insisting they are only 'pie-in-the-sky' ideas at present.But he also spoke of his relief about Fishermead not being one of the seven estates earmarked for regeneration.He said: "If you look at Conniburrow Read more [...]

The Laundrette in Manchester, has since edited the original job descriptionAd read: 'Plenty of attractive floor staff to flirt with'Facebook users branded it 'disgusting' and 'degrading'Others defended the advert, saying it was a bit of a laugh By Bianca London for MailOnline Published: 14:28 GMT, 18 January 2016 | Updated: 14:40 GMT, 18 January 2016 5 View comments Read more [...]

The historic gatehouse to a former Birmingham metalwork factory could be saved from demolition after securing a Grade II listing. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has awarded the special status to the gatehouse at the former IMI factory in Wellhead Lane, Perry Barr. They are the only surviving buildings on the site and were constructed in 1915 when the factory, at the time owned by Kynoch Company and employing 18,000 people, was manufacturing munitions for the First World War effort. Read more [...]

Wesfarmers, the Australian retail-to-coal mining conglomerate, has acquired Homebase, the do-it-yourself unit of UK-listed Home Retail. The deal, which is priced at £340m (€445.7m, $485.5m), marks Wesfarmers's first acquisition outside Australia and New Zealand.The Australian conglomerate had last week offered A$700m (£339.1m) for the Homebase chain which has a portfolio of 265 stores across the UK, after the latter rebuffed a bid from J Sainsbury. Wesfarmers said the initial focus would be to Read more [...]

Legal Week Private Client Forum Americas 2016 Legal Week Private Client Forum Americas will unite the most senior private client lawyers from North America, Central, South America and Caribbean jurisdictions to address key issues facing private client practitioners. Taking place on February 10-12, 2016 at Rosewood Tucker's Point, Bermuda. Date: 10 Feb 2016 Rosewood Tucker's Read more [...]