Be warned: Tommy Shelby and the gang are moving in on the Scouse gangs! Or rather, Grosvenor has just brought Escape Live to Liverpool ONE to run six escape rooms, one of which will be a Peaky Blinders “experience”. Hopefully, that is more fun than it sounds, drawing more from the intricate plotting of the BBC series and less of the extreme violence and being robbed. Even though it was only an 8,800 sq ft letting in a 2.5m sq ft scheme, Metis was keen to be acknowledged for ringing the mark, while Kelion Sworn played inside man to Escape Live. But we know that the deal was actually arranged… by order of the Peaky Blinders!
Wouldn’t you like to see a pepper too?
Just imagine working in an office with peppers growing from the ceiling. Or lemons. Avocados, strawberries, blueberries, courgettes, rocket… you get the idea. This could be the future, following the launch by Plantworks of its first “biophilic development”, Plantworks King’s Cross. Comprising 6,450 sqft of prime workspace across four floors in Britannia Road, King’s Cross, it will include nearly 10,000 plants, many of which are “crop-able”, all financed by Plantworks founder Clemente Capello. According to Capello: “My vision is to harbour the benefits of plants to attract talent, reduce sick days and foster wellbeing within the workplace.” Toiling on a farm has never seemed so appealing.
A league of our own
As if Diary needed reminding, a timely arrival in our inbox highlighted the swift return of club football this weekend, in an eye-catching way. “The Premier League property price growth table is back and it’s bad news for Arse,” the subject title read, quite possibly due to our settings. If you are not a fan of the beautiful game and are still scratching your head, the putative “bad news” is in fact for Arsenal – as if they hadn’t suffered enough in recent years. GetAgent.co.uk has tackled the annual staple that is the property-themed Premier League table, basing performance on house price growth around each club since the start of last season. And for the Gunners, the N7 postcode has been showing real relegation form (house prices down by 4.3%), putting them dead bottom just ahead of Burnley (-2.8%) and Newcastle (-1.9%), two clubs who may well inhabit those places in some pundits’ predictions for the 2021/22 season. Football hipsters can rejoice at the thought of Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United topping the table with a 20.3% rise around Elland Road, beating Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to second (16%). Aston Villa may have lost Jack Grealish to City, but they’ve invested well and come in third (10.7%) with Manchester United just scraping into the Champions League spots (7.8%). As their former boss Alex Ferguson might have said: house prices, bloody hell.
Communications breakdown
When could be better to put out some potentially market moving news? Cushman & Wakefield had just announced better than expected results – revenues up 29%! Profits up 85%! Cake for everyone! – so it seemed like the perfect time to announce a change of leadership. Big John Forrester will be taking over from Brett White at the start of 2022. Let the markets rejoice! Only, it appears Cushman HQ in Chicago forgot to tell the UK. Brit Big John was on holiday – no calls please. CW’s head of press in the UK was on maternity leave, all enquiries forwarded to one deputy who had snatched a few days leave in the August downtime and another who had actually left for good. And so it was left to an admirable external PR to hold the fort. But she was not in the fort. She had, in fact, locked herself out of her flat and was waiting for an emergency locksmith. Just as well Chicago wakes up early. “Other than all that,” says an amused voice down the transatlantic phone lines, “it just seemed the perfect time to announce the news.”
The Wizard of IWG
IWG has had a great first half! The second half is going to be even better! As long as you listen to Mark Dixon and don’t read the actual figures, that is. The numbers show lengthening losses and falling revenues. But ignore them! What about the “tailwinds of flexible working”? The lower cost of growth! Marvel at the possibilities! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain! And, lo and behold, the share price rises. Magic.
