Business

A veteran nightclub operator has called on the government to introduce a Covid-style loan guarantee scheme to unlock investment in what he described as a “logjammed” hospitality sector struggling with poor access to finance and rising costs. Peter Marks, whose career spans more than four decades in bars, clubs and leisure, said the market for hospitality finance is effectively broken, preventing assets from changing hands and deterring new investment at a time when many operators...

If you hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other cryptocurrencies, you may be wondering where you can actually spend them—the answer: more places than ever. What began with niche online retailers has expanded to everyday purchases, from coffee to cars. Adoption has accelerated quickly. Monthly stablecoin transactions hit nearly $1.25 trillion in September 2025, and retail-driven crypto payments grew over 125% year over year, showing that crypto is increasingly being used for real-world spending, not just trading....

McKinsey is drawing up plans that could see thousands of jobs cut over the next two years, as the global consultancy responds to rapid advances in artificial intelligence and a prolonged slowdown in client demand. Senior partners at the firm are understood to have held early discussions with leaders of non-client-facing departments about reducing team sizes by as much as 10 per cent. While McKinsey declined to confirm the scale of the cuts, Bloomberg, which...

Britain can “without a doubt” compete with the United States to become a global hub for cryptoassets, the City minister has said, as the government sets out long-awaited legislation to regulate the fast-growing digital assets market. Lucy Rigby said the proposed framework showed the UK’s intention to “lead the world in digital assets adoption”, amid mounting concern from the crypto industry that Britain has been moving too slowly while rival jurisdictions press ahead. “This is...

The employment tribunal system is facing unprecedented strain, with a backlog of more than half a million claims raising serious doubts over its ability to cope with an expected surge in cases under Labour’s proposed expansion of workers’ rights. Latest tribunal statistics for the second quarter of the year, covering July to September 2025, show that active claims — including both single and multiple cases — climbed to 515,000 by the end of September. The...

The AA has appointed advisers to explore a potential sale or stock market flotation, five years after the debt-laden roadside assistance group was taken private, as rival RAC also considers a return to public markets. The AA, which is owned by private equity firms Warburg Pincus, TowerBrook Capital Partners and Stonepeak, has hired JP Morgan and Rothschild to review strategic options for the business, which is valued at around £5 billion. The process is understood...

The proportion of people in Britain holding cryptocurrencies has fallen sharply, according to new research published by the Financial Conduct Authority, as the regulator unveils long-awaited plans to bring digital assets under formal supervision. Research commissioned by the FCA found that just 8 per cent of UK adults now own cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or ethereum, down from a peak of 12 per cent in 2024. The findings suggest that the boom in retail crypto...

Virgin Media O2 has officially opened its new multi-million-pound North West headquarters in central Manchester, marking a significant expansion of its long-term commitment to the city and the wider region. The new office, located on John Dalton Street just off Deansgate, will be home to around 1,100 employees and forms part of a broader strategy to invest in people, digital infrastructure and community inclusion across Greater Manchester. The move follows a review of the company’s...

The UK unemployment rate has risen to 5.1 per cent, its highest level since January 2021, as fresh data pointed to a further cooling in the labour market and slowing wage growth. Figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the jobless rate increased from 5 per cent in the three months to September to 5.1 per cent in the three months to October, in line with expectations from City economists and the...

First-time buyers, the self-employed and older borrowers could soon find it easier to secure a mortgage under a package of reforms proposed by the Financial Conduct Authority, as the regulator moves to modernise lending rules to reflect changing working lives and demographics. The FCA said it plans to simplify mortgage regulations and loosen restrictions on lenders to allow more flexible products, better suited to people with irregular incomes, later-life borrowing needs and non-traditional career paths....