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Infrasonic

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Everything posted by Infrasonic

  1. Only realised the other day that my £5 secondhand copy of My Gastronomy is signed by NL himself.
  2. Course, why they should have increased in MAnchester and not elsewhere is interesting. ← Quite. Personally I think there's too much fur coat no knickers going on. I remember having a great whole Plaice at St John two years ago...£14! (Alright ,two years ago, but at the time I was amazed)
  3. Bloody hell, what's going on with Manchester? Down a star and two bibs. I'm guessing the loss of bibs is down to price increases? (I've not eaten at either place for years now, so quality could be an issue too) Juniper. Well that was sort of expected from the reviews by Egulleteers. (Which are far more trustworthy than the local papers/websites "don't piss off a potential advertiser" spiel. Anyone seen Sugarvine lately? If you enjoyed your meal at ........... Restaurant click here to write a restaurant recommendation. ) It's the lack of bibs that really worries me though, like there is no one striving to do better. (edit; OR even worse, is overcharging for the quality on offer)
  4. Actually there is one decent cheap option in Stockport that is a bit of an odd one... 36 casino does a mean steak/potatoes (chips, boiled etc.)/veg for £6.95. They do other options, but I've always had the steak. All bar drinks a pound as well. (At least they were a few months a go) Need photo ID to join (DL, passport etc.), but there's no obligation to gamble (so I don't!).
  5. http://www.citylife.co.uk/restaurants/revi...star_perfection
  6. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle5303399.ece If you thought that the credit crunch would make it easier to get a table at some of the country's best-known restaurants, you'd be wrong. A ring-round of top restaurants shows that reserving a table for two at the weekend is still a challenge. The most difficult place to secure a table was Heston Blumenthal's restaurant, The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, where tables have to be reserved two months in advance. I was told that the lines opened at 10am; tables for a Friday or Saturday usually sold out within half an hour, but for midweek tables it “may be a little easier”. The next available table was on February 6. Almost as difficult to get into was Midsummer House in Cambridge. Here I was advised to book four to six weeks in advance for a Friday or a Saturday night, slightly less for midweek.
  7. Is this another one of those accounting wheezes like the "discretionary" service charge?
  8. Anyone been to Juniper since the takeover?
  9. Anyone that does get this should report it to BT. They have people who deal with this sort of thing. So get the premium number off the caller and then hang up... Likewise it's also illegal to send unsolicited faxes (junk) to sole traders or individuals (but not companies). Registering with TPS/FPS etc will help get rid of a lot of Junk. TPS click here
  10. Like it or not, it's HMRC that's right up there at the front of the queue I'm afraid. H ← Behind the banks, and of course at number one the insolvency practitioner. ← I'm a bit rusty on these things, but is it right that HMRC is still a preferential creditor? I thought that changed a few years ago. Banks are only at the front of the queue because they tend to take a fixed & floating charge over all the assets of the company. The insolvency practitoner gets paid because if he didn't there'd be no administration. ← My angry at insolvency practitioners is the result of having been swindled out of a shareholding interest I held in a perfectly solvent business many years ago. I'm always amazed at how their fees always equal the value of the assets left in a business... I think you're right about HMRC. Banks will ask for a PG if they think your Ltd. is a bit flaky. So you'll get hammered either way unless you take bankruptcy at the same time as insolvency and don't own any personal assets!
  11. I suppose that at least with the £/$ situation tourism should do better in the UK.
  12. Story on Peter Dubens Makes interesting reading... I can't say that the private equity business model looks any more robust than the banks at the moment, have to see how it all comes out in the wash.
  13. And its going to get a hell of a lot worse. The recession has hardly started moving into the real economy yet. Should be another three years of pain at least judging by housing/real estate super-cycles (something the horsemen of the appocolipse will be riding). BLaming the media for whipping it up is missing the point that everything in markets is based around fear and greed. Its an essential part of the process. ← Agreed, even the vested interests are talking about 2010 before any significant growth comes back. And isn't it apocalypse...
  14. Careful. I can only guess you mean the PWC partner John Hawksley, who has spent most of his post-dismal working life on charity committees and state quangos for industry and education (Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre, The Academy of Youth, The Coal Authority, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, that kind of thing). As far as I know, his only involvement in a failed venture was Amelca, a grandiose dairy farmer co-operative scheme set up following the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis. It went bust inside three months after the bank withdrew credit. I have no idea what part Mr Hawksley plays in the Aikens business, if any. ← To make sure the auditors play ball?...
  15. Gary, I've never used it partly for the reasons you give...but...I was thinking that in the current climate it might make people think a bit more about who they stiff for money if they know a bank or other big business is behind the debt. Certainly the credit rating will plummet making COD the only viable alternative for supplies. As for undercapitalisation, I would have thought that is going to an issue for any business that can't rely on pure cashflow to see them through at the moment. Refinancing isn't exactly the banks favourite word lately. Although Gordon is promising that the banks will be lent on to keep the money flowing to small business, we'll have to see how that translates in the real world...
  16. I wonder what the premiums would be like currently...
  17. My local, Market, seems consistently packed and, local rumour has it, turned away Gordon Ramsay and entourage last week as they had no room to fit him in. Huzzah! ← Probably thought Gordo was a poor credit risk and likely to do a runner...
  18. Like it or not, it's HMRC that's right up there at the front of the queue I'm afraid. H ← Behind the banks, and of course at number one the insolvency practitioner.
  19. I think the only moral way one can deal with receivership/insolvencies or liquidations is to make sure the small suppliers get paid if at all possible. Certainly this is what I did years ago with a bankrupt sole trader that I took over and made into a LTD. The only people who got stiffed were the big breweries, and they all started supplying us almost immediately as they could see that the cashflow of the new business was fine. Had to pay double rent for a year as well to clear the arrears on the lease Edit; just to add that factoring (invoicing) might be worth looking at as a way of improving credit control for smaller set-ups. Depends on turnover and margins but worth looking into.
  20. Strangely, water sales were high overthe last 10 days or so, and more expensive wines being sold also, so thats the end of the credit crunch finanical meltdown,phew! ← Was that the baliffs and liquidators xmas parties you had in ?
  21. Review here click Very Positive review courtesy of the fat controller (otherwise known as Mark Garner).
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