Clive Schlee, who turned Pret A Manger into a household name during his 16-year reign to 2019, had a simple rule on promotions and price cuts: never discount anything. If you drop your prices, you sell short the value of your product. Current Pret chief executive, Pano Christou, took little time riding roughshod over his predecessor’s mantra when he launched Pret’s subscription service in September 2020. For a £30-a-month fee, “Club Pret” customers could enjoy up to five coffees a day and 20 per cent off food purchases. At the time, it seemed a reasonable idea, given that he needed a loud, splashy offer to lure customers back into his stores in the depths of the coronavirus crisis. But as word spread of Pret’s generosity, it quickly became one of the biggest customer draws on the high street. As office workers returned to town centres, it was soon costing the company millions of pounds a week in giveaways 🔗 Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eDYbcnJb
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Elie Maalouf, chief executive of the booming InterContinental Hotels Group, says he will not be joining the exodus of companies listing overseas — for now Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dmnhv5qf
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Disruption to travel and medical appointments is set to continue for days after the worst global IT systems outage caused computers running vital infrastructure to collapse. A software update by the US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike pushed out to computers running Microsoft Windows on Thursday night caused millions of PCs around the world to crash. In the UK, television stations found themselves unable to broadcast and card payment systems went down in shops including Waitrose, Morrisons, Halfords and Waterstones
IT outage disruption will continue into next week, say experts
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Many children want to be an astronaut when they grow up, but Nasa’s chief doctor has said that being a grown-up will no longer be essential, predicting that children will blast into space in the future. Travelling into space could be almost as easy as boarding a commercial flight, with no need for passengers to undergo months of rigorous training or to be “outstanding specimens” who meet exacting medical requirements, according to JD Polk, Nasa’s chief health and medical officer. Fewer than 700 people have been to space, but this number is set to rocket as commercial space flight firms such as Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Axiom and SpaceX expand their plans to launch more paying tourists and private astronauts beyond the Earth’s atmosphere
Children could soon fly in space, says Nasa’s medical expert
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Thousands of Ukrainian youngsters were abducted and indoctrinated to be ‘mini soldiers’. But a summer camp is helping those that were rescued
‘They tried to make us Russians’: the children Putin stole
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Millions of savers could be better off in retirement under plans to make it easier to keep track of your pension pots. The King’s Speech on Wednesday included a Pensions Schemes Bill that the government estimates will leave the typical private pension holder £11,000 better off in retirement
Savers spared the hunt for lost pension pots
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Nine weeks before I turned 60 I set myself a fitness challenge to get into the best shape of my life. I wanted to reach my big birthday feeling fit, confident and down from 10st 2lb to a target weight of 9st 5lb, which was what I weighed on my wedding day in 1992. I booked and paid for a birthday photoshoot as an incentive to stay on track and serve as a celebration of how far I’d come. It was excellent motivation. Eating consciously and exercising consistently I lost just under a stone in weight. More importantly, I was sleeping better, feeling confident and full of energy, laughing in the face of the common presumption that we slow down as we get older. Fiona Lambert transformed her physique with a few simple changes. This is her ultimate guide for gym beginners and late starters, complete with a 20-minute workout
How to get fit at any age — I did it at 60
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Homeowners hoping for a cut in the Bank of England base rate look set to be disappointed — and may be surprised to learn that their blow-dry is part of the problem. Inflation is still high when it comes to the price of services such as hotels and hairdressers — and this makes an interest rate cut unlikely
Your expensive haircut is keeping mortgage rates high
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As a younger generation is taking over from their parents, the concept of opening up their homes to make some serious dosh has taken hold. This new aristocracy is no longer constrained by ideas of gentility. It’s all about making hard cash in whatever way you can. Those grand family estates won’t pay for themselves, you know. Enterprising aristos are renting out their stately homes. But what’s it like to let the normies in? Matthew Bell reports
The UK’s poshest holiday rentals (some are even on Airbnb)
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