The Wellington, Tower Suites by Blue Orchid Hotels win 2023 Traveller Review Award
Tony Matharu, founder and chairman of Blue Orchid Hotels, was honoured with the Community Champion Award last November at the Asian Business Awards hosted by the Asian Media Group.
Blue Orchid Hotels group has added another feather in its cap in the travel industry as two of its finest hotels have been recognised with a prestigious award.
Based on visitors' reviews, Booking.com has announced The Wellington and Tower Suites hotels by the group as the winner of the 2023 Traveller Review Award which celebrates businesses that have got outstanding reviews from travellers across the world on the online travel booking giant over the past one year.
According to the group's patrons, Blue Orchid Hotels has consistently delivered for their guests despite facing challenges over the past 12 months.
It may be mentioned here that in December last year, Tripadvisor announced the Tower Suites hotel as the winner of 2022 Travelers’ Choice Award and one of the world’s best hotels, based on visitors’ reviews.
Tony Matharu, founder and chairman of Blue Orchid Hotels, who was honoured with the Community Champion Award last November at the Asian Business Awards hosted by the Asian Media Group, said, “At Blue Orchid Hotels, we aim to demonstrate integrity, respect and courtesy to our valued guests and in our relationships with our partners and the wider community.
"Recognition by our visitors is the highest reward for those in our team who daily welcome our guests with the warmth and friendliness of an extended family. Our associates and our team take individual and collective pride in the recognition of our efforts as the guests’ best hotel based on outstanding positive experiences.”
Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking.com, said, "This award shows just how much guests value the special memories The Wellington and Tower Suites help them make. Thank you to Blue Orchid Hotels on behalf of millions of travellers.
"Now, it’s time to celebrate The Wellington and Tower Suites’ incredible achievement. I’m excited by what the future holds for our industry. People are embracing travel again, and remembering the many ways in which travel can enrich their lives. I look forward to helping more travellers experience all The Wellington and Tower Suites have to offer.”
Guests at The Wellington hotel can benefit from its ideal location, nestled in a tranquil Westminster enclave on leafy Vincent Square, providing an idyllic haven away from the hustle and bustle of the city, whilst remaining within easy reach of Buckingham Palace and St. James’s Park.
Overlooking its own private gardens and terraces, The Wellington hotel combines traditional elegance with contemporary style and modern decor. Visitors to Tower Suites all-suites hotel can enjoy facilities and services now ranked as some of the very best in the world (according to TripAdvisor).
The 273 elegant suites - each offering independent living with fully equipped kitchens and lounges together with luxurious bathrooms and sumptuous bedrooms, whilst having access to the myriad facilities and services of a luxury 5-star hotel - all in a spectacular central London location.
Recognising the burgeoning trend for independent living and personal space, Tower Suites is perfect for any length of stay or purpose whether for business or leisure, with its luxury spa, choice of restaurants and bars, workspaces, lounges, state-of-the-art meeting and events centre, and the spectacular The Skyline London roof terrace.
THE Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has secured confiscation orders totalling £305,284 from Raheel Mirza, Cameron Vickers and Opeyemi Solaja for their roles in an investment fraud. The orders cover all their remaining assets.
The confiscation proceedings against a fourth defendant, Reuben Akpojaro, have been adjourned.
The FCA said the money will be returned to investors as soon as possible. Failure to pay could lead to imprisonment.
Between June 2016 and January 2020, the defendants cold-called individuals and persuaded them to invest in a shell company.
They claimed to trade client money in binary options, but the funds were used to fund their lifestyles.
In 2023, the four were convicted and sentenced to a combined 24 and a half years.
Steve Smart, executive director, Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said: “We are committed to fighting financial crime, including denying criminals their ill-gotten gains. We’ve already successfully prosecuted these individuals for their part in a scam that conned 120 people out of their money. We’re now seeking to recover as much as we can for victims.”
PETER GLOVER, a long-standing member of the Day Lewis Group, died on 10 May 2025. He was with the company for 37 years, having joined in June 1987 as a pharmacist.
He held several roles, including Group Superintendent Pharmacist, and most recently worked in a Professional Services Advisory role. He was part of the senior management team for decades.
JC Patel, Co-Founder of Day Lewis Group, said: “Peter was much loved and well-known across the pharmacy industry. His contributions to the field were significant and his legacy will be remembered by all who had the privilege of working with him. He leaves behind a lasting impact on Day Lewis and the wider pharmacy community.”
The company extended condolences to his family and friends.
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Rachel Reeves welcomed the figures, saying they 'show the strength and potential of the UK economy,' while adding that 'there is more to do'. (Photo: Getty Images)
THE UK economy grew more than expected in the first quarter of the year, according to official data published on Thursday. The figures cover the period before business tax increases and US President Donald Trump's new tariffs came into effect.
Gross domestic product rose by 0.7 per cent from January to March, following a small increase in the final quarter of last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Economists had forecast a rise of 0.6 per cent.
The data comes as a boost for prime minister Keir Starmer and the Labour government, which has faced slow growth since taking office in July.
UK chancellor Rachel Reeves welcomed the figures, saying they "show the strength and potential of the UK economy," while adding that "there is more to do".
However, analysts warned that the growth may not continue.
Thursday's data is from before the business tax hike announced in the Labour government’s first budget last October, which came into effect in April.
It also predates the baseline 10 per cent tariff that Trump imposed on the UK and other countries last month.
"This might be as good as it gets for the year," said Paul Dales, chief UK economist at Capital Economics.
‘Short lived’
The growth is "set to be short lived as tariffs take effect”, said Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK.
She said that despite the UK-US trade agreement announced last week, “tariffs on UK exports to the US remain significantly higher than what they were prior to April”.
Under the agreement, tariffs were cut on British cars and removed on steel and aluminium. In return, the UK agreed to open markets to US beef and other agricultural products.
But the 10 per cent baseline tariff remains.
Selfin added that "the indirect impact of trade tensions between the US and the EU will further constrain demand for UK exports".
ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said, "The economy grew strongly in the first quarter of the year, largely driven by services, though production also grew significantly, after a period of decline."
Analysts said production growth may be due to manufacturers rushing to complete exports ahead of the US tariff changes.
Separate trade data released on Thursday showed UK goods exports to the US rose for the fourth straight month in March.
"This pattern of increasing exports could be a sign of changing trader behaviour ahead of tariff introduction," the ONS said.
"Any residual support for manufacturing from front-running will fade from here on, pointing to activity remaining weak for the foreseeable future," said economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
The ONS said monthly GDP grew by 0.2 per cent in March, after rising 0.5 per cent in February.
The data follows the Bank of England’s decision last week to cut its key interest rate by a quarter point to 4.25 per cent, as US tariffs begin to affect growth prospects.
The Bank raised its forecast for UK GDP growth in 2025 to 1 per cent, from an earlier estimate of 0.75 per cent, but lowered its projection for 2026 to 1.25 per cent, down from 1.5 per cent.
Earlier this week, data showed UK unemployment in the first quarter had reached its highest level since 2021.
(With inputs from agencies)
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The company currently manufactures its popular Range Rovers in Solihull, West Midlands
JAGUAR LAND ROVER's chief executive has left open the possibility of building cars in the US as questions remain about the newly announced UK-US trade agreement, reported the Telegraph.
Adrian Mardell said that while there are no immediate plans to shift manufacturing across the Atlantic, he couldn't dismiss the idea completely given the ongoing trade uncertainties.
"We had and currently have no cause to build cars in the US at this time, but we cannot discount that it could be the case at some point," Mardell was quoted as saying.
His comments will worry government officials who are rushing to finalise practical aspects of the trade deal announced last week by prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and US president Donald Trump.
The agreement has reduced tariffs from a potential 27.5 per cent down to 10 per cent for the first 100,000 vehicles exported from the UK to the US. This has already prompted JLR to restart US shipments after previously pausing them.
JLR, owned by India's Tata Motors, currently manufactures its popular Range Rovers in Solihull, West Midlands, while producing models like the Land Rover Discovery and Defender elsewhere in Europe.
North America represents a crucial market for the luxury carmaker, with 129,000 vehicles sold there in the year ending March — roughly a third of its worldwide sales. Most of these sales occurred in the US.
However, car manufacturers are still awaiting key details about how the agreement will work in practice. Bentley's chief executive Frank-Steffen Walliser expressed concerns at a Financial Times conference about the current uncertainty.
"The worst thing that can happen to a running business is the announcement of lower tariff," Walliser explained. "It means all your customers say 'I won't buy a car now', especially our customers, our clients don't need a car at the moment."
He added that the lack of clarity was seriously affecting business: "It is super hard on the business at the moment, nobody's moving."
One major question remains about how the tariff-free quota of 100,000 vehicles will be divided among different car companies.
"Is the 100,000 for Bentley? I can live with that," Walliser remarked. "But I assume our colleagues from JLR would also like to have a chunk."
Bentley, which sells around 4,000 cars annually in the Americas with the US being its largest market, has so far avoided price increases by shipping vehicles to America before tariffs were imposed. However, Walliser warned this strategy was becoming unsustainable as stock levels decreased.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining," he said about the trade deal. "But it is not operational."
Despite these concerns, Starmer has defended the agreement, insisting it "delivers for British business and British workers protecting thousands of British jobs in key sectors including car manufacturing and steel."
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Trade unionists in front of Arcelor Mittal headquarters in Saint Denis in France on May 13, 2025. (Photo by DANIEL PERRON/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
UNIONS in France fighting to save 600 jobs at ArcelorMittal operations in the country called for the government to take control of them, along the lines of what has happened to British Steel.
CGT union chief Sophie Binet promised hundreds of workers demonstrating outside ArcelorMittal's offices of its French subsidiary in France that she would press the issue with president Emmanuel Macron.
"I will deliver to him the CGT proposals to nationalise" the group's French operations, she told the protesting workers.
ArcelorMittal announced plans last month to cut 600 jobs across the seven sites it has in France, from a total workforce in the country of around 7,100 people. It is in the process of negotiating the job reductions with unions.
The group -- the second-biggest steelmaker in the world, formed from a merger of India's Mittal Steel with European company Arcelor -- has warned of industry "uncertainty" after the US imposed 25-per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
Yet the group in April posted a quarterly group net profit of $805 million (£633m). To shave costs, it is shifting some support jobs from Europe to India, and last year it suspended a $2 billion (£1.57bn) decarbonisation investment in France.
French unions believe Macron's government can follow the lead of its British counterpart, which last month passed a law allowing it to take control of ailing British Steel.
Italy last year also ousted ArcelorMittal as owner of its debt-ridden ex-Ilva plant, accusing the company of failing to prop up the operation after buying control in 2018.
"The Italians have done it, the British have done it... so why aren't we French able to also do it?" asked a regional CGT head, Gaetan Lecocq.
But a junior French minister for business, Veronique Louwagie, told parliament that "nationalisation is not a response in itself to the difficulties faced by the European steel industry".
She also said, however, that the government expected the company "to give what its mid-term strategy in France is".
A lawmaker with the hard-left France Unbowed party, Aurelie Trouve, has put forward a bill for the nationalisation of ArcelorMittal in France.
Trouve said the company "has clearly been organising the offshoring of production for years, and now we are faced with an emergency".