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The UK's oldest Indian restaurant is under threat
Veeraswamy, the UK's oldest Indian restaurant, faces eviction from its Regent Street location after 99 years due to a lease dispute with the Crown Estate.
The Crown Estate plans to renovate the building, requiring the removal of the restaurant's entrance, and intends to convert the space into offices.
Veeraswamy's owner, Ranjit Mathrani, criticizes the decision, citing the restaurant's historical and cultural significance, and is taking the Crown Estate to court to delay the eviction.
The restaurant has served numerous dignitaries and royalty, including Queen Elizabeth II, and claims to be the only outside caterer invited to Buckingham Palace.
While the Crown Estate has offered to assist in finding a new location, Mathrani expresses concern about the potential closure and job losses for the restaurant's 50 staff members.
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Wales Online
an hour ago
- Wales Online
Nigel Farage on 20mph, coal mining and steel, as he explains vision for future for Wales
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Reform UK leader NIgel Farage has spoken about his vision for the future of Wales, at a press conference today. He took to the stage just after 12pm in Port Talbot, with less than a year until the Senedd elections. His introduction had to be hastily rewritten given the UK Government's announcement, which went live at noon, that the winter fuel payment cuts are being partially reversed. Mr Farage said that Labour "knowing this press conference was taking place", announced they would make a fuel payment announcement at noon, as he was due to speak, but called it a "step in the right direction". He also announced independent councillors Andrew Barry and David Hughes, both members of Merthyr Tydfil council, have joined Reform UK, as they also took to the stage to explain how they had become disillusioned and moved to Reform. The most recent poll for Wales suggests his party is in line to take its first seats in the Senedd at the election in May 2026. Its only representation in Wales at the moment is with councillors, but a YouGov/Barn Cymru poll which asked people their voting intention for the Welsh Parliament in May put Reform UK in second with 25% of the vote. They were only behind Plaid Cymru who were projected to get 30% of the vote and ahead of Labour's 18%, reports Wales Online. In an opinion piece for WalesOnline, the party leader has given his first glimpses of policies ahead of the election. Mr Farage has said the party would allow coal mining again in Wales and says its long term plan is to "reopen the Port Talbot steelworks". The steelworks, owned by Tata, have not closed but its remaining blast furnaces were closed in 2024, with work now ongoing to build an electric arc furnace which will recycle previously-used steel. Thousands of jobs are being lost as part of the change. The Indian-owned company said the blast furnaces were at the end of their operational lives and too expensive to replace. The Port Talbot steelworks were, the company said, losing £1m a day before the blast furnaces were turned off. Reform UK say it would "use Welsh Development Grants to support real industry. We'll redirect economic funding from consultants and NGOs to actual factory floors, machinery, and industrial jobs in places like Llanelli, Shotton, and Ebbw Vale". Nigel Farage has also said the party would also set up "regional technical colleges" for people to have a "path into proper trade". (Image: Getty Images) The party would also, it says, stop any building being used for asylum seeker accommodation, end funding to the Welsh Refugee Council and scrap the Welsh Government's "Nation of Sanctuary". It also vowed to set up an Elon Musk style department to cut costs. "A Reform UK Senedd will also save hundreds of millions each year by cutting bureaucracy, waste and bad management. The establishment of Welsh DOGE will help us uncover where there is woke and wasteful spending and we will make sure those funds are redirected to frontline services," Mr Farage pledges. During the press conference Mr Farage also took aim at the controversial 20mph policy, saying he would reverse it. as he said he doubted the electric arc furnace at the Port Talbot Tata site would "every be switched on", but says their plan is to "reindustrialise Wales". He says in the coming years more steel will be needed and the UK should produce its own steel, and its own coal. "I'm not saying let's open all the pits, there are certain types of coal for certain types of uses, for the blast furnaces, we can use here," Mr Farage said, insisting it would be a small scale, specific mining and not like the "heydays of mining in Wales". Mr Farage also said there would be no going back on devolution, but criticised the running of Wales since. In response, a Welsh Labour spokesperson said: "Nigel Farage has no plans for steel - just a camera crew. You can't restart a blast furnace with a press conference. "Nigel Farage says that hopefully they mightthey'll bring back mining. The people of Wales will see through the false hope and false promises of a public-school boy from England who does not understand them and does not understand Wales. "His answer is to bring back the mines. The only thing Nigel Farage is trying to mine is votes from communities that have already gone through tough times. Nigel Farage has today brought his fantasy politics and magic money tree to Port Talbot. He's gambling with real people's livelihoods." Sign up for the North Wales Live newsletter sent twice daily to your inbox Find out what's happening near you
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Nigel Farage accused of 'selling fairy dust' over unfunded steelworks plan
Reform leader Nigel Farage said he wants to reopen the Port Talbot steelworks in Wales, but is under pressure to say how he would achieve it after failing to give answers today Nigel Farage has been accused of "selling fairy dust" after saying he wants to reopen Port Talbot's blast furnaces without a plan to pay for it. The Reform leader announced his desire with a wave of fanfare - but was unable to say how he would achieve it. Mr Farage admitted he would need the help of central government and private businesses, and conceded it would cost billions of pounds. During a press conference in Wales he was confronted with claims the furnaces are "beyond recovery", with the cost of building a brand new steelworks costing around £3billion Floundering Mr Farage said: "Nothing is impossible, but it might be difficult, it might be easier to build a new one." He said it was an "ambition" to reopen the blast furnaces, which closed last year as operator Tata moves to a greener electric arc. The Indian-based company said it was losing £1million a day in Port Talbot. The Reform leader has set his sights on winning control of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd. Following his press conference, a spokesman for the Community Union said: 'We will always support credible policies that create more well-paid jobs in the steel sector, but our steel communities deserve better than to be used as a political football. If Reform have serious plans for the future of our steel sector in Wales, they should set them out in full.' And Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, whose Aberafan Maesteg constituency includes Port Talbot, said Mr Farage was pitching "an operation that no one with any proper knowledge of steelmaking thinks is credible". Mr Kinnock went on: "Farage is a dyed-in-the-wool Thatcherite cosplaying as a socialist. It has been a really challenging time for our community. Politicians should focus on what we can achieve through Labour's £2.5bn Steel Fund - not insulting our intelligence by selling snake oil & fairy dust." A Labour Party spokesman said: ' Nigel Farage is all talk, no plan, and would risk chaos, cuts and decline for Britain. 'He admitted today that it is a 'massive expensive job to reopen blast furnaces' costing 'in the low billions', without offering any explanation for how he would pay for it. Reform UK is just not serious." At his press conference Mr Farage acknowledged it would cost "in the low billions" to repopen the blast furnances, and said "private business partners" would have to be brought in. "Reopening a blast furnace is not an easy thing," he admitted. Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives' Senedd group, said: "Nigel Farage's empty and uncosted promises are nothing more than a mirage. The people of Port Talbot won't be taken for fools." And Heledd Fychan, of Plaid Cymru, said: "Today, Reform have shown us what they offer Wales, empty headlines and nonsensical policies. Farage has parachuted himself into a community recently devastated by UK government inaction, and is taking advantage of the loss by claiming to reopen the blast furnaces, something the industry have already told us is impossible."
North Wales Live
2 hours ago
- North Wales Live
Nigel Farage on 20mph, coal mining and steel, as he explains vision for future for Wales
Reform UK leader NIgel Farage has spoken about his vision for the future of Wales, at a press conference today. He took to the stage just after 12pm in Port Talbot, with less than a year until the Senedd elections. His introduction had to be hastily rewritten given the UK Government's announcement, which went live at noon, that the winter fuel payment cuts are being partially reversed. Mr Farage said that Labour"knowing this press conference was taking place", announced they would make a fuel payment announcement at noon, as he was due to speak, but called it a "step in the right direction". He also announced independent councillors Andrew Barry and David Hughes, both members of Merthyr Tydfil council, have joined Reform UK, as they also took to the stage to explain how they had become disillusioned and moved to Reform. The most recent poll for Wales suggests his party is in line to take its first seats in the Senedd at the election in May 2026. Its only representation in Wales at the moment is with councillors, but a YouGov/Barn Cymru poll which asked people their voting intention for the Welsh Parliament in May put Reform UK in second with 25% of the vote. They were only behind Plaid Cymru who were projected to get 30% of the vote and ahead of Labour's 18%, reports Wales Online. In an opinion piece for WalesOnline, the party leader has given his first glimpses of policies ahead of the election. Mr Farage has said the party would allow coal mining again in Wales and says its long term plan is to "reopen the Port Talbot steelworks". The steelworks, owned by Tata, have not closed but its remaining blast furnaces were closed in 2024, with work now ongoing to build an electric arc furnace which will recycle previously-used steel. Thousands of jobs are being lost as part of the change. The Indian-owned company said the blast furnaces were at the end of their operational lives and too expensive to replace. The Port Talbot steelworks were, the company said, losing £1m a day before the blast furnaces were turned off. Reform UK say it would "use Welsh Development Grants to support real industry. We'll redirect economic funding from consultants and NGOs to actual factory floors, machinery, and industrial jobs in places like Llanelli, Shotton, and Ebbw Vale". Nigel Farage has also said the party would also set up "regional technical colleges" for people to have a "path into proper trade". The party would also, it says, stop any building being used for asylum seeker accommodation, end funding to the Welsh Refugee Council and scrap the Welsh Government's "Nation of Sanctuary". It also vowed to set up an Elon Musk style department to cut costs. "A Reform UK Senedd will also save hundreds of millions each year by cutting bureaucracy, waste and bad management. The establishment of Welsh DOGE will help us uncover where there is woke and wasteful spending and we will make sure those funds are redirected to frontline services," Mr Farage pledges. During the press conference Mr Farage also took aim at the controversial 20mph policy, saying he would reverse it. as he said he doubted the electric arc furnace at the Port Talbot Tata site would "every be switched on", but says their plan is to "reindustrialise Wales". He says in the coming years more steel will be needed and the UK should produce its own steel, and its own coal. "I'm not saying let's open all the pits, there are certain types of coal for certain types of uses, for the blast furnaces, we can use here," Mr Farage said, insisting it would be a small scale, specific mining and not like the "heydays of mining in Wales". Mr Farage also said there would be no going back on devolution, but criticised the running of Wales since. In response, a Welsh Labour spokesperson said: "Nigel Farage has no plans for steel - just a camera crew. You can't restart a blast furnace with a press conference. "Nigel Farage says that hopefully they mightthey'll bring back mining. The people of Wales will see through the false hope and false promises of a public-school boy from England who does not understand them and does not understand Wales. "His answer is to bring back the mines. The only thing Nigel Farage is trying to mine is votes from communities that have already gone through tough times. Nigel Farage has today brought his fantasy politics and magic money tree to Port Talbot. He's gambling with real people's livelihoods."
