Latest news with #Upside
Daily Mirror
09-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'Best' UK theme park is wildly overlooked and tickets are available for just £14
Dianne Bourne went to Gulliver's World with her kids and realised it's one of the best value-for-money family days out in the region For a brilliant family day out, there's one destination that offers exceptional value whilst keeping youngsters thoroughly entertained. Manchester Evening News lifestyle editor Dianne Bourne ventured to Gulliver's World with her children and discovered this theme park is seriously underrated. According to Dianne, the Warrington attraction is "arguably one of the best value-for-money family days out in the region". Daily passes start from just £14 per person, available through "secret sales" on Gulliver's official website. During Dianne's visit on a glorious Sunday at the beginning of school holidays - likely the busiest and most "peak" period possible - day passes were priced at £25 per person, or £16 for afternoon entry, reports the Express. The top 20 'childish' activities that parents secretly adore Blackpool Pleasure Beach makes controversial change to its entry policy She wrote: "Even at £25 per person, I found it to be excellent value, considering the enjoyable full day I spent here with my two children, aged nine and five." Gulliver's frequently gets overshadowed in the theme park hierarchy, especially given its proximity to the enormous Alton Towers. Whilst it might not rival adult thrill-seekers' expectations, Gulliver's targets the family demographic specifically, featuring attractions tailored for ages two to 13. Dianne observed: "I was quite impressed that even during peak times, queue lengths never exceeded thirty minutes for any attraction." Those who haven't been to this Cheshire theme park in a while will be amazed by the fantastic new additions. The standout feature is The Land of Oz, which was Dianne's family's starting point for their day out. This magical new area takes its cues from the much-loved Wizard of Oz story and its unforgettable characters. Dianne said: "Visitors can stroll, or dash as my children did, along a yellow brick road... inevitably humming 'follow the yellow brick road' repeatedly - if you're anything like me." The first sight that greets guests is the Upside Down House, where you can wander around and marvel at the rather puzzling spectacle of it all, before exiting via a huge slide (adults included) at the end. Dianne added: "My younger son was particularly fascinated by the twitching limbs of the Wicked Witch pinned beneath the house." Next to the house is a child-friendly driving experience where little ones think they're in charge - and they'll probably enjoy spotting a munchkin (and other colourful characters) along the forest path. However, the most striking new attraction in this part of the theme park has to be the Winged Monkeys. These creatures from the classic Wizard of Oz have haunted many a dream over the years. Yet here at Gulliver's World, visitors can climb aboard one of these spooky creatures as they glide through the air. The brilliant thing about this attraction is that older kids (and grown-ups) can choose to hit a button to flip upside down for an even more thrilling experience, whilst younger ones can simply enjoy the journey as the monkeys bounce up and down. Dianne revealed: "My nine-year-old dared to try one spin in the monkey before deciding to remain upright for the remainder of the ride, much to my relief." Following all the thrills of the new Land of Oz, Dianne chose to explore Western World and was delighted to discover just a brief queue for one of the most beloved attractions, Apache Falls. She explained: "This ride is a bit of a hybrid between a Rapids ride and a log flume, and one thing's for sure - you're going to get wet. Not that my children minded, they absolutely loved it." Meanwhile, Gully's Cartoon Studios serves as an excellent spot for lunch and features an extra soft play zone inside the restaurant. Dianne noted: "It's these little extras that make a day out like this more manageable for parents, I believe. The soft play provided a distraction for the kids while I queued for our hot food at the takeaway." There's so much on offer that Dianne and her family couldn't experience all the attractions. She commented: "One of the things I adore about Gulliver's World is its compact layout, making it easy to navigate and ensuring everything feels within reach. "The park is also visually appealing, boasting plenty of greenery and a large pool at its centre, home to numerous ducks and moorhens that kept the children entertained during our brief ice cream break." Compared to other family attractions like the Trafford Centre Summer Funfair where Dianne once spent £64 on rides for two children over just two hours, plus an entrance fee of £10.50 for three of them, Gulliver's World (which cost £75 for three) offers incredible value for a full day out. Dianne stated: "I would highly recommend it for anyone looking to entertain children under 12 during the school summer holidays. If you can be flexible with your dates, keep an eye out for those £14 tickets too."
.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26auto%3Dwebp%26quality%3D75&w=3840&q=100)
Evening Standard
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Evening Standard
New York pizza in London: where to go to get a slice of the action
First things first, the pizzas here are excellent. No doubt chef Tom Kemble (who won a Michelin star at Bonhams restaurant) was given a hefty budget to traverse NYC to undertake vital R&D. He is likely to have made it to Upside on Spring Street, a newer place that uses tangy sourdough and works with deep, rich tomato sauces that are quite herby. Back to London and Spring Street is very much a fitting homage, with beautifully crisp pizzas that glisten with fat and beg to be sprinkled with chilli flakes and Parmesan. Prices are punchy (the marinara, probably the one to get here, is £24 for the whole pie), but you can go by the half or half-sharer. Get a confit garlic aioli for crust dipping because there's no harm in doing so. Do not get the green goddess one.
Axios
27-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Exclusive: D.C. diners are staying in and spending less
D.C. diners are pulling back — both spending and going out less, according to a new study from Upside digital marketplace. Why it matters: A record number of D.C. restaurants closed last year, and many say business conditions are bleak between rising costs and plummeting patronage, with no end in sight. The big picture: The latest Consumer Price Index report in April revealed that restaurant prices continue to increase nationally — up 3.8% year-over-year — more than food-at-home costs (up 2% year-over-year), per Upside. Upside's recent pulse survey of over 1,400 restaurant operators nationally shows that many plan to raise prices, even as they're worried about losing customers. Zoom in: In D.C., diner spending is down 2.5% over the past two years, per Upside'ssurvey of credit card transactions from nearly 120 restaurants, open from April 2023 through April 2025. Washingtonians are also dining out less frequently. The Upside data shows foot traffic to the average D.C. restaurant is 5% lower than two years ago. What they're saying: "We're seeing a shift in both volume and value," Upside's senior research economist Thomas Weinandy tells Axios in a statement. "Consumers are migrating away from higher-cost dining experiences in favor of options that offer perceived value — whether that's lower prices or more predictable spend." Their analysis of restaurants designated with a single "$" on Yelp (under $10 per person) saw a 2% increase over the past two years. While restaurants with more dollar signs (up to $60 per person) saw a 4% decrease in the same period. Between the lines: Consumers are also spending less within the same restaurants, says Weinandy. "The data is unclear how this is happening, but I suspect it's a combination of higher use of promotions, smaller group sizes, and being more selective when ordering, such as skipping dessert and drinks." The intrigue: While D.C. considers itself a foodie town, Weinandy says "consumers appear willing to sacrifice quality for affordability." Their analysis of Yelp data revealed that foot traffic was relatively stable for D.C. restaurants with low ratings (1-3 stars), while restaurants with 3.5+ stars saw the steepest decline in visits. Zoom out: Upside's report echoes grim findings in the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington's latest member survey, which polled nearly 200 DMV businesses — almost all small and independent restaurants, and local hospitality groups. In the survey, 44% of respondents say they're 'likely to close" by the end of this year. Reality check: Restaurants continue to open, and the poll is just a sliver of the RAMW's 1,500 members. Still, it's a "snapshot of what the industry is fearing and facing," the group's president, Shawn Townsend, told Axios. What we're watching: Mayor Bowser's new, controversial proposal to help struggling restaurants by repealing Initiative 82. The law raises the minimum wage for tipped workers — and labor costs for businesses— though the city argues it's not working. They say it only adds a financial burden to restaurants while lowering wages for many employees, who are seeing fewer tips.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Federal Judge Greenlights a Lawsuit That Claims Florida's Ban on Lab-Grown Meat Is Unconstitutional
"We will save our beef," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared when he signed the nation's first ban on cultivated meat last May, portraying the law as part of his administration's "focus on investing in our local farmers and ranchers." Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson concurred that the governor was "standing up for Florida's farmers and consumers," saying "we must protect our incredible farmers" from "a disgraceful attempt to undermine our proud traditions and prosperity." He promised to "keep Florida's agricultural industry strong and thriving." According to Upside Foods, a California-based manufacturer of lab-grown poultry products, those comments reflect the protectionist motivation of Florida's law, which it says effectively discriminates against out-of-state businesses. On Friday, a federal judge in Florida concluded that the company, which sued state officials last August, had plausibly alleged a violation of the "dormant" Commerce Clause, a doctrine that "prevents the States from adopting protectionist measures and thus preserves a national market for goods and services," as the U.S. Supreme Court put it in 2019. "One of the primary reasons for the enactment of the Constitution was to secure a national common market," said Paul Sherman, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which represents Upside. "Today's ruling is an important vindication of the principle that states cannot close their borders to innovative out-of-state competition, and a warning to other states that are considering banning cultivated meat." The technology that DeSantis perceives as a threat to "our local farmers and ranchers," which was first developed in 2013, uses cell samples to grow meat in bioreactors, obviating the need to raise and slaughter animals. Worldwide, more than 150 companies are working on such products, which have been approved for sale in Singapore, Israel, and the United States, where their distribution so far has been limited to chicken briefly sold by a few restaurants. Less than a week after DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1084, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey likewise approved a preemptive ban on cultivated meat. Other states, including Arizona, Tennessee, and Texas, have "considered similar bills banning lab-grown meat," Reason's Emma Camp notes, although they "ultimately did not pass." In addition to portraying Florida's ban as unconstitutional protectionism, Upside argued that it was preempted by federal law. Although U.S. District Judge Mark Walker rejected that claim, he found that Upside "has plausibly alleged that Florida's ban violates the dormant Commerce Clause by discriminating in effect against interstate commerce through excluding out-of-state businesses and products from Florida's market to protect in-state businesses against a projected decline in market share." Walker therefore rejected the state's motion to dismiss Upside's lawsuit. S.B. 1084 makes it a crime to manufacture or distribute "any meat or food product produced from cultured animal cells." That offense is classified as a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum fine of $500 and up to 60 days in jail. Grocery stores or restaurants that sell the prohibited products can lose their operating licenses and face administrative fines of up to $5,000 per violation. Those penalties apply to any business that sells cultivated meat to Florida consumers, regardless of where it is located. But as Walker notes, "a facially neutral law can violate the dormant Commerce Clause if it discriminates in effect against interstate commerce." In this case, Upside "asserts that Florida's ban discriminates against out-of-state firms and products because it prohibits out-of-state cultivated meat from entering Florida to compete against in-state conventional meat," Walker writes. "Florida's ban on cultivated meat, Plaintiff says, is a proxy for discriminating against out-of-state products since cultivated meat is entirely produced outside of Florida. Plaintiff alleges that the ban also confers a benefit to in-state conventional meat and agricultural businesses by shielding them from the potential decline in market share that they would face from competing with out-of-state cultivated meat. And according to Plaintiff, the ban's protectionist effects were intentional." In addition to quoting the press release that DeSantis issued when he signed S.B. 1084, Upside's complaint notes that he praised the bill "from behind a podium that featured a sign stating, 'SAVE OUR BEEF.'" That signing event featured the president and president-elect of the Florida Cattlemen's Association, who "acknowledged that the purpose of the Ban is to protect their industry from out-of-state competition." The reason "we have all these cattlemen here," DeSantis explained, was that Florida had "put down the mark very clearly: We stand with agriculture. We stand with the cattle ranchers. We stand with our farmers." If the state allowed the sale of cultivated meat, he said, it would "wipe the people sitting here today out of business." Simpson, the agriculture commissioner, complained that it was "Californians [who] are participating in this crap." DeSantis acknowledged that Florida allows the sale of plant-based meat substitutes made by companies such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat. The crucial difference with cultivated meat, he said, is that "they want to say it's the same as raising cattle and doing it naturally, so there will be then no reason that you have this [conventional meat] industry. So it is designed to be a threat to agriculture as we know it." In light of that danger, he explained, "we're snuffing this out at the beginning." State legislators who supported the ban delivered a similar message. "If you believe that we are doing this because we know that Florida's agriculture can hold us down and provides plenty of safe, quality beef and agricultural products, you are absolutely correct," Rep. Danny Alvarez (R–Hillsborough County), the bill's House sponsor, said in March 2024. Around the same time, Rep. Dean Black (R–Nassau County), a rancher, said Floridians who want to try cultivated meat should "go to California," but they "sure as heck" should not be able to get it "here in Florida." As Upside's case proceeds, Walker notes, Florida will have to rebut the inference of protectionism by citing a legitimate public interest that cannot be served by "nondiscriminatory alternatives." But Upside argues that the state's ban is "not supported by any adequate health or safety justification." In approving the sale of the company's products, the lawsuit notes, the Food and Drug Administration "had no questions regarding the safety of UPSIDE's preharvest production process or the safety of foods composed of or containing cultivated chicken resulting from UPSIDE's production process." Upside adds that "the safety and healthfulness of cultivated meat and poultry is subject to the same standards of federal regulation as conventional meat and poultry." Even as DeSantis bragged about banning cultivated meat, Upside notes, he "did not voice any food-safety issue regarding cultivated meat products." More generally, state officials "did not cite concerns that cultivated meat is less healthy or safe than conventional meat." If anything, Upside argues, "cultivated meat and poultry poses fewer health and safety concerns than conventional meat because it is grown under clean and controlled conditions and thus not exposed to animal waste, animal pathogens, or environmental toxins." Even if "there were a legitimate, nondiscriminatory justification" for legislation regarding cultivated meat, Upside says, "Florida has a variety of less burdensome alternatives." If legislators wanted to avoid "consumer confusion over the nature of UPSIDE's product," for example, they could impose "disclosure requirements for food establishments that ensure cultivated meat or poultry is not sold as conventional meat or poultry." In addition to presenting himself as the savior of Florida ranchers and farmers, DeSantis bizarrely claimed he was "fighting back against the global elite's plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals," counterintuitively presenting legal restrictions on consumer choice as a blow against authoritarianism. Upside "doesn't want to force anyone to eat cultivated meat," the company says. "But it does want the opportunity to distribute its product to willing consumers, so that those consumers can decide for themselves whether UPSIDE's product is worth eating. And UPSIDE has a right to do so, because SB 1084 is unconstitutional." The post A Federal Judge Greenlights a Lawsuit That Claims Florida's Ban on Lab-Grown Meat Is Unconstitutional appeared first on
CBS News
26-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Federal lawsuit against Florida ban on "lab-grown" meat still alive after judge's ruling
A lawsuit against Florida's ban on "lab-grown" meat is still alive after a federal judge tossed four parts of the suit on Friday but kept a fifth. Northern District of Florida Chief Judge Mark Walker declined to dismiss a part of the lawsuit that argued Florida's restrictions give an unconstitutional advantage to Florida farmers over out-of-state competitors. Meanwhile, the judge sided with state attorneys seeking to dismiss the lawsuit and their argument that federal approval of cultivated chicken doesn't mean individual states can't ban it. U.S. regulators first signed off on the sale of what's known as "cell-cultured" or "cell-cultivated" meat in June 2023. The lawsuit had argued that Florida's law is preempted under federal laws that regulate the interstate market for meat and poultry products. Sellers say the product is a more ethical and sustainable alternative to conventionally raised chicken, beef and pork. But lawmakers in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi have called cultivated meat a threat to their states' agriculture industries and banned the sale of the product, which is made of animal cells that are fed a mix of proteins, vitamins and water and then formed into nuggets, sausages and steaks. The lawsuit was filed last year by Upside Foods, represented by the nonprofit law firm the Institute for Justice. "Upside is not looking to replace conventional meat, which will always have a place at the table," Upside CEO Uma Valeti said in a statement. "All we are asking for is the right to compete, so that Floridians can try our product and see that it is possible to have delicious meat without the need for slaughtering animals. Today's ruling is an important step toward securing that right." The governor's office and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment about the lawsuit. Gov. Ron DeSantis was flanked by cattle farmers last May when he signed the state's cultivated meat ban into law. "We stand with agriculture, we stand with the cattle ranchers, we stand with our farmers because we understand it's important for the backbone of the state," DeSantis said. "Take your fake lab-grown meat elsewhere."
