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Kien Tan

@kientan74.bsky.social
488 followers 382 following 2.8K posts

Retail consultant and analyst by day, gym instructor and beer drinker by night. All about shops, pubs, planes, gyms... and the views are mine, all mine.

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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 18h
One of the gyms I go to has installed “productivity pods” in the member lounge area… which will come in handy, except I keep thinking I’m in a WeWork or mid-range airline lounge…
Six square lounge chairs with integrated desksTwo lounge chairs in a pod, each with a desk and power sockets
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 20h
⚡ ...not really, no thanks Boots
Email from Boots titles "Fancy an electrical treat?"
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The reason why there are takeaways and bookies on high streets is because people use them. Saying you don't want KFC and Ladbrokes is like saying you don't like your neighbours. And the reason there isn't a bookshop, deli or florist because you use Amazon... www.ft.com/content/1bc8...
FT article about "The West London high street fighting against bookies and chicken shops"Quote from FT article that "A campaign survey found that 75% of respondents wanted another bakery... with a bookshop, delicatessen and florist also popular options"
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Timeline cleanse… 📌 Bolzano airport (BZO), Italy
View of the Dolomites across the apron at Bolzano airportView of the Dolomites across the apron at Bolzano airportBoarding the stairs onto a Skyalps Q400 Dash 8
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
What a bitch…
Telegraph headline saying “There’s no excuse for being fat”
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just to prove I happily work at both ends of the culinary scale… Edinburgh’s Mosque Kitchen vs. Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brubeck in the Dolomites €500 per head, 3 Michelin Stars, and *worth every penny*:
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Somebody needs to tell the PM that you can't force people to want to go to Manchester just by *smacking down London*... (Statistical note: Manchester airport has as many runways as Heathrow, but fewer than half as many flights)
ft.com
Burnham’s opposition to Heathrow expansion puts third runway in doubt
New prime minister has been a longstanding critic of the project
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
🏝️ If VisitEngland doesn’t know why British people would rather go to Spain or Greece than visit the slightly underwhelming British coast… Babe, it ain’t to do with Andy B’s visitor tax, but You Do You.
visitbritain.org
VisitEngland launches national campaign to boost coastal breaks and drive visitor spending
VisitEngland is launching a major national campaign to inspire more people to book a coastal getaway, boosting visits and visitor spending in England's coastal destinations through the autumn and into...
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Reposted by Kien Tan
Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This thread! 🫨🫨🫨
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Mmmm, nope, the EU definitely hasn’t fixed the EES registration and entry procedure yet…
Queue for EES preregistration at Munich Airport - still ahead…Queue for EES preregistration at Munich Airport - behind me…
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
🗳️ Spoke too soon…
Zack Polanski in a Meta advert
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Waitrose x Amol Rajan... ...is that the media equivalent of a company partnering with Brewdog because they think it's cool and cutting edge?
Linkedin post from Waitrose announcing it is partnering with Amol Rajan
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Reposted by Kien Tan
Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
…I have seen him hanging around Dalston, but according to my postal ballot paper Zack Polanski now lives in Walthamstow (my favourite bit of nominative determinism is that TIL George Galloway lives in Galloway!)
Ballot paper for Holborn & St Pancras by election
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
💸 That Metro money article and the accompanying thread doing the rounds... Maybe read the interview properly first before coming to conclusions based on the headline and some out-of-context, designed-for-BlueSky snippets...
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Don't understand why this is so controversial... It is harder to attract people to work in "a big metal box [with] piped music [and] the drone of machinery" than in a shop, and it should therefore be ok to pay them more. It has nothing to do with gender. @johngapper.bsky.social explains it better:
ft.com
Equal pay law cannot ignore the labour market
A ruling that Next can pay store staff and warehouse workers differently for work of equal value upholds an important principle
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Tbh you can find research either way on the benefit or not of VAT-free tourist shopping… but *politically* it’s an excellent policy, because by far the biggest benefits go to London and the “nice Home Counties” (Bicester etc), so Burnham would NEVER support it…
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🎄 I’ll never knock a supermarket for offering Christmas products in September - think yourself lucky that you don’t have to budget and spread your spending for the Big Day unlike some families… but it still blows my mind that people are buying gravy and stuffing this far in advance 🤯
Christmas dinner food display at M&SAn M&S FSDU entitled “Pop it away for the big day”Another M&S Christmas product FSDUMore M&S Christmas products on shelf
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I know, I know, but sometimes X still delivers...
Screenshot of an X post by the songwriter, Mike Batt
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
📈 It's easy to be a Debbie Downer, but retail sales have had a consistently strong run of c.3% volume growth since the start of 2026... lower inflation, higher real incomes and higher consumer confidence have no doubt helped. August numbers were bang in line with this trend…
Graph of retail sales volumes showing consistent growth since early 2025
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Reposted by Kien Tan
Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I mean if you really want to hear Ed Sheeran without any opening acts you can simply get put on hold with your bank
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
🐟 I love this long read on fish & chip shops: 1. It’s not all doom and gloom: it ends with good news stories about flourishing chippies 2. It celebrates the international roots of Britain’s national dish: a recipe brought to our shores and served by immigrants www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Guardian headline “Can fish and chip shops survive?”“Despite the union-jack-waving seaside cliches, what makes fish and chips quintessentially British is that it’s interwoven with our history of immigration and internationalism, says Aman, whose family has Punjabi roots. It is often immigrants who have run British chippies, he points out: Italians in Scotland, Chinese in Liverpool and the north-west of England, Indians and Pakistanis, Greeks and Turks. The fish recipe came from Sephardic Jews in Portugal; the potatoes often come from central Europe (via South America); the fish comes from Iceland and Norway.”
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🚀 PwC’s Consumer Sentiment Index has hit a 5-year high, but, as inflation rises, will it last? 🎄 And, for retail and hospitality operators, will that translate into higher spending in the run up to Christmas? 👉 Watch my 1 minute summary, and check out our latest report: url.pwc.com/CWifSJe
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
💥 There’s No Limit for my 7am crew! Les Mills BodyAttack 133 launch? Completed it, mate 👌 📍 Nuffield City, every Wednesday at 7am
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
💩 Finally proof, if you needed it, that Hyrox is seriously weird…
bbc.co.uk
Hyrox apologises for allowing race to continue after athlete soils herself
Some raised concerns around hygiene while others praised the competitor's resolve to finish the race and push through adversity.
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Reposted by Kien Tan
Ben Sillitoe @bsillitoe.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This little tucked-away gem in Belgravia was last night’s venue. Good to see you in person, @kientan74.bsky.social. What chance do we have of a BlueSky UK retail community taking shape, then?
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
🛏️ The problem with this argument proposed by @centreforcities.bsky.social , Sadiq Khan @london.gov.uk and others is that, sure, other places have a "tourist tax"... But the VAT or sales tax rate on hotels is between 2% and 10% in other G7 countries. So, do you agree with slashing the VAT rate too?
Quote saying "England's lack of a local tourist tax makes it an international outlier"
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
🥳 There's a Home Bargains opening on the Edgware Road just by Brent Cross West Thameslink station... and I haven't been so excited about a new store opening in London since literally I dunno when! IYKYK...
The exterior of a Home Bargains store, not yet opened
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Reposted by Kien Tan
David Milliken @davidmilliken.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
One way for the Bank of England to tackle high UK public inflation expectations: replace the survey company with one that reports lower ones! Still getting to the bottom of what's gone on here....
News release
Following a competitive re-tendering process, Savanta became the provider of the Inflation Attitudes Survey from August 2026. To assess the impact of this change, a parallel run of the survey was conducted by both Ipsos and Savanta in May. In the parallel run, inflation perceptions were the same in both the Ipsos and the Savanta surveys, at 5.0%. However, inflation expectations at all of the 1yr, 2yr and 5yr ahead horizons were lower in the Savanta survey. Median one-year, two-year and five-year ahead expectations were 3.6%, 3.1% and 3.3% respectively in the Savanta survey, compared with 4.0%, 3.5% and 3.9% respectively in the Ipsos survey. Comparisons of changes inflation expectations between the headline May results (Ipsos) and the headline August results (Savanta) should therefore be treated with caution, as in part they reflect changes in the provider as well as like-for-like changes in expectations.

This news release describes the results of the Bank of England’s latest quarterly survey of public attitudes to inflation.
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
🛍️ Primark going online may be inevitable, but I hope they fix the WOEFUL search function on their website... Half the stuff they claim is "in stock" isn't in stock. When you think you've found something, the only place you can get it is 45 miles away - the 52nd closest store 🤦‍♂️
BBC story on Primark launching home deliveryPrimark website showing a plain grey T shirt, with the closest store it's in stock being 45 miles away
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I don’t doubt that people overestimate crime rates, but I literally *don’t care about the homicide rate* - not in the US, not in London… But I’ve had my home burgled, several friends have had phones nicked, and there’s literally no point reporting to the police, because they do sod all about it.
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Does anyone know... Do Lime/Forest et al pay parking fees or business rates? Because the parking area of these bikes alone has a rateable value of around 200-250k (similar to a shop around the corner). That's at least £100k a year in business rates...
Pavement area in City of London filled with rental bikes
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
🛍️ What’s the outlook for retail and leisure at Christmas and beyond? Join me, Gavin Barwell & the PwC team as we look into our crystal balls TODAY at 10am. Register here: bit.ly/3SggI2h
PwC Consumer Markets Outlook webcast at 10am Tuesday 8 September
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Big news for retailers. Confirmation that pay rates are set by market forces. There is literally nothing to stop men working during shop-opening hours in nice, warm, centrally-located stores; or women working antisocial hours in big, cold warehouses on industrial estates in the middle of nowhere…
ft.com
Next wins ‘landmark’ ruling in UK retail’s multibillion-pound equal pay claim
Tribunal rules FTSE 100 retailer is justified in paying warehouse workers more than mostly female shop workers
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
☕️ This is an *epic* read… Living near one of Cotti Coffee’s first London franchise nooks, I couldn’t help but think it was some weird money-laundering front for something… and this could explain it
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🍂 Trust German to have a word for it! Also, I am very much here for “not another heatwave”… www.instagram.com/p/DcvCx9kIvb...
Translation of the German word “Herbstfreunde” to “autumn joy” in English
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
🤦‍♂️ Today is the first day I regret moving from Hackney South to Holborn & St Pancras…
static.klipy.com
Brenda From Bristol: Not Another One! (Brexit)
ALT: Brenda From Bristol: Not Another One! (Brexit)
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Your reminder that *services* -banks, travel agents, estate agents, post offices, job centres et al - have deserted high streets faster than *any* type of retail. Unless you want to go back to getting cash from a cashier and booking holidays face-to-face, then the high street of old is long gone…
Graph showing decline of different types of outlet in the past decade
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
🍗 Leon, the self-described “healthy fast food” chain, going into administration and being replaced by Popeyes fried chicken in, of all places, “tofu-eating” Islington is about as two-fingered anti-woke as it gets…
An old Leon store being painted over in Popeyes colours with a “Coming Soon” poster over the window
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I grew up in the 80s watching US sitcoms and listening to rock and country from Middle America, and always kinda wanted to live there. This @ftweekend.com essay brings all that back... "The loudspeakers are blasting Eddie Money and John Cougar Mellencamp... It's as though music stopped in the 1980s"
ft.com
What the Indiana state fair reveals about Trump’s America
Will the most ornery state in the conservative Midwest finally reject his politics?
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
🍺 Meanwhile, here are some of the “good pubs” I’ve been to in the last 36 hours… hello Newcastle! 👋 (bad photos, sorry!)
The beer list at the Wobbly Duck, NewcastleA pint of cask Two By Two DDH Pale Ale at the Wobbly DuckOutside the Free Trade Inn, Newcastle The beer list at the Mosaic Tap, Newcastle
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
🍺 In a recent blog post (boakandbailey.com/2026/08/why-...), @boakandbailey.bsky.social asked what a “bad pub” was. My definition of a “bad pub” is this from @totalcurtis.bsky.social’s piece. Govt help for pubs is welcome, but if it only delays the inevitable, is it a wise use of limited money?
“I think [the new policy] is a good thing, but all it really does is buy extra breathing room,” Brearly says. “The government cannot force economic viability onto a pub that’s not economically viable”
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
🔥 Mwahaha from @mattchorley.bsky.social’s substack…
Quote saying “I hope that whenever I come to leave I manage to avoid being the sort of ex-BBC person who repays the money and fame by slagging it off.”
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
My lunch was better than your lunch! 📌 Riley’s Fish Shack, Kind Edward’s Bay, Tynemouth
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
🔥 I'm at the agreeing-with-Mike-Ashley stage... "Your comments about looking again at business rates are of course welcomed but frankly a case of too little, too late... Shortsighted or populist reactions to underlying business challenges are not the answer"
ft.com
Andy Burnham’s high street plan is ‘delusional’, says Mike Ashley
Billionaire behind Frasers Group slams prime minister’s business rates reform and crackdown on discounting
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
📈 It's almost as if hiking CGT rates in Labour's first Budget caused a fire sale of assets and the almost doubling of CGT receipts to avoid those higher rates...
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
🇹🇭 Craft beer blackboards in unfamiliar countries: a latergram before I hit up the Tyne later... Sorry I've been remiss in keeping this up to date... An old one, all local brewed craft - what a craft beer scene Thailand has! 📌 SUAD*, Bangkok 📌 Hair of the Dog, Bangkok *aka Shut Up And Drink
Beer list at SUAD in BangkokA Thai craft Mosaic single-hopped West Coast IPA from Devanom brewery at SUADBeer list at Hair of the Dog, Phloen Chit branch, BangkokThai brewed craft Hazy IPA from Sandport Beer at Hair of the Dog
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
🌧️ May not have chosen the best day to go up north…
Rainy view out of train window
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
In case anyone in London needs to pay their respects to the Dolly Parton jukebox in Highgate tonight 😢
thedukesofhighgate.co.uk
THE DUKES OF HIGHGATE
Londons's first and only honky tonk and country bar EST.2020
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
✈️ I am mainly pleased that United’s flight number is UA222 to Toulouse! 😄 www.aeroroutes.com/eng/260825-u...
United schedules for its new flight UA222 to Toulouse
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Kien Tan @kientan74.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
✂️ I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: hospitality constantly asking for a VAT cut is foolish and a waste of time. It is not the government’s job to increase Wetherspoons’ profits and keep zombie businesses alive, when they can’t even properly fund the NHS…
thesun.co.uk
Pubs' hope for VAT cut dashed after minister warns it will cost 'a lot'
PUBS hoping for a VAT cut were dealt a blow yesterday after a Treasury minister warned slashing the tax would cost “a lot of money”. James Murray cooled hopes of cutting hospitality VAT from 20 to …
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