Birmingham New Street rail passengers disrupted after wires damaged
The wires were damaged between New Street and Water Orton in Warwickshire, according to post on X by Transport for West Midlands.On some lines, passengers can use their train tickets on other routes while on other lines, replacement buses were being used or have been requested, National Rail added.By about 16:10 BST, they said some lines have reopened following the damage to the wires but urged passengers to check before they travelled.
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Times
30 minutes ago
- Times
Eight of the best pubs in Cornwall — chosen by our beer expert
Southwest England, like East Anglia, is odd in that there are simply too many great pubs for the number of people who live there. You can put a lot of this down to tourism, which might mean a pub is great for reasons unrelated to beer: the breathtaking harbour views; the tales of smugglers; the links to that famous novel. Sometimes these factors are exploited to distract from stale ale or debit card-melting bills. But there's far more to Cornish pubs than tourist traps. Doom Bar — one of the biggest-selling ales in Britain — may not be to everyone's taste, but it has helped Cornwall build a justified reputation as one of the top real-ale spots in Britain. Of my eight picks here, some are just really good at keeping and serving great ale; at others, the beer is good but they stand out for different reasons. And if I've missed your favourite, let us know in the comments below. After a couple of pints at this mock-Tudor treasure, if you're not having an argument about whether it's a bookshop in a pub, or a pub in a bookshop, you'll start one yourself. Leave your drinks at the table while you browse the shelves. The focus here is on well-curated second-hand books — none of your charity-shop piles of Dan Brown. The local and national real ales are excellent but on a hot day a rarer German lager such as Spaten hits the spot. If you fancy settling in with your purchases, there's also a formidable coffee machine. 3 Bells Court; • Read more reviews from our drink experts The pretty village green out front and the formal-looking façade give you no clue to the cosy, quirky rooms in this place on the edge of Bodmin Moor. The main bar feels like a farmhouse kitchen — if your farmhouse roof beams were covered in real-ale pump clips and a collection of vintage mugs bearing logos for brands such as Oxo and Fujifilm. The landlord, Gary Marshall, has stocked more than 4,000 real ales over the three decades he's been here; the local Camra branch describes it as 'a permanent mini beer festival'. Meanwhile, the foodie crowd comes in for his wife Margaret's daily specials such as curries and steaks. The Green; Built as a monk's rest home in the 15th century, the Blue Anchor is now an authentically preserved pub without the slightest whiff of theme-pub plastic history. Low ceilings, flagstones and wonky angles set the tone for a place that feels reassuringly old-fashioned. Groups of elderly locals who might have been drinking here for hours — and decades — turn pub banter into a spectator sport. Spingo Ales, the in-house brewery at the back of the building, has been here for centuries. When a pint of the 6.6 per cent Spingo Special goes to your head, you'll see how it earned its name. This is one of the UK's best proper pubs. 50 Coinagehall Street; • 9 of the best pubs in London — chosen by our beer expert On the face of it, the Fountain is the classic tourist trap: an ivy-clad building down a lane just off the harbour; tales of smugglers; a 500-year history; St Austell beers on tap. But while locals may roll their eyes at what they see as a regional corporate giant, St Austell has become one of the UK's most impressive brewers, turning out beers at scale that delight young craft and older cask drinkers alike. This pub has been owned by the brewer since 1883 and is the oldest pub in the village. More importantly, it's a member of the elite handful of British pubs that have remained in Camra's Good Beer Guide for 40 years.3 Cliff Street; Pubs that are better known for their food than their beer often have purists grumbling. But while the Gurnard's Head looks like a smart restaurant inside its mustard-coloured coastal building, it feels like a proper watering hole. It's not just the relaxed and friendly staff; it's a philosophy that runs through everything. The main bar is as you'd expect the bar in any pub to be: warm and welcoming, with a small, carefully chosen range of Cornish beers, from the traditional local brewer St Austell to new craft players such as Firebrand and Harbour. The food — featuring locally caught seafood such as charred cuttlefish or crispy red gurnard — is high-end restaurant quality at not much more than pub prices. A place to lose yourself for an afternoon — or a weekend: it has eight bedrooms with sea or moor views; one has its own terrace and • This is the UK city best for pubs — and it's not London A former debtors' prison that takes its name from how food was delivered to inmates, the Hole in the Wall is now a grotto-cum-fairytale-junkshop. In the garden you're greeted by a stuffed lion in a glass case. Inside, the walls and beams are cluttered with military helmets, tankards, bells, horse brasses and objects you'll spend a pint trying to identify. You can tell this stuff has been left by generations of staff and customers, rather than bought in bulk. The beer range is dominated by familiar brands such as Butcombe and Sharp's Atlantic, but nevertheless the pub won Camra Cornwall's Pub of the Year award in 2024 and 2025. It shows that what counts is not necessarily the beer you stock but what you do with it.16 Crockwell Street; This spacious city-centre pub was once a draper's shop but looks more like a converted cinema, painted up gaily. Inside the dark-wood space, not everyone will love the barrel of monkey nuts on the bar and the nutshells and sawdust scattered on the floor. But the range of well-kept real ales, mostly local but with the odd appearance of classics such as Bass, always puts it in contention for Camra Cornwall's Pub of the Year — it won in 2017. The place is as well known for its music as its beer, with bands playing in a room upstairs every weekend and a live jam session on Mondays.7 Quay Street; • Eight of the UK's best brewery taprooms — chosen by our expert Great pubs manifest in many different ways. Does this place have the best beer in Cornwall? No. The best food? No. There's nothing wrong with the usual big brands on cask and the predictable pizza and fish and chips on the menu. But the reason it makes the cut here is that it is on the beach — not near the beach but in the middle of it. Somehow, what began in 1978 as a hut selling ice creams has evolved into a fully blown pub. There's year-round live music — expect lots of cover bands, and Blue in September — and stunning ocean views. The location makes it pricey, but anyone complaining about getting sand everywhere has perhaps missed the point.19 St Pirans Road;
The Independent
33 minutes ago
- The Independent
Sunshine boon powers Birmingham airport through solar energy
Birmingham Airport has revealed that it is currently generating 100 per cent of peak daytime power requirements with solar energy. In 2024, the Midlands aviation hub invested nearly £10m in a solar farm, featuring over 12,000 panels. It went on to create a further solar installation of 90kWh light-weight solar film on the roof of the North Terminal to maximise solar energy generation. Composed of photoactive material, the thin film helps to improve energy efficiency in the terminal by reflecting light and subsequently reducing heat. Birmingham Airport began its solar energy journey back in 2012 when it first installed panels on the terminal roof. The move towards more sustainable energy sources is aimed at reducing its reliance on the grid and limiting its exposure to market price volatility. Chief finance and sustainability officer Simon Richards said the panels formed part of the airport's plan to hit net-zero carbon by 2033. 'Since switching on our solar array last year, we have saved 1,070 tonnes of carbon from being emitted and have sustainably powered 100 per cent of our required energy during peak conditions on 50 days – a significant reduction in our overall environmental impact,' he said. 'Improving our sustainability credentials, we remain committed to becoming a net zero carbon airport by 2033 and this latest achievement is testament to our ongoing efforts to actively reduce our environmental impacts.' Speaking to the BBC in June, he noted: 'We're an industry that's quite carbon intensive and there's a lot of work going on with airlines to reduce carbon from flying. 'The installation produces around six gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power a year – that's enough to power more than 2,000 homes.' In January this year, Stansted Airport announced it would be the first London airport to install a solar power farm. The new development forms part of a £1.1 billion investment to improve and expand the Essex hub.
Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Stop the AirBNB 'tax dodgers': Battle against wealthy second homeowners 'taking the p***' in holiday hotspots as MP tables law to ease housing crisis
'Cowboy' second homeowners in holiday hotspots are 'taking the p***' by registering their properties as holiday lets just to lower their tax bill, an MP warned today. Ben Maguire hit out at well-off owners of holiday homes in areas like his North Cornwall constituency as he tries to get his ' AirBNB Bill' through the Commons. The law would force second homeowners with properties in the countryside or coastal beauty spots to obtain seek planning permission before registering them as rentals. Mr Maguire said many were signing up to AirBNB and other websites to legally avoid Cornwall's Second Home Premium and exacerbating the area's already stark housing crisis. Since April councils have been able to levy the 100 per cent council tax surcharge, with Cornwall one of more than 150 authorities using it to try to keep homes available for local people. But by registering the properties as businesses instead owners pay rates that are lower than the premium and in some cases are available for rate relief - money back from the taxpayer. Ahead of the second reading of the Short-Term Lets (Planning permission) Bill on Friday Mr Maguire told MailOnline: 'We want to try to go after the people that do just take the p*** and it is probably just a second home and they are just getting around paying any tax by calling it a holiday let. 'At the same time the council is not getting any revenue and local people are not getting places to live either.' A Freedom of Information request to Cornwall Council by Mr Maguire, shared with MailOnline, revealed the area currently has 19,711 homes registered on AirBNB and other rental sites, but just 11,515 properties that are liable to pay the Second Home Premium. Under the council's current rules, to be liable for business rates a home has to be available for rent for 140 nights a year. But they only have to be successfully let for 70 nights - less than 20 per cent of of a 12-month period. Although perceived as an affluent holiday destination, Cornwall is one of the most impoverished parts of the UK. Low wages and sky-high house prices, especially in tourist areas, mean many of the locals are priced out of a home. The average Cornish house price in 2022 was £302,121, 10 times the average annual salary, and above the England-wide average of £297,524. At the same time around 29,000 homes were not being lived in year-round, according to the Cornwall Community Foundation. 'You go around places like Bude, which is a coastal town and you'll go down a residential street of very nice family homes, three or four bedrooms, not particularly with a sea view or anything like that ... you go around especially in the evening and all the lights will be off, you might have one house in that street that is occupied by a family,' Mr Maguire added. 'Meanwhile we have got 20,000 families across Cornwall on the housing waiting list, so housing stock is obviously being severely reduced by all of these holiday lets, which in my view and the view of many of my constituents, has had a detrimental impact on housing stock.' His private member's bill faces an uphill struggle to become law in a vote tomorrow. But it is the latest example of locals trying to fight back against an influx of homeowners in popular tourist areas. This week another Cornish MP, Andrew George, told the Commons that around £500million of taxpayers' money had been given out to Cornish firms in the form of small business rate relief in the past decade, saying: 'It would be far better to invest that money in desperately needed first homes for local families in desperate housing need, rather than give it to second home owners.' AirBNB has criticised the proposed change in the law, arguing that similar changes elsewhere, like Barcelona, have led to increased hotel prices by stifling competition. A spokeswoman told MailOnline: 'Calls to impose restrictions, red tape, and fees on hosts only protect hotel chains' profits at the expense of local families. 'The vast majority of hosts on Airbnb are everyday people renting their place casually to make a little extra money. 'A typical host in Cornwall shares just one home for fewer than three nights a month, while travel on Airbnb brings £222 million to the Cornish economy and helps keep over 3,500 people in jobs in the area, bringing the benefits of tourism to all.' Estate agents have also questioned whether the efforts to reduce second homes would help people get on the housing ladder, because they are often in areas with few amenities needed for everyday living. But Mr Maguire argued that the law would not prevent people from renting out their main family homes to make extra money, just those who rent out their second homes. He insisted he just wanted to find a 'sweet spot' that protected the tourism industry that is vital to Cornwall while helping locals find homes. The council would be free to designate areas where planning permission for a holiday let would not be required or would likely succeed, he said, but in other 'oversaturated' places like Rock and Padstow they could be controlled. 'This bill is designed to stop this cowboy letting, it is definitely not to try and impact on the Cornish tourist industry,' he said. 'I have had a few people come to me a bit nervous saying ''it's really the lifeblood of our economy''. I completely get that and support that and would not do anything to harm that. 'But I think it is a gentle measure to just start to rebalance some of the urgent housing issues that we have got.' Last month, John Brown, the chief executive of the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, told the BBC the bill 'was not a silver bullet, but a start'. He said the county had a 'surplus'; of holiday lets, adding: 'It must sit alongside tougher regulation and a robust registration system for short-term lets. 'If it deters those looking to extract profit from Cornwall without putting anything back — good. 'If it helps restore housing stock for local people, even better. 'And if it ensures our hospitality and tourism sectors can find workers with secure housing, then it's a win for all of Cornwall.' Labour has said it plans to bring in a holiday let registration scheme, with minister Chris Bryant telling the Common in January that they planned to have it up and running this year. 'We are in discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, because we want to make sure that the scheme works and delivers what people want, which is a really strong local visitor economy, but we do not want to undermine local housing strategies,' he said.
