Maxi Coffee Bar at Ann Siang is now closed after being given less than two days' notice to vacate
We're not the only ones surprised; This closure was sprung onto the owners and staff of Maxi Coffee Bar just as suddenly. In an Instagram post on June 14, 2025, a Saturday, Maxi Coffee Bar announced the sad news, stating that that would be its final weekend of operation in the space – something it only learnt of from its landlord on the very same day, while they were in the middle of service, no less. This essentially means that less than two days' notice was given.
The post goes on to clarify that the request to vacate was a result of certain events that were not of Maxi's own doing, and despite fighting to stay in this nook it has occupied since 2020, all appeals were unsuccessful.
'It feels deeply unfair when we have only run our little business honestly and with all our heart. But we will still keep on, and find ways to keep serving delicious coffee and our brand of hospitality in this beautiful neighborhood,' part of the post reads.
This unfortunate news comes shortly after a recent slew of F&B closures, which count establishments like Wala Wala and Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao at Holland Village, soufflé pancake café Fluff Stack, dessert café Flor Patisserie, as well as Eggslut and Burger & Lobster as some of the latest victims.
But not all is lost. Maxi Coffee Bar will continue to serve its coffee, sandwiches and more at weekend pop-ups at Wildcard, a bar at Havelock by the very same owners. Here's hoping that the crowd-favourite cereal milk latte will remain on the menu! Look out for updates via Maxi Coffee Bar's Instagram page.
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Daily Mirror
13 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
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Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Scottish Sun
How YOU could retire at 35 with £1million in the bank using the FIRE method – & why the number 25 is key
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This is the amount that you should be safely able to withdraw over a 30-year retirement without running out of money. The idea is that by the next time you need to take money out, your pot should have replenished, but that assumes that your investments continue to grow as normal. A FIRE saver's retirement could last even longer than that, so make a plan based on how long you expect to be in retirement. This is especially important because we are all living for longer, so use the Office for National Statistics' life expectancy tool, which will give you a rough guideline on how long you can expect to live, depending on your age. For example, the average life expectancy of a 40-year-old female is 87 - so for someone in this position retiring now, a sensible idea would be to budget for a 47 year retirement. 'I'm a money expert - how to make FIRE saving possible on any salary' CHARLOTTE Kennedy, Chartered Financial Planner at Rathbones, gives her tips on how to make FIRE saving possible on any salary: FIRE exists on a broad spectrum - from modest lifestyle adjustments that reduce unnecessary expenditure, to extreme sacrifices that can severely dent one's quality of life. The key is striking a balance. You don't have to forgo all present-day comforts to gain future financial freedom. Sensible money management and intentional spending can go a long way. Make a budget and stick to it by monitoring your bank account frequently. Avoiding lifestyle creep - where spending habits increase in line with income growth - can also help. You don't need to squirrel away 70% of your income to reach financial independence. Setting clear, achievable long-term goals, spending within your means, and investing consistently, while giving your money time to grow through the power of compound interest, can help get you there. Ultimately, FIRE shouldn't be about austerity for the sake of it. It's about taking control of your finances and making deliberate choices today, so you have more freedom tomorrow. The half your age rule The "half your age" rule is another handy way to boost your FIRE savings. It suggests that when you start saving for retirement, you should aim to contribute a percentage of your pre-tax salary equal to half your age. So, for example, if you start saving at age 22, aim to contribute 11 per cent of your salary. If you start at 30, aim for 15%. Factor your pension contributions into this calculation as well. Under the current auto-enrolment rules, workers must pay at least 8% of their qualifying earnings into their workplace pension every year. At least 3% of this comes from employers' contributions. If you have a private pension, like a self-invested personal pension, for example, factor in your contributions to this savings pot too. How YOU can retire at 35 following 7 steps FIRE saving can be tricky to stick to because you need to make a lot of sacrifices in order to save as much as possible. Luckily, there's a seven-step guide that husband and wife duo and successful FIRE savers Katie and Alan Donegan have created to help others retire early too. The couple retired in 2019, when Katie was 35 and Alan was 40, after saving £1million by investing in the stock market. Their seven steps are: Create a gap between what you earn and what you spend. This is how much you have leftover to save for your retirement. Log into your bank account frequently to monitor your finances and prevent overspending. Can you increase your income? Sell stuff you have lying around the house, rent the spare room or ask for pay rise. Reduce your spending - cancel Amazon Prime, Netflix and any subscriptions you don't use. Make lunch at home. Only buy what you need. Before you invest, build an emergency fund of £1,000. Pay off high interest debt such as credit and store cards. Invest in a low fee, simple global index fund like the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index Fund. Do it in a tax efficient way (stocks and shares ISA or SIPP). Don't forget your pension. It's sensible to see if you can increase contributions into your workplace pension scheme. 'We saved £1million in 10 years using the FIRE method - we've retired to travel the world' HUSBAND and wife Katie and Alan Donegan saved £1million in just 10 years by following the FIRE savings method. They retired when Katie was 35 and Alan was 40, and now travel all over the world from Rio de Janeiro to California. "You don't have to be stuck in a job you don't like," said Katie. "That is what truly inspired us. "People just assume retirement is an age, but it's actually a monetary target." The couple got into the FIRE savings method in 2009. At this point, Katie, now 40, worked as an actuary, while Alan, 45, was a landscape gardener. Both were fed up of the daily grind, and couldn't stomach the idea of working into their 60s, so they started researching how they could retire early. That's when they began to strip back their spending and start piling money into the stock market. When they first started FIRE, they earned about £50,000 between them, but this soon rose to £150,000 as their careers progressed, which helped to fast-track their savings. Katie said: 'Usually, when people earn more their spending goes up too. 'Ours only went up a tiny amount. We worked hard to push up our earnings and keep expenses down. 'We never upgraded from the small two-bed flat we bought. 'We downgraded to a smaller, second-hand car. 'We never turned the heating on. We wore extra layers, used hot water bottles and made it a bit of a game. 'We saved over £40,000 in ten years simply by taking our own salads to work each day.' Alan invested the cash using ready-made funds, where the hard work is done for you by an expert. "Choose a platform such as Vanguard Asset Management or Interactive Investor and invest in one simple index fund. It's surprisingly easy and simple to do." As the couple do not have children, saving for an early retirement was much easier. By 2019, they had hit the target of saving 25 times their annual spend - which was £1million. Since then, they've managed to invest an extra £265,00 - £182,000 of which was from the sale of their property and £83,000 from the sale of Alan's business. Thanks to the power of compound interest, their pot now stands at nearly £2.2million. This supersized savings pot is held in global index funds, one of the most diverse kinds of portfolios where your money is invested in thousands of companies across 49 countries. They have crunched the numbers and believe that if they withdraw £40,000 a year to live off, this is enough money to last them for their entire retirement. They say this is more than enough money to be able to travel across Asia, America and Mexico. The couple now rent places on Airbnb or stay in hotels, depending on their location. This has included a five-star suit in Bogota, Columbia which costs just £42 a night. Other locations have included West Palm beach in Florida for £112 a night or Poland for three months last year where they paid £38 a night. 'I retired 28 years before the state average," said Alan. "I clawed back 28 years of my life. I couldn't think of a better use of cash. 'If you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s or even 50s, you can make it to being a millionaire.' How ANYONE can adopt the FIRE rules to improve their finances Before embarking on FIRE saving, really assess if it's right for you. Laith adds: "A lot of FIRE saving can be a bit joyless. "It requires sacrifices now, sometimes very high sacrifices, as the idea is that you put away a lot of money. Then, in retirement, you live quite frugally. "There's no point in your life where you are enjoying affluence. That might perfectly fit some, but it's not for everybody." If you feel like FIRE is too difficult to achieve, you can still follow the principles of the method to boost your savings. You're not in a position to save half of your income, but investing just £25 a month can help grow your savings to a healthy size. If you invested £25 into the FTSE 100, for example, which is the collective name for the 100 largest UK companies by value, you could turn £25 into £4,465 after 10 years. Over 20 years, that pot would grow to £12,609. That's assuming that your investment grows at a rate of five per cent a year after charges. A great principle of FIRE is to pay off your debts as quickly as possible. By focusing on paying off your debts, you end up saving yourself a lot of money in interest repayments. For example, if you were focusing on paying off a £150,000 mortgage debt and making £200 worth of over-payments a month, you'd clear your debt seven years and six months early, saving you £33,130. Before making over-payments, check if your lender lets you do this penalty-free. Most let you make over-payments worth 10 per cent of your outstanding mortgage debt per year.
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Daily Mirror
Lionesses set for eye-watering payday with stars to scoop millions if they win Euros Final
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