in brief

Leith's sale

Leith's School of Food and Wine has sold its restaurants Leith's Notting Hill and Leith's Soho to Firmdale Hotels, for an undisclosed sum. Firmdale, owned by Kit and Kim Kemp, includes four London boutique hotels.

Hilton looks east

Hilton is to open a new388-bedroom hotel in east London. The group is in negotiations with developer Daejan Holdings about running the hotel on Whitechapel High Street.

Kempinski delay

The delay to Kempinski's first hotel in London is continuing and the group has still not fixed an opening date for the building in South Kensington. The hotel, in Harrington Gardens, was originally due to be open for Christmas.

New job for Powell

Tim Powell takes over from Jonathan Wright as executive chef at the Great Eastern hotel in London next week. Powell, who has been working for the past two years in Hong Kong running the Avenue restaurant at the Holiday Inn Golden mile, said his first job at the hotel would be to recruit more staff.

Forte chooses action

Forte hotels has made Hospitality Action its charity of the year. Hospitality Action is a charity for helping staff and their families that are in need from the hotel and catering business.