Around 15 million Britons were forecast to be heading for seaside resorts over the weekend and temperatures were expected to reach 23C (73F) in some parts of southern England.A spate of accidents led to major delays on London’s orbital M25 by lunchtime. The celebrities are off looking for somewhere new and the tourists don’t want to stay there because they can get more bang for their buck at a revamped chain hotel.”Morgans Hotel Group rejected the criticism, saying that the two London hotels, which made a loss of £1m in 2001, were in rude health. A spokesman said: “We are not in a position where we have to sell.”Meanwhile, rooms at the Sanderson were available yesterday on discount websites with prices starting at £120.. The rain-drenched summer has caused such poor harvests that farming has suffered more financial damage than during the foot-and-mouth crisis, the Government’s rural adviser said yesterday. “It is a little worrying that they are planning to build this new shopping precinct.”But officials have rounded on the report, saying it failed to take account of the range of small shops.”It’s grossly unfair,” said the Conservative councillor Jim Thorndyke “Bury is full of individual little shops.

The town is retaining its character – having a few national chains won’t make any difference. In fact, they make the smaller shops more viable as they drag people into the town.”THE STALWART LEWES, EAST SUSSEXNestling in the South Downs of Sussex, the town of Lewes has proved to be an exception to the rule of Clone Town Britain.The biggest chain store on its high street is a small Monsoon clothes shop, with not a Starbucks or department store to be seen.Lewes, population 15,000, is typical of the kind of small town that the NEF says can easily fall prey to cloning. Some people have lived here for generations and they like to shop at places that have been here for generations too. The retailers also work very hard, chatting to customers and getting involved in the community.”A branch of the Next chain that had opened on the high street closed recently because shoppers preferred to go to independent stores, Ms Hook said.The NEF report also said that planning laws which limited the amount of floor space businesses could occupy had also stopped many chains from moving in.. The Bank holiday weekend got off to a wet and frustrating start yesterday as thousands found their attempts to make an early getaway obstructed by torrential rain, traffic jams and delayed flights.

I’m looking for some visceral response.”But after a crop of copy-cat hotels around the globe, critics claim that the only visceral aspect of a Schrager hotel now is the stomach-churning prices.One London-based hotels consultant said: “Schrager has become too cool for his own good. In came the clinical white of St Martins Lane and the toilet cubicles in New York’s Royalton, where the doors are transparent from the inside, allowing users to people-watch from the toilet bowl It was a concept that worked. Just as Studio 54 attracted a cast including Bianca Jagger, Truman Capote and Andy Warhol, so the hotels, decorated with art from Daliesque “red lips” sofas to Vermeer prints, became famous as the hangouts for the likes of Kylie Minogue, Gwyneth Paltrow and Leonardo Di Caprio.When asked to describe his hotel philosophy, Mr Schrager said: “What I’m really looking for is to get a rise out people; I look to provoke I want them to take notice I want to stimulate their senses. That problem was resolved last month with an agreement to sell the 1930s hotel and then lease it back.His holding company, Ian Schrager Hotels, confirmed last year that it was unable to meet its obligations on debts of $355m. Last August Mr Schrager was forced to seek bankruptcy protection for part of his empire, the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, as investors wrangled over $57m (£32m) of debt. He said: “Given today’s market and the prices we believe we can obtain for these properties, we felt obligated to explore this possibility These hotels are doing extremely well. They are significantly outperforming the market.”The negotiations, under which Mr Schrager’s company intends to remain as the manager of the hotels, come after a difficult 12 months for the 58-year-old magnate.