City Spy: Crown tenants are sitting pretty

The latest victory is the somehow dreadful news that security guards have been installed in six empty homes to deter squatters. But it will be a victory that tenants won't want publicising if the sale goes ahead. That's because Crown Estate profits go to the taxpayer. Spooked by the bad publicity, the Crown has now made it even harder for a buyer to stick up rents and winkle out tenants.

That clips millions from the previously estimated sale price of £250 million, says one bidder. "So the taxpayer effectively ends up subsidising the tenants for life."

* It's a great shame, but the company that provides prints of pictures from London's main galleries has gone bust just as the capital is full of big-spending tourists keen to buy. The Artful Group, trading in shops as Art On Demand, provided galleries like the Tate and the British Museum with a self-service booth allowing punters to print their favourite pics with a choice of frames and canvas types. Poster printer Pyramid International has taken on some of the assets from the administrator but gallery shops remain bereft of the service.

It's game on at Boisdale

The grouse shooting season has just begun, and the chaps at Boisdale have clearly been taking aim. The blokeish restaurant in Belgravia and Bishopsgate is offering a grouse meal for £27.50 — they bung in a glass of Justerini & Brooks red burgundy.

Chef Neil Churchill will be serving up Williamston Moor whole-roasted grouse, braised Savoy cabbage, grouse pâté croutons, rosti potato, bread sauce and game gravy. He reckons he'll sell 1000 of them in short order, so hurry.

The disappearing divi

Seven weeks is a long time in business. At the back end of June, AIM-listed ILX, a techie, e-learning outfit, told its investors: "Your board is aware of the importance of maintaining an annual dividend but is also committed in the short term to reducing the group's net debt."

So it declared an unchanged dividend of 1.5p a share. Come the middle of August, and the group's banks have clearly been in touch. ILX now states: "Whilst current trading remains strong and substantially ahead of last year, the board, following discussions with its advisers, have decided to cancel the proposed dividend payment in order to fund the international growth of the business."

Hopefully most of the shareholders are on holiday.

* Hooray! That new, 147-metre tower at Elephant & Castle topped with three wind turbines has won an architectural award. Building Design has handed the structure its annual Carbuncle Cup to the Strata block "for services to green-wash, urban impropriety and sheer breakfast-extracting ugliness".

* Ping! That's an email from an outfit called Difficult People. It asks: Are you dealing with personality and behaviour problems? For £119, there's a half-day seminar aimed at "people with awkward, negative or difficult behaviour". The entire office has been ordered to attend.

* Hmmm ... wonder whether City analysts are rushing to stock up on the latest iPhone app, DateMate. This "powerful dating calendar, address book, scorecard and report generator" invites users to enter the personal details of all your partners. It includes a calendar to keep track of dates and report their quality, then, "from your ratings, DateMate will chart your dating trends. Take advantage of these trends to ensure your next move is a successful one". Someone needs to tell them that not everything can be solved with charts...