I’m in! Theo Paphitis to bring Boux Avenue lingerie shop to Hull’s St Stephen …

DRAGONS’ Den star Theo Paphitis is set to open a branch of his boutique lingerie brand Boux Avenue in Hull.

The entrepreneur is expected to visit the city next month to unveil the new store in St Stephen’s shopping centre.

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   Risque business: Theo Paphitis with the “Boux Belles” in one of his Boux Avenue stores

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   ‘Quality brand’: Boux Avenue is coming to Hull.

It will open in a unit currently occupied by fashion retailer Oasis, which is due to close this week.

Centre manager Jim Harris said: “It is tremendous news for St Stephen’s and for Hull that we have managed to attract a quality brand like Boux Avenue.

“There are only 13 stores in the country at the moment.

“The nearest are in Meadowhall and the Trafford Centre, which only underlines the type of quality shopping location they are looking for.

“It’s a great credit to Hull that Theo has decided to put his faith in the city by choosing to come here.”

The star of the entrepreneur reality TV show launched Boux Avenue last year with plans to open at least 25 stores across the UK.

The move marked his return to the lingerie market after selling his previous underwear chain La Senza to private equity firm Lion Capital for £100m in 2006.

Last year, La Senza collapsed into administration.

Coincidentally, the former La Senza unit in St Stephen’s is currently being converted into an extension of the neighbouring Hugh Rice jewellery store.

Mr Harris said: “Hugh Rice is doubling its size to create the largest jewellery store in East Yorkshire.

“They have been great tenants since opening here. It’s worked for us and this expansion obviously means it’s worked for them.”

The family-owned jewellers also recently opened a new store in Toll Gavel, Beverley, having moved from a smaller premises in the town.

One of the original tenants in St Stephen’s when it opened in 2007, Oasis is due to close this later this week, with some staff transferring to an existing concession in the nearby House of Fraser store in Jameson Street.

Mr Harris said he was optimistic about Hull’s attraction as a shopping destination, with no current vacant units in St Stephen’s, the recent refurbishment of the Debenhams store in the city centre and the arrival of Poundland in the former TJ Hughes building in Ferensway.

He said: “I know there have been lot of views expressed about Poundland but I am confident it will do well.

“It is a major player at its end of the market and I believe the city centre needs a diverse range of shops to suit all pockets.

“That’s what we’ve got at the moment.”

He said all the units in St Stephen’s were now let, including the recently opened gift shop Menkind, which has moved into a unit previously occupied by children’s clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch.

Mr Harris said: “Menkind is on a short-term lease until Christmas but it is another quality addition to our offer.

“It’s encouraging to be fully let and shows this end of the city centre is working well at the moment.”

Poundland opens for business: Page 24

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Many smashing giveaway attractions in pricey Paris, from Tuileries gardens to …

PARIS — Paris is one of a many pleasing cities in a universe — and it certain knows it. That’s because a French collateral — ranked among a world’s priciest and many visited — can means to assign tourists so dearly for sampling a undying beauty and world-class cuisine. But if we are peaceful to give adult your foie gras and champagne, there’s a whole universe out there for budget-conscious traveler.

Here are 5 things that infer that Paris — a city of intrigue — knows improved than many a best things in life are free.

TUILERIES GARDENS: In hunt of a protected breakwater divided from a stresses of a city? Paris has only a answer with a Tuileries gardens — sitting tranquilly in a heart of a collateral between a Louvre Museum and a Place de la Concorde. Looking down a Champs Elysees and onto a Arc de Triomphe, a 400-year-old gardens offer not one of a best city-views in a world, though a place to relax with their exuberant fountains, enchanting statues and uninformed air. Despite their age, a aged open gardens keep their eye on a younger generation, braggadocio a smashing children’s play area and a fair in summer.

THE SACRE COEUR: The landmark white domes of this basilica indelibly symbol a Paris skyline, located during a city’s top indicate on a Montmartre hill. Come here to knowledge a breathtaking perspective of Paris’ ancestral rooftops or to be entertained by countless eyeglasses by Parisian travel artists. But there are equal delights to be found inside a church, that facilities a world’s largest apse mosaic, in a architecture above a altar, designed by Luc-Olivier Merson.

PARIS BEACH AND ICE RINK: Paris competence be 150 kilometers (93 miles) divided from a sea, though that doesn’t stop cash-strapped tourists in hunt of that beach holiday. Every year given 2002, a French collateral has run “Paris Plages” or “Paris Beaches,” a giveaway summer eventuality that transforms several spots along a Seine stream into finish beaches, interjection to over 1,000 tons of silt that’s trucked in. So and lift adult a loll chair, and don’t forget to buy your tanning oil along with your croissant.

For a winter traveler, Paris offers a giveaway ice-rink outward a city gymnasium from Dec to March.

DROUOT AUCTION HOUSE: Going, going, gone. Marie Antoinette’s slippers, a iconic shawl of mime artist Marcel Marceau, Edith Piaf’s black dress — even a square of a Eiffel Tower: You can see it all going underneath a produce here during this famous auction residence in Paris executive 9th district. With 16 functioning auctions rooms, it’s a world’s largest auction residence open to a public. Anyone can simply wander in for giveaway from Monday to Saturday to excavate into a fascinating establishment’s cupboard of curiosities. If we do occur to have a small income to spare, we can get yourself a square of French story from as small as one euro.

ROMANCE: Marilyn Monroe one pronounced that a French are blissful to die for love. Paris is explanation that they’re also blissful to live for it — with affectionate couples mostly found kissing on park benches, travel corners, or walking wistfully palm in palm along a banks of a willing stream Seine. There is zero some-more pleasing than holding a chairman we adore for a regretful travel along a banks of Paris’ dual enchanting islands. a Ile Saint-Louis and a Ile de la Cite, with a vivid steer of Notre Dame cathedral in a distance.

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