TRAVEL NOTES October 10, 2010 Park Lane opulence meets artistic excellence For a London weekend mixing lavish glamour with a bit of high culture, the Dorchester Hotel’s Discover London package currently includes two tickets to the Royal Academy’s superb autumn exhibition, Treasures from Budapest. From £305 per night until 12 December. Call 020 7319 7147 or email reservations.uk@dorchestercollection.com Up, up [...]
UK HOTEL REVIEW October 10, 2010 ONCE home to the newspaper of the same name, The Scotsman overlooks Waverley Station and North Bridge from one of Edinburgh’s most impressive buildings. If arriving by train, you should seek out the lift taking you directly into the hotel lobby, through a basement adjoining the station from which papers were once sent out. The [...]
FOCUS ON: WOOLWICH, SE18 October 7, 2010 THE ACADEMY, WOOLWICH Price: Apartments in Kitchener House start at £260,000 for a two-bed. This conversion of the 18th century former Royal Military Academy has created a whole range of different-sized apartments ideal for the first-time buyer. Unusually for new-builds, the flats retain the original building’s period features. It is hoped the development will eventually [...]
Q&A October 7, 2010 CEO AND FOUNDER OF UPAD.CO.UK Q.Dear James, my tenant can’t provide a reference from a previous landlord. Is that a problem? A.When you’re assessing whether a tenant is right for your property, you can do all sorts of checks. That could be a credit reference, bank reference, employer’s letter and all sorts. You then have [...]
Sexier reasons for Soho investment October 7, 2010 SOHO is said to have been home to popular culture’s edgier side for the last 200 years: 18th century communists, beatniks and the swinging side of the sixties. Not exactly the kind of place respectable folk want to call home. Or so you may have thought. The area is undergoing what nostalgists might call “sterilisation”. [...]
Flats for the Eurocrat: a Brussels bargain October 7, 2010 IF YOU’RE moving to Brussels, it’s unlikely to be for the Belgian beer, the moules-frites and the chocolates. Most Britons relocate to the Belgian capital for work and join the 100,000-strong expat community of European Union workers, lobbyists and lawyers for at least a year or two. While most expats tend to rent when they [...]
Heritage hotel October 7, 2010 NOTHING speaks more of classic British glamour than the Savoy Hotel, which reopens this weekend after three years’ closure and a £220m refurbishment. Founded on the Strand by opera impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte in 1889, it was the country’s first truly luxury hotel, and attracted the glitz and style to match. In the first half [...]
SIMPLE STYLE FOR GIVING A PRESENTATION October 7, 2010 FOR MEN and women, your image in presentations is vital to get right, not only to make a good first impression, but also to help keep an audience focused. So what should you wear? You want to feel comfortable – your clothing should be the last thing on your mind while you’re speaking, so start [...]
FILM REVIEW October 7, 2010 LIFE AS WE KNOW IT Cert: 12A HOLLY and Eric don’t like each other, which means you’ve probably already worked out how this rom com ends, but let’s continue anyway. After their mutual pals Alison and Peter set them up on a disastrous date (she’s stuck up, he’s a cad), Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Eric [...]
Brace yourself, Gordon is in town October 6, 2010 Film MONEY NEVER SLEEPS Cert: 12A GORDON Gekko comes to London. If you enjoyed Oliver Stone’s original film, do you really need any other inducement to see Wall Street’s sequel, Money Never Sleeps? For a few brief scenes the financial world’s debonair Mephistopheles can be seen, trademark devil-may-care smirk and all, getting shaved in Trumper’s, [...]