Diary is a loyal shed-head and something of a history buff.
But finding sheds that also scratch our historical itch is surprisingly difficult. Luckily for us, the Hangar, a 51,000 sq ft storage and distribution facility, is now available to let in Cheshire through Fisher German.
The building was used to service Mosquito aircraft during World War II. It was then used by the 610 County of Chester Squadron to service Spitfire aircraft and Meteor jet fighters until 1957. The Hangar may have been redeveloped, but when it comes to historical credibility, it passes with flying colours.
Loo-sing service
As a hotels investor, detail is everything when it comes to satisfying the demands of the modern consumer.
However, one hotel investor tells Diary that, despite offering a huge array of services in their high-end hotels, they have decided to put the brakes on one particular service – the post-check in delivery of bags to rooms.
“We’ve decided from personal experience that, more often than not, that knock on the door comes just at the point that you’ve finally had the chance to sit down on the loo,” they confided. That’s that service down the pan.
Diamonds are for Crossrail
On Diary’s recent tour of Farringdon Crossrail station, we were asked what we thought the motif on the wall was.
Feeling a bit unimaginative, we thought the crisscrossing shapes adorning the long descending wall might just be triangles. But we were wrong. It turns out Crossrail is rife with symbolism. The shapes are diamonds, to reflect nearby Hatton Garden’s diamond trade.
And there’s more. Liverpool Street will have a pinstriped décor, representing the City, while the Barbican entrance will be concrete brutalist. Sadly, Diary’s suggestion of using cans of Red Stripe to commemorate the Astoria at Tottenham Court Road fell on deaf ears.
Good sports
Diary appreciates charitable causes and there are few as big as the BBC’s Sport Relief, which raised more than £38m last week.
Celebrity presenters, 12-hour football matches, live shows – it was all there.
But spare a thought for those who had to clean up the mess afterward. Diary received an email from facilities management company Westgrove detailing how its team of nine rolled up its sleeves and toiled away halfway through the night to keep Salford’s MediaCityUK clean.
But did they complain? No – quite the opposite. “It’s not every day that the results of your work are broadcast to the nation!” they exclaimed. They might have gone unnoticed by most of the country, but Diary knows who the real heroes are.
The latest word on weed
Without wishing to be seen to be pushing any kind of agenda, Diary has a second story in a matter of weeks about marijuana’s impact on property.
This week, word reaches us of The Paragon Place, a new co-working space in Los Angeles targeting cannabis companies shunned by conventional landlords. As social change spreads quickly these days, will a substance geared towards relaxing and chilling out actually turn out to be one of the big disruptors of the 21st century?
Mind the gap
Diversity and equality are hot topics at the moment, with the Gender Pay Gap reporting deadline looming. But apparently, it is not such a hot topic in retail.
Analytics company GlobalData is advising retailers to treat its male and female customers very differently – especially when it comes to buying gifts. Men apparently hate buying gifts (so say almost 60% of them), while women love it (61.5% of them).
Female shoppers are more price savvy, while male shoppers are much more likely to leave their shopping to the last minute. The solution? Express delivery for men. Or, more bunches of flowers at petrol stations?
