Diary has stayed in worse places than the Pawfect Retreat, a new state-of-the-art hotel and resort – for dogs.
Property developer and hydrotherapist Angela Byrne leased 13.5-acre Moor Farm in Merseyside, following a hotly contested battle to secure the site, marketed by Fisher German.
Her hotel offers a choice of 25 bedrooms for up to 60 dogs, as well as eight day-boarding rooms, a 24 sq m indoor training facility, six fields with exercise facilities and a hi-tech hydrotherapy pool.
Bookings are flying in, which is no surprise, as the hotel clearly looks the dog’s doodahs.
A view to a bill
London landmark the Shard has come in a disappointing 10th in a ranking of the world’s most expensive views.
In a “comprehensive study” by online comparison and search portal TicketLens, involving methodology too convoluted to go into here, it trails way behind the first-placed Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
The world’s tallest building offers an observation deck 585m high with an entry price of £79.49 – eye-watering in every sense. Surely time to bump up that Shard ticket price.
But wait! If we go purely on price-per-metre (just one of the factors TicketLens took into account), the 244m-high view from the Shard is only actually 1p per metre cheaper. It’s all a matter of perspective.
Mission: improbable
With a subject title like “This property advert will self-destruct in 10 seconds”, prime and super-prime London property portal Vyomm knows how to get Diary’s attention.
Jumping off news that Rihanna is renting an island in Essex to work on her latest album, it offers tips for the world’s biggest celebrities on how to buy “under the radar”.
These include appointing a buying agent, setting up a special purpose vehicle (adding a layer of privacy, as well as tax benefits) and, best of all, viewing properties “incognito”.
Suddenly we’re imagining Rihanna creeping round Essex in a raincoat, hat and sunglasses.
Vyomm also advises utilising technology, but then it would say that. It sounds like a real hassle being a super-celebrity, so Diary will just carry on living its entire life under the radar.
@CBRE_UK please help the pigeon stuck inside one of your properties. There have been numerous calls already asking for assistance. @Savills @ScottishSPCA pic.twitter.com/tqzh1MujnO
— Mythos (@MrMythos) June 22, 2019
Catch the pigeon
Diary was glued to Twitter as an emergency unfolded in Edinburgh, and both CBRE and Savills were drawn into the drama.
It was all brought to light by @MrMythos who is, apparently, a miniature bull terrier and, it seems, a very good boy.
He alerted @CBRE_UK (tagging @Savills for good measure) to a trapped pigeon in one of its buildings, and between the two firms a rescue effort was mounted.
If you aren’t hearing the Stop the Pigeon theme song in your head right now, you are a better person than Diary. Or younger.
But, just as with Dastardly and Muttley, the wily bird evaded capture.
@CBRE _UK reported: “Just to confirm that a volunteer pigeon organisation visited the property and there was no sign of the pigeon, so we believe it has escaped.” Phew. Or, rather, coo.
Anything for a quiet life
You can’t put a price on happiness. But, it seems, you can put a price on peace and quiet.
Springbok Properties has crunched the numbers and the additional cost for a bit of tranquillity can be as high as £100,000.
It looked at 23 major UK cities where noise pollution exceeds recommended levels and how much it would require to up sticks and move to a neighbouring town for the quiet life. Simple, right?
The highest premium is incurred moving from Southampton to nearby Romsey, where the average house price increases by 55%. Nottingham to Grantham is 52% and Plymouth to Tavistock 50%.
This is all sounding much more expensive than ear plugs. “But fear now,” Springbok goes on (we think they mean “not”).
“There are some areas where higher house prices in the city mean you can secure a property with less noise pollution at a more affordable price when moving to the quieter surrounding areas.” Great! No prizes for guessing that leaving London offers the best chance to save pots of cash and your hearing.
Moving to Aylesbury would save you 31% on your home. Remind Diary again, why is anybody here?
Thanks for the offer…
It’s amazing the opportunities you can receive through LinkedIn. A message came in from WeWork – to our multimedia editor, no less – offering up its brand new product, headquarters by WeWork.
Apparently, it would like to provide EG with “unique headquarters” that perfectly meet our requirements. If only it had mentioned this a bit earlier, we observe, from our shiny new Bishopsgate HQ…
