The only thing that could get Diary out of bed before midday back in college was toddling round the corner to check out the new releases in HMV on a Monday. And while branches are a little harder to find these days, you still can’t beat the thrill of going into an actual shop and buying music in physical form. So Diary is delighted to hear Nipper the dog, icon of the His Master’s Voice record label, is being celebrated by U+I on its site that used to house the headquarters of EMI and HMV. The Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, west London, is home to a 5.5m-high Nipper statue, part of U+I‘s bid to use the site’s past to create a “new place for people to live, work and play”. That’s play records and CDs, hopefully, for Diary and any other audio dinosaurs.
Murray enters the lions’ den
London deputy mayor for housing James Murray, very much a Labour man, braved this week’s Conservative Party conference for a second consecutive year. Speaking at a Mishcon de Reya dinner on Sunday night, Murray told investors and council leaders how delivery of new homes in the capital would be supported by his draft London housing strategy. “It is a great read,” he assured guests. Quick as a flash, Westminster deputy leader Robert Davis fired back: “I’m waiting for the film to come out.” Housing crisis: the movie – Diary will buy the popcorn.
People who need people
At the same dinner, Davis’s boss, Westminster leader Nickie Aiken, explained how the council’s new voluntary “community contribution” would work. Under the proposals, the 2,000 borough residents who own properties worth more than £10m will be asked to pay an additional £1,300 contribution on top of their £1,300 council tax bill. It would only affect the top 2%, she said, and most wouldn’t even notice the additional charge. Or, as she put it: “These are people whose people have people who do these things.”
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The only thing that could get Diary out of bed before midday back in college was toddling round the corner to check out the new releases in HMV on a Monday. And while branches are a little harder to find these days, you still can’t beat the thrill of going into an actual shop and buying music in physical form. So Diary is delighted to hear Nipper the dog, icon of the His Master’s Voice record label, is being celebrated by U+I on its site that used to house the headquarters of EMI and HMV. The Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes, west London, is home to a 5.5m-high Nipper statue, part of U+I‘s bid to use the site’s past to create a “new place for people to live, work and play”. That’s play records and CDs, hopefully, for Diary and any other audio dinosaurs.
Murray enters the lions’ den
London deputy mayor for housing James Murray, very much a Labour man, braved this week’s Conservative Party conference for a second consecutive year. Speaking at a Mishcon de Reya dinner on Sunday night, Murray told investors and council leaders how delivery of new homes in the capital would be supported by his draft London housing strategy. “It is a great read,” he assured guests. Quick as a flash, Westminster deputy leader Robert Davis fired back: “I’m waiting for the film to come out.” Housing crisis: the movie – Diary will buy the popcorn.
People who need people
At the same dinner, Davis’s boss, Westminster leader Nickie Aiken, explained how the council’s new voluntary “community contribution” would work. Under the proposals, the 2,000 borough residents who own properties worth more than £10m will be asked to pay an additional £1,300 contribution on top of their £1,300 council tax bill. It would only affect the top 2%, she said, and most wouldn’t even notice the additional charge. Or, as she put it: “These are people whose people have people who do these things.”
A political carve-up
If you think politics is scary at the moment, take pity on guests at a Halloween-themed Conservative Party conference dinner last year. “Someone thought it was a good idea to carve all the politicians’ faces into the pumpkins”, recalls a political adviser. “When they turned the lights off I screamed. It was unbelievably awful.” With all that has happened in the 12 months since, Diary can only imagine the horrors that await this October.
Why not get in the Halloween spirit and tweet us your own ghoulish gourds (political or otherwise) @estates gazette #propertypumpkins
One hundred and eighty!
Otium Real Estate certainly hit the bull’s eye in its hosting of the Leisure Property Forum’s recent annual drinks held at the Flight Club in Shoreditch, E1. For those who haven’t been, Flight Club is from the same group behind the popular Bounce bars, but punters play darts instead of ping pong. Landlords, operators and agents fought it out for the top slot over a competition of “Shanghai”, one of the computerised darts games the venue offers, but Stan Lerch of CIMC set a pretty tough standard. He stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the start of the event and held on all evening. But when pressed on where his skills at the oche came from, Lerch refused to let on. After all, the first rule of Flight Club is: you do not talk about Flight Club.
Leaders implores Bedford to Carry On
It’s a shame there was no Carry On film set in the residential lettings market. Imagine Kenneth Williams as the agency boss and Hattie Jacques as his right-hand woman. Sid James as the go-to handyman sent round to check out tenant Barbara Windsor’s plumbing. It writes itself. But there’s no way the classic film series’ saucily sexist humour has a place in today’s world. Well, except maybe in Bedford, where Shaun Barnett and “the lovely Leaders ladies” implore you to “Carry On letting”.
