2014年9月15日 星期一

Scotland's first £1,000-a-night hotel closes for good...

  • The Atholl was previously known as Scotland's most expensive hotel
  • In Edinburgh's West End, it charged four times more than nearby hotels 
  • Property will now go back on the market as four individual flats

    • Scotland's most expensive hotel has closed just two years after owners spent £5 million on the initial project.

    The Atholl, located in Edinburgh's posh West End, broke barriers when it became the first Scottish hotel to charge £1,000 per night in April 2012.

    Despite high expectations on the luxe property, the uber-expensive hotel proved to be just too excessive - at nearly four times the rate charged by nearby five-star hotels.

    The Atholl Hotel has permanently closed its doors just two years after the initial £5 million investment
    The Atholl Hotel has permanently closed its doors just two years after the initial £5 million investment
    Rooms at The Atholl broke the £1000-a-night barrier and were the first to charge that much in Scotland
    Rooms at The Atholl broke the £1000-a-night barrier and were the first to charge that much in Scotland
    The luxe hotel offered Michelin-starred dining from Albert Roux and an award-winning garden

    The Atholl boasted Michelin-starred dining, luxe wallpaper, and an award-winning garden
    The luxe hotel offered Michelin-starred dining from Albert Roux and an award-winning garden
    Multi-million pound hotel, The Atholl, has closed its doors after just two years

    Day to night: The Atholl was located on Atholl Crescent, which is one of the poshest areas of Edinburgh 

    With the Georgian building's high price tag came Michelin-starred dining by Albert Roux, Hermes wallpaper favoured by the likes of Victoria Beckham, and an award-winning garden.

    However, owner and Edinburgh businesswoman Alison Davies announced today that The Atholl has closed its doors for good. 

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    A blog about teaching English (EFL, ESP, EAP)

    Ideas on where to look for material when teaching BE online

    Ideas for material for my BE classes.... my favourite stuff : D

    I teach business English online for some time now, so I thought it was about time I wrote a blog post about where I look for my material. These suggestions are geared towards boosting the speaking skill. I will not talk about material available in print, my focus is on material I access online. The websites that I use are open and offer their material for free. I am not going to give you any lesson plans but I do have some VERY simple warmer tasks/ideas and some ideas for follow up activities.
    One of the benefits of teaching online is that it is easy to go from one page to another as you can send different links to your learner based on his needs and by just pressing a button! So, here goes! I hope you enjoy going from one website to the other!

    Material for open/conversational sessions

    Very often I have lessons that are more laid back and engage my students in conversations about their interests or kinda work-related issues. Since my learners are attending business English sessions, I do try to use material that is more business English friendly. So, where do I go to look for articles and what are some of my favorite articles?
                              Articles/reading material
    I think the language is easy to understand and I like the business tab. Some of my favourite articles from here: 
    Change offices from sitting to standing: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26937454
    Warm up questions: What do you think about standing up while working instead of sitting down? Do you have stand up desks in your office? What are the benefits of having them in your office?
    Follow up task: Send a memo to your colleagues informing them that your company has decided to order stand up desks. Mention why the company has reached this decision (use information from the article) and briefly describe the stand up desks.
    Nap pods at work: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140108-daydream-believers
    Warm up questions: What kind of facilities would you like your company to offer its employees in terms of well-being? What do you think a nap pod is?
    Jobs for smart but lazy people (this one causes quite a stir). http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20140228-jobs-for-the-smart-but-lazy
    Warmer; Start with this quote which appears at the end of the article.
     "I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job, because he will find an easy way to do it’."
    The Guardian:
    Top ten satisfying jobs: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/21/top-10-most-satisfying-jobs
    Warmer: Get your learners to list the top three most satisfying jobs/top three factors that make a job satisfying. If you are having a one to one session, get your learner to make this list and you, the teacher, make one too. Once the lists are ready, have a short debate about satisfying jobs and what makes a job a good one or not. Then read the article and... do whatever you want to with what's in it : ).
    Work from home: http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/apr/24/how-to-lead-workforce-works-from-home
    Warmer: Tell your learner he is the manager of a company that has decided to get its workers to work from home. How would he/she set this up? What are some of the difficulties and what are the benefits of such an idea?
    Follow up: get your learner to make a PPT presentation introducing the idea of working from home and the steps that need to be taken for this to work.
    Speaking about non job related issues
    Good spinoff for book conversations:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books
    Even if you do not want to use this with your learners, do have a look at the top 5. Have you read them?
    and something about health and well being:
    I like this article because it gives ten tips on how to boost your metabolisms and you can get your learners to summarise the paragraphs into bullet points whilst also telling you if they follow these tips or not.
    Of course,there are loads of other websites where you can find interesting articles like Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and so on, but most of the time I use the Guardian and the BBC. There is also a cool (am I allowed to say cool, now that I am writing a materials blog post?!? Sure!) site called newsmap http://newsmap.jp/. This site is updated regularly and you can send your learners the link and then a big collage of news from around the world appears and they can choose the article they want to read.
                                                                                                          Screen shot of newsmap

                                           Videos

    Everybody knows Youtube of course. this is the place to go to for free videos. One of my favourites is this documentary. It is one hour long, so I suggest you tell your learners to watch it as homework (WHAT? Homework?). The video is quite surprising for my German and French learners and it does generate a lot of discussion about internships, inequality in education etc. It is also a great way to start a discussion about different cultures and the job scene. I have prepared a simple lesson plan for this video (I will upload it in a blog post in the near future ...... hopefully).
    Who gets the best job? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bD7U8kqI8A

     Another website with loads of videos which can be used with your BE students is The Australia Network http://australianetwork.com/businessenglish/ . You need some time cause there are many videos connected to conducting meetings, business socials/small talk etc. Click the tab The Business of English and watch the videos with your learners.

     That's all for now. I do know that there are loads of articles/videos you can use with your learners but I wanted to share the ones I use.


    Showing posts with label business English. Show all posts


    Source: http://myeltrambles.blogspot.gr/


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    2014年9月14日 星期日

    London house prices too high? How an hour's commute can save you £380,000 when buying a new home


  • London house prices have risen 25 per cent in a year with the average in zones one and two now being £641,000
  • Commuters living within an hour of the capital can save an average of £380,000 when buying a house
  • Those moving to Wellingborough can save £490,600, which would take 75 years to wipe out in transport costs
    • As property prices in London continue to skyrocket, with an average home in the centre of the city now costing £641,000, it will come as little surprise to learn that you can save money by moving out of the capital and commuting back in.
     
    What is surprising is that, by moving outside of the capital, you could save up to half a million on the cost of a house, with an average saving of £380,000 if you move to 21 towns that are between 45 and 70 minutes away from central.
     
    In fact, property within London travel zones one and two is now so expensive that by moving just ten minutes away, buyers save an average of £276,000.
    Clever commuter: Those living outside London but travelling an hour into work each morning could save £380,000 on the average home. Moving to Wellingborough will mean you pocket £490,600 which would take 75 years to wipe out in transport costs. Graphic credit: The Guardian
    Clever commuter: Those living outside London but travelling an hour into work each morning could save £380,000 on the average home. Moving to Wellingborough will mean you pocket £490,600 which would take 75 years to wipe out in transport costs. Graphic credit: The Guardian
     
    According to data from Lloyds Banking Group, moving to Wellingborough, which is just 53 minutes on a train from London, could save you £490,600 on the cost of an average home. With an average season ticket costing £6,548 it would take nearly 75 years before the saving was wiped out.
    Other prime commuter towns include Kettering, where average prices are £477,200 less than in central London, and Peterborough, where the cost of an average house is just £171, 600, with average season tickets costing £7,200 for both.
     
    Luton also represents good value for money, as it is just over half an hour's commute from London, costing £4,816 in train fares, but has average property prices that are £467,400 less than in the capital.
    Reading is the most popular commuter town, with 2.64 million return journeys made by season ticket holders between 2013/14, according to The Guardian. Homes there are £350,000 less than in the capital.
    In Peterborough, housebuyers can pick up an average property for £469,400 less than in London, while an average yearly train ticket costs £7,200 - meaning it would take more than 65 years to wipe out the saving

    In Kettering, buyers could save £477,200 on the average house compared to travel zones one and two in London, while paying just £7,200 a year in travel costs

    Speaking to the paper, estate agent Jenny Pendered said a detached three-bedroom house or a semi-detached new-build with Victorian terraces near to the selling for £90,000 to £125,000. Meanwhile Andrew Wright another estate agent, claims to have sold a four-bed home with a paddock for £375,000.
    House prices in London soared 25 per cent in the last year alone, a rise unequalled since 1987, putting the cost at an average home for the whole of the capital at £400,000 - above the pre-recession peak in 2007.
    Other popular commuter cities include Cambridge, Brighton and Sevenoaks - though properties in this Kent suburb are only £142,700 cheaper despite it being nearly 40 minutes from London on the train.
    Sevenoaks, in Kent, in among the more popular commuter towns with an average jounrey of just under 40 minute to the capital. However, house prices here are relatively high, with a £142,700 saving over the capital

    Reading is the most popular city for London commuters to live in, with 2.6million return season ticket journeys completed between here and the capital in 2012/13

    For those commuting into England's second and third largest cities, Birmingham and Manchester, living further afield does not necessarily pay off financially.
    Lloyds said the average Birmingham property price is £140,000, whereas Solihull, which is 15 minutes away by train, has a typical property price of almost double this, at, £274,257
    The typical property value in the centre of Manchester is £134,873, which is lower than the average house price in nearby areas such as Stockport, at £192,172, Macclesfield at £231,118, Warrington, at £173,581 and Chorley, at £166,107.
    In London property prices are now back above their pre-recession peak after soaring 25 per cent last year. This Edwardian townhouse in Chelsea was recently put on the market for £12million
    In London property prices are now back above their pre-recession peak after soaring 25 per cent last year. This Edwardian townhouse in Chelsea was recently put on the market for £12million

    The three floor home already has four bedrooms, three reception rooms, a roof terrace and a courtyard garden but also has permission to add two storeys underneath it
    The three floor home already has four bedrooms, three reception rooms, a roof terrace and a courtyard garden but also has permission to add two storeys underneath it
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    Property market

  • How first-time buyers are flocking back: Number of mortgages approved in a single month reaches highest level since before the economic crisis 

    •  
  • London house prices too high? How an hour's commute can save you £380,000 when buying a new home

  • France's other migrant problem - penniless and hungry BRITS: Their dreams of La Belle Vie turned to dust. Then they found the socialist French are far tougher than us - and won't pay benefits

  • Property sales dip for first time in two years while number of estate agents forecasting house price rises halves

  • Banks and firms signal Yes concern


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    Britain's most profitable streets revealed

  • Ilchester Place in Holland Park, London is the most desirable location to live
  • The area is a haven for celebrities with Robbie Williams living nearby 
  • One house purchased for £870,000 in 1998 was sold last year for £18.7m
  • The eight-bedroom house increased in value by £2.20 per minute  

    • The owner of an eight-bedroom house in West London who paid £870,000 for their home in 1998 sold it last year for £18.7 million - returning a profit of £132 an hour.

    The house on Ilchester Place in Holland Park showed the greatest increase in value of all residential properties sold in England and Wales over the past 20 years. 
    The Land Registry has been keeping a database of house sales since 1995 and has put the details online which allows people to look up the sale price of any property. 
    Ilchester Road in Holland Park, pictured is one of the most desirable - and profitable - streets in the country
     
    Ilchester Road in Holland Park, pictured is one of the most desirable - and profitable - streets in the country
    The Chatsworth Estate may be the fictional home for the Gallagher family on Shameless, but the real Chatsworth Road in Salford has seen one house bought for £345,000 in 1997 sell for £2,225,000 in 2007
     
    The Chatsworth Estate may be the fictional home for the Gallagher family on Shameless, but the real Chatsworth Road in Salford has seen one house bought for £345,000 in 1997 sell for £2,225,000 in 2007
    Figures held by the Land Registry show the nation's most desirable neighbourhoods based on house sales
     
    Figures held by the Land Registry show the nation's most desirable neighbourhoods based on house sales
    According to the Land Registry, the terraced house was bought on June 30, 1998 for £870,000 and sold again on October 24, 2013 for £18,700,000. 
    One neighbouring house was bought on August 7, 1995 for £1,780,000 and was sold again on May 30 this year for £14,250,000. 
    A few doors down on the same side of the road another property which was bought for £4.5 million on July 28, 2000 and was sold for £12 million on March 30, 2011.
    In Withdean Road in Brighton a detached house bought for £700,000 on December 8, 2000 and sold for £2.5 million on May 16, 2014. 
     

    More...

    However, not every property on the popular street has returned a profit for each owner. One detached house was purchased for £352,500 on March 29 2000 and sold for £1,465,000 on April 4, 2012. However on May 30, 2014, that same house sold for £1,300,000 - a loss of £165,000.
    Jonathan Hewlett, head of central London residential sales at Savills estate agency told the Sunday Times: 'Ilchester place has been one of the top London addresses for the past 30 years. Its three-storey townhouses, which critically are close to Holland Park, have become increasingly sought after by a group of ultra-wealthy UK and international buyers. 
    'Those buyers have often extended the properties on Ilchester Place have added or are in the process of building basement accommodation.'  
    In the North East, Runnymede Road in Newcastle can turn a £1 million profit for a canny investment 
     
    In the North East, Runnymede Road in Newcastle can turn a £1 million profit for a canny investment 
    In Liverpool, a property on Shireburn Road was bought for £470,000 in 2000 and went for £2.2 million in 2007
     
    In Liverpool, a property on Shireburn Road was bought for £470,000 in 2000 and went for £2.2 million in 2007
    Withdean Road in Brighton is incredibly popular with one house making a £1.8m profit in 13 years 
     
    Withdean Road in Brighton is incredibly popular with one house making a £1.8m profit in 13 years 
    In Oxford, a detached freehold house on Charlbury Road was bought for £4,130,000 on April 1, 2011 and was sold again on July 11, 2014 for £10 million. 
    Even in Newcastle it is possible to make significant profit on property purchases with a detached house being bought for £300,000 on April 28, 2000 before selling for October 1, 2007 for £1,975,000.
    For television audiences the Chatsworth area of Manchester is the fictional sink-estate home for the dysfunctional Gallagher family in Shameless, but for the canny investor it can turn an impressive profit. 
    Woodbourne Road in the in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham is the most profitable street in the Midlands
     
    Woodbourne Road in the in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham is the most profitable street in the Midlands
    Across in Cardiff one property in Llandennis Avenue in the city's northern suburbs reported a £900,000 profit
     
    Across in Cardiff one property in Llandennis Avenue in the city's northern suburbs reported a £900,000 profit
    Charlbury Road in Oxford is also among the most desirable places to live in Britain 
     
    Charlbury Road in Oxford is also among the most desirable places to live in Britain 
    On Chatsworth Road in Worsley area of Manchester a detached home bought for £345,000 on March 3, 1997 sold again for £2,225,000 on August 23, 2007. 
    In the Midlands, Woodbourne Road in Birmingham is one of the most desirable locations in the estate. A detached freehold house bought for £1,145,000 on March 31, 2006 was sold for £3,550,000 on November 16, 2011.  
    Across in Liverpool, Shireburn Road is one of the most desirable areas on Merseyside. One house on the road was bought for £470,000 on July 7, 2000 before selling for £2,200,000 on March 3, 2007. 
    In Bristol, one house owner on Harris Lane, pictured, made a nice £1.7 million profit on their property
     
    In Bristol, one house owner on Harris Lane, pictured, made a nice £1.7 million profit on their property


    Source: dailymail


    More info:
  • OAP property boom: One in 12 over-60s owns second home as 'grey savers' buy-to-let 
  • London house prices too high? How an hour's commute can save you £380,000 when buying a new home

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    Susan Boyle reaffirms her commitment to Scotland as she purchases property next door in the hometown

    For many, the ultimate dream home exists as a mansion set amidst sweeping landscapes in a faraway locale.

    But for Susan Boyle, it's the humble house next door to her own ex-council property in her Scottish hometown of Blackburn, West Lothian. 

    The chart-topping singer, 53, has splashed out £110,000 on the semi-detached house, which was reportedly valued at £30,000 less, to ensure that she can build her dream home.

    Home is where the heart is: Susan Boyle, seen in her role as Chieftain at the West Lothian Highland Games earlier this year, has purchased the house next door to her ex-council home in Blackburn for £110,000
    Home is where the heart is: Susan Boyle, seen in her role as Chieftain at the West Lothian Highland Games earlier this year, has purchased the house next door to her ex-council home in Blackburn for £110,000

    It is expected that the two homes will be combined to create a spacious six-bedroom home for the former Britain's Got Talent Contestant.
    But she'll have to wait before work can get underway, as she's busily preparing to kick off her first ever tour of the US on October 8.

    A source told MailOnline: 'Plans were afoot for her to purchase the property next door for quite some time, and it's exciting that everything has finally come together.
    Two become one: Susan plans to knock the walls through to turn the properties into one six-bedroom house
    Two become one: Susan plans to knock the walls through to turn the properties into one six-bedroom house
    The quiet life: The singer is shunning the bright lights of big cities to remain in the house where she grew up
    The quiet life: The singer is shunning the bright lights of big cities to remain in the house where she grew up
    'But she's going to have to wait before she start getting any work done on the house as she'll be very busy with her tour, which finishes mid-November in Florida.'
    Earlier this year, it was revealed that Susan was renting the house from landlords while they agreed on a price for the property.

    Shortly after hitting success, Susan bought a fancy new £300,000 property in West Lothian and threw a big housewarming bash to celebrate.
    Anticipated: A source told MailOnline that Susan is waiting until her US tour ends before working on the house
    Anticipated: A source told MailOnline that Susan is waiting until her US tour ends before working on the house

    But she soon found herself yearning for the home she grew up in, eventually returning after fidning it difficult to settle in.

    While she's a proud Scot, Susan has endorsed the Better Together campaign, whose incentive is to keep Scotland as part of the United Kingdom in the imminent 2014 independence referendum.

    'I am a proud, patriotic Scot, passionate about my heritage and my country. But I am not a nationalist,' she said, adding: 'We have still been able to retain our proud identity whilst being a part of Britain.'
    Opportunity knocks: Susan shot to fame after clinching the runner-up spot on Britain's Got Talent in 2009
    Too fancy: Susan was unable to settle into her £300,000 home in West Lothian, and eventually left
    Too fancy: Susan was unable to settle into her £300,000 home in West Lothian, and eventually left
     
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