Easter is such a wonderful holiday in the city – the spring weather, the daffodils and the abundance of chocolate make for happy Londoners and visitors alike. This Easter long weekend you can indulge your sweet tooth, revere some religious history, entertain the kids (or yourself) searching for eggs, or all of the above!
Here’s a few of the great things happening in and around London this Easter, conveniently located close to our stylish apartments.
Globe Apartments is excited to announce the appointment of Kiri Ballard and Anne Christie as our new company Directors. They join Managing Director Mark Wilsonto form an experienced, professional Board, inspired to bring thought diversity and a trajectory of sustainable growth to our clients and our business.
After more than 30 incredible years with the Globe family, we are equal parts delighted and devastated to farewell Paul Alberici into a happy retirement.
We’re now well into one of the loveliest times of year in London – autumn. If you’re getting ready for a visit, pack your stylish scarves and water-proof shoes, and take a look at why autumn is such a great season here in the capital.
If you haven’t already heard, ‘bleisure’ has become a real thing in the world of travel and hospitality. It's the term used to describe travellers on business trips who incorporate elements of a holiday: sometimes bringing along family members, or adding extra nights or features just for sightseeing.
It can also refer to people on holidays who need access to desk space, fast Wi-Fi or meeting rooms, for when a work requirement might pop up unexpectedly during your time off.
If you're an active type, you might miss your morning jog when you're travelling, whether for business or just on holiday. But it can be intimidating to venture out in an unfamiliar city all on your own for a jog.
If you're thinking about seeing a show in London, but the standard musical is not your type of thing, our unique capital has something special for you...
As we settle in to the post-Brexit world and the media slowly starts finding some other news stories again, you might be wondering like everyone else: what now? Here’s a tip: come to London!
If you’re anything like us, you love to have something to look forward to. Planning a holiday is like some sort of justifiable daydream, where you get to imagine all the amazing things you’ll do and places you’ll go and people you’ll meet and delicacies you’ll sample, all from the comfort of your office home.
Even if your next trip is a while away, you can start collating information now to make sure you get the most out of it. And if you’re more of a spur-of-the-moment “wing it” type traveler, well… just come see us when you get here and we’ll point you in the direction of some spontaneous fun.
My daughter Eve and I have both gone through peaks and troughs in our training, but at the start of this year it felt right to set a goal together. So we decided to run the Brooklyn Half Marathon, and help raise money for the JDRF - a hugely important foundation funding research to cure type 1 diabetes, and support children and their families living with juvenile diabetes.
It's a cause close to our hearts as Eve has had type 1 diabetes since she was 11 years old.
Whether you’re coming to London for the first time, or you’re a seasoned visitor – choosing an area to stay in can be tough.
Each pocket of London is so unique, it’s almost like twenty cities in one. What do you choose: the high-end shopping and dining of the West; the grungy and completely cool coffee culture of the East – or something a bit different?
Camden Town, in North London, has a little of everything.
Long gone are the days when England was known for ‘bad food’.
Today London’s restaurants, bars and cafés are ranked some of the best in the world.
That’s why when you stay in one of our beautiful apartments in St Christopher’s Place, the only problem you’ll face every day is having too many enticing choices for each meal!
Stay long enough and you can sample them all, but to make things easy for your first day, here are your top foodie must-dos...
If you love to shop when in London, chances are you know exactly where Selfridges is.
But did you know that just around the corner, off Oxford Street, is a stylish little pedestrianized piazza filled with boutique shops?
Even better, it’s like stepping into a calm oasis if you’re coming from the madness of Oxford Street. There are a fraction of the number of people and not even a hint of the jostling, bargain-hungry tourist whirlwind that encompasses both Oxford and Regent streets.
Follow the purple clock into St Christopher’s Place, and you’ll enter a treasure trove of boutique London shopping gems.
Looking for a great night out in London this spring? Take the standard ‘dinner and a show’, and give it a retro twist with the classic 1950s Broadway musical Guys & Dolls.
Our MD Mark Wilson recently did just that, and here’s what he had to say…
Let’s be real: London is rainy. Umbrellas and wellington boots are almost as synonymous with our capital as our red phone boxes and double decker buses.
Luckily, London is a city designed around rainy day fun. Your holiday (or weekend) needn’t be ruined by grey skies – use them as an opportunity to discover some of the best underground, indoor or hidden secrets London has to offer.
Renting is now the living method of choice for the majority of Londoners. But it can be a treacherous battlefield to navigate (even without the added complication of finding an appropriate flatmate…!).
Here are the top 5 most important things to know as a renter – from our collective 50+ years of London renting experience, on both the agent and the tenant side.
The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, W1, contains one of the world's largest holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms & armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings.
Situated in a once-great town house (Hertford House), formerly the home of the Spanish ambassador to Britain (hence the nearby Spanish Place), the Wallace Collection is a jewel-case of the pictures, porcelain, furniture and armour squirrelled away by the opulent Hertford family over the course of a century. Formed over five generations and bequested to the Nation in 1897 by Lady Wallace, the ensemble includes some of the world's greatest and most famous masterpieces.
Now that 2015 is in full swing, some of the Globe team share some of their New Year's Resolutions. We're taking bets on who can stick to theirs and it's safe to say some have better odds than others!
Mark Wilson- Managing Director - "To take double bass lessons"
Kiri Bond - Short Let Manager - "Estoy aprendiendo español - to learn to speak Spanish!"
Lizzie Winder - Senior Account Manager - "To save money and give up those impulse buys"
Chris Glew - Communications Manager - "2015 will be the year of the book for me, and I will finally plough through Tolstoy's War and Peace"
Charlotte Downie - Client Account Support - "An easy one - to eat breakfast, the so-called 'most important meal of the day'"
Bradley Penney - Administration & Facilities Co-Ordinator - "Like Lizzie, I want to save money but specifically for a deposit for a house"
Joanna Chiu - Account Manager - "I want to make waves in the New Year by learning to swim"
Sarah Strain - myleasehold Administrator - "To bake more cakes, some of which will make it to the office!"
Bradley Cohen - Junior Valuer - "In 2015, I want to put that expensive camera to good use and finally get into photography"
Kirstie Kay - Property Manager - "To pass my ARLA (Association of Residential Lettings Agents) qualifications
Ghulam Yasin - Chartered Surveyor - "To avoid those hefty bills and do more DIY - when you put you mind to it, there is nothing you can't fix!"
Robert Eckhardt - Accounts Assistant - "To get out my running shoes and run the London Marathon!"
Who doesn’t like vodka? Nobody we know. If you want to beat the January blues with a shot of the traditional grain spirit, then check out the rooftop bar of the DoubleTree hotel near Tower Bridge, which has been given a Nordic winter make-over. Replete with animal-skin throws, outdoor heating, Viking themed winter cocktails and a great view over London, it’s one of our favourite pop-up bars so far.
The icy backdrop of Canary Wharf’s gleaming towers provides the ideal surroundings for a bit of winter ice-skating. Complete with a special “tree path” for skaters to depart the main rink and do a little tour of the site, and the Q on Ice pop-up eatery providing nourishment, you can either decide to show off your moves, or stand nonchalantly by whilst stifling a laugh at those who end up “on the ice” in the non-traditional sense.
Showcasing over 50 pieces of artwork by renowned international artists, Mapping the City is an exhibition devoted to what is now euphemistically known as “street art”. In other words, graffiti. Each artist gives a personal journey of their own beloved city and use a wide variety of forms, from digital technology to more traditional methods. Well worth checking out.
The recent centennial anniversary of the start of the First World War means that the Imperial War Museum’s newly opened WW1 galleries take on a new significance. Stuffed full of historical and original pieces, the IWM’s tasteful and thought provoking exhibitions are an ideal place to go for an educational visit, and to ponder on the philosophy of war and conflict.
GHOST STORIES is a stage fright like no other - 80 rollercoaster minutes of thrilling, chilling laughs that you won’t want to miss... Are you brave enough to book for the scariest fun you’ll ever have in a theatre? Globe's Bradley Penney says it's "not for the faint hearted"!
Globe Apartments are proud to support Christmas Jumper Day, in aid of Save the Children.
Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day is now in its third year and, thanks to fantastic supporters popping on their pullovers up and down the nation, they’ve raised more than £1.6 million to date.
At Globe Apartments, we want you to have a fantastic time during your stay in London. But London is a big city (in fact, it’s the largest metropolitan area in the EU!) and working out what you want to do isn’t always easy. So if you’re visiting London in June or even if you’re a Marylebone local, check out our top 5 suggestions for this month!
1. The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, W1
The Wallace Collection, handily located on Manchester Square, is one of the world’s finest and most famous collections of fine and decorative arts. Established in 1897, the entire collection was left to the nation by the widow of Sir Richard Wallace (hence the name), on the condition that no object ever leave the collection, not even to be loaned to another museum. So you really won’t see anything like this anywhere else!
Specialising in travel and literary works, Daunt Books on Marylebone High Street is housed in a former Edwardian bookshop, custom built with long oak galleries and refined ceiling windows. As well as a fantastic selection of travel books, Daunt regularly have talks by world famous authors and celebrities. Their clientele are also often notable, so you never know who you might bump into!
The Regent's Park, designed by renowned architect John Nash and opened to the public in 1835, covers a whopping 395 acres and includes the enchanting Queen Mary's Gardens which features more than 30,000 roses, as well as the beautiful William Andrews Nestfield's Avenue Gardens. With excellent sports facilities spanning nearly 100 acres it includes the largest outdoor sports area in central London, so there really is something for everyone.
The Barley Mow pub is perhaps one of the most historic pubs you’ll find in London. Located in a Grade II listed building dating from approximately 1791, it still retains period fittings and has a distinct olde world charm. With reasonable prices, good lunchtime food and plenty of atmosphere, this quaint and charming pub is well worth exploring.
Check out: the pub still retains its original “drinking boxes”, previously used when traders wanted to step away from prying eyes to seal a deal in centuries gone by. Find them to the left of the bar.
5. Cabbages and Frocks Market, St. Marylebone Parish Church grounds, Marylebone High Street, W1
Cabbages and Frocks Market is the place to go if you want to explore the best of British and Continental cuisine, vintage and designer clothing, and handmade, bespoke jewellery, furniture and home furnishings. Since its establishement a few years ago, its popularity has risen through a combination of word-of-mouth recommendations and some very nice articles in national newspapers. Well worth a visit.
At Globe Apartments, we want you to have a fantastic time in London, whether you are travelling on business or for pleasure. In order for you to get the most out of your visit, we have produced an extensive app, available on iPhones, iPads and Android devices.
Our app showcases the very best of London, with listings information for over 270 museums, galleries, theatres and other attractions, along with offline maps of 50 of London’s most famous shopping areas. You’re also linked up with local companies and sent special offers direct to the app.
Hungry? With over 1500 restaurant reviews from Hardens Restaurant Guides, you'll be spoilt for choice. Hardens have been sampling and reviewing London’s finest eateries on your behalf for the last two decades so you're certain to find somewhere you like.
In short, our app is the perfect companion for the London visitor, and strives to prove Dr. Samuel Johnson’s famous comment to James Boswell that “when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford”.
If you're new to our company, you may not know that every year we issue a custom Christmas card to all our friends & clients!
This year it was a digital card and if you didn't receive it in your email inbox, you can make sure you receive next year's one by signing up to our mailing list in the left sidebar of this page.
Watch this space for a little retrospective of Globe cards from Christmases past in the coming weeks!
Merry Christmas from all of us here at Globe Apartments. We had a great time at our Christmas party this year, you can see all the photos from the night over on our facebook page.
If you were there don't forget to tag yourself!
We hope you all have an incredibly lovely festive season, stay warm and spend lots of time with your loved ones.
What does it say about the efficiency of our local authorities (in this case Lewisham), when we have just had the Bailiff visit our offices to try and collect an overdue council tax from a former tenant of ours who moved out in June 2007?
In this case, the Notice of removal arrived in the post 4 days after the Bailiff had visited our offices, so we couldn’t phone them in advance. That is over six years of ‘processing’, with the final action taken to come knocking on the door of the tenants’ ‘care of’ address, our office, Globe Apartments, clearly a business name.
Instead of making a one-minute phone call to our office, a number held on the local authority's file since 2007, to establish the facts, including that the care of address was a business address, the Bailiff came in person, wasting hours of their time (let alone the six years of processing that had gone before).
Clearly, systems need to be improved to ensure public money is not being wasted, and a more joined-up approach to debt collection is put in place.
Globe Apartments are proud sponsors of Aria, a site-specific audio-visual artwork which can be seen this Friday night, 27 September 2013, at Night Contact.
Night Contact is a one-night multimedia and photography festival, popping up across a range of venues in Dalston, East London.
"Supporting and promoting contemporary image making, Night Contact aims to bring together exciting and innovative photographic works that provoke or engage in conversations with other media, such as film, music and literature. All of the works will embrace the projection format, through experimental edits, collaborations with other artists, and the use of sound, narrative, movement, colour and rhythm."
Aria features a freediver and a female soprano, projected inside a shipping container in Gillett Square.
"Immersed in the soundscape of an a cappella voice, the viewer experiences a figure moving within the depths of the underwater landscape, pulsing with the lyrical rhythm of the singer’s breath."
More information can be found at the Night Contact website, and if you would like to learn more about any of Emma's other work, please visit her website at www.emmacritchley.com
We are delighted to announce that Globe's sister firm, myleasehold ltd, have recently won the award for Valuers of the Year at the prestigious Enfranchisement and Right to Manage Awards 2013. The ERMAs, now in their 5th year, recognise professional excellence in leasehold reform work.
myleasehold were presented with the award at a ceremony held at Quaglinos on 6 June. The whole team were in attendance to accept the prize and couldn’t have been more thrilled.
The Valuers of the Year accolade is awarded to Valuers who act for leaseholders and/or freeholders in enfranchisement matters, and the judging criteria included depth of applied knowledge and expertise, excellence in client communications, marketing and innovation.
“By winning this highly contended award, our innovative and transparent approach to business has been recognised. We have a free-to-use online lease extension calculator and promote transparency whenever possible,” says Mark Wilson, myleasehold’s Managing Director. “We have had a busy year, and are very glad to see all our hard work paying off. The sector is modernising in both valuation and legal services and we are committed to introducing other products and services as part of the modernising process.”
myleasehold offer a free 10 minute telephone consultation, so feel free to contact them today if you have any questions about extending your lease or buying your freehold. Equally, if you are a freeholder looking for advice, any member of the team is always happy to help.
Globe Apartments, provider of luxury London serviced apartments for over 30 years, is pleased to announce the relaunch of its website (www.globeapt.com). The new website offers customers a host of new functionality and features. The enhanced website showcases a number of new changes including a customised search engine for apartments based on location, direct navigation to corporate, leisure and medical stays, social media links and a comprehensive portfolio of both short and long let properties.
We have expanded our Social Media presence with the added feature of a live Twitter feed straight onto the homepage. With this addition, website visitors will be kept up-to-date of current headlines, helpful tips and upcoming news.
Mark Wilson, Managing Director at Globe Apartments, says “We are really excited about the new changes made to the website. The easy navigation and new layout bring a fresh look to the site. The search by location feature is a great new addition that will help clients find properties in the exact location they want to stay. A lot of thought and input has gone into making the website user-friendly, and I think we’ve achieved that. We can’t wait to get feedback from our regular clients who continuously use our site.â€
The relaunch goes live starting Monday 20th May and it will be updated on a regular basis, with news of events and promotional offers, alongside property updates and features, so keep checking back.
If you experience any problems using the new website or if you have any suggestions, please contact us at info@globeapt.com.
Read more
Globe Apartments is proud to sponsor Disappearing Moon - a collaborative exhibition by Genevieve Chua and Emma Critchley. Starting 7th March - 28th March 2013 at the Asia House Gallery.
Globe Apartments are now listed on Tripadvisor! Along with the testimonials listed on our website, you now can read the latest reviews for our apartments on Tripadvisor.
And as a previous or existing guest, we would love for you to share your recent experience with us and the millions of people that use Tripadvisor every day when deciding where to stay.
You can find us easily on Tripadvisor by typing in 'Globe Apartments' in the search box.
Photo: 
.
