Make sure the commercial insurance London needs is on your to-do list

Shop to Let

When it comes to finding commercial property insurance London owners know they have a choice between providers, but in many cases they may not even be aware of how best to start the quest. When we need insurance for cars, holidays, homes and pets there are plenty of websites which can guide us in the right direction, but it may not always be so easy when the cover you need is a little more specialised, in fact it could be a different matter altogether. And this is just one of many boxes that need to be ticked along the way.

Long before a business person needs to find the best commercial insurance London has to offer, there is the small matter of location to consider. If you are thinking about the purchase of an office block, a store, an industrial unit or even a large shopping mall, there will need to be a great deal of deliberation in regard to where the property is to be found. In many ways, this could turn out to be the most important factor of all, because a wrong decision at this stage could prove to be a financial disaster in the long term.

http://iinsure365.co.uk/commercial-insurance/

If you think about the matter of location, you soon realise just how many things can go wrong. Anyone who opens a store will need to do a great deal of research about the site itself, and whether there are sufficient levels of foot traffic passing by on any given day. If the place is located on a quiet side street that doesn’t attract many passers-by, the chances are that the business will soon start to struggle. It’s all about getting people through the door, or course, but if they are elsewhere then there will be problems.

Many of our high streets and shopping malls attract huge numbers of people these days, despite the apparent increase in online purchases. Therefore, there are a great many possibilities for anyone who is looking to buy a store in the UK. This is particularly true in London, a city that offers retailers a huge local population as well as a sizable and constant stream of tourists visiting from all over the United Kingdom and around the world. The possibilities are almost limitless as long as you get the location right in the first place.

The commercial property insurance London needs is only part of the story

 

Although customer footfall won’t be a particularly important factor for anyone who is looking to purchase an office block, the location itself will still be an issue that will need careful consideration. You will have to think about transport links, for example, because you will want your team members to be able to get to work with relative ease. And when you need a recruitment company to find you new employees, they will need to be able to sell the concept of working for you from now and into the future.

A distribution centre owner will need a location that is easily accessible for both incoming deliveries and outgoing consignments. If the place is a long way from the motorway network, for example, it could lead to delivery times becoming increasingly slower, and that will have serious repercussions for all of their customers. And of course if the facility is delivering regularly across all parts of the country, the location is even more crucial. No wonder so many distribution centres in Britain are to be found in and around the Midlands region, centrally sited and close to a wide selection of motorways and A-roads.

Once you have found the ideal location for your warehouse, your store, your office block or your shopping mall, you then need to start thinking about the logistics of getting it ready for use, and that means seeking out the best commercial insurance London currently has to offer. While there are several financial institutions to be found in the provinces, there will always be more of a choice in the UK’s capital. The breadth of selections will help the property owner to shop around for a deal that ticks all the boxes.

The good news for anyone who is thinking about getting into property ownership, especially in the commercial sector, is that the economy is slowly recovering now after several years of recession. It may be too early to say the bad old days are now gone, of course, but it has to be said that the blue skies of prosperity appear to be making a comeback. This optimism will help new owners to take a little time to seek the type of commercial property insurance London really needs. Once this matter is taken care of, the new business can be up and running, and hopefully attracting customers, in no time at all.

Quintessential French Painting is the Most Popular in London

yassmin ghandehari and sasan ghandehari

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

The old adage of beauty being in the eye of the beholder has never been more apparent than in the art world. One person’s idea of a priceless masterpiece may seem little more than an uninspiring doodle to someone else, so it isn’t always easy to make a firm judgement about what is wonderful as opposed to what is average.  If popularity is anything to judge by, however, London’s artistic community is in little doubt about which piece is at the top of the must-see list.

A 2015 poll taken among the city’s leading artists, critics, curators and gallery owners provided a veritable hit parade of the best 100 paintings to be seen in London.  It was reassuring to know that the top three places were filled by works from three very different eras, with artists such as Holbein, Gaugin and Francis Bacon in the top ten.  The virtual gold, silver and bronze medals, however, went to three very diverse artists.

And In Reverse Order….

Third place went to The Seagram Murals by American artist Mark Rothko. This large series of murals was originally commissioned in 1958 to be hung, not in an art gallery, but a swanky New York restaurant owned by the Seagram drinks company.  Once the project was complete, however, Rothko decided he didn’t want them in an eatery, however high-class, so he kept them in storage for a number of years. They now hang in Tate Modern, and are probably appreciated more by fans of the arts than they would ever have been by distracted diners.

The runner-up in the poll was created in 1665 by one of the world’s greatest painters. Self Portrait with Two Circles by Rembrandt van Rijn gives the viewer a wonderful insight into one of the great masters doing what he does best: painting.  This is an image of a genius at work, and is at times an exposure of a very private man and at others a grudging representation of the bare minimum of what a self-portrait can give you. It hangs in the magnificent Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath, and it remains an absolute must-see.

If you expected the number one painting in the UK to be a work that showcases Britain and the British, then you’ll be disappointed.  It’s as French as can be. The exquisite A Bar at the Folies-Bergère was created by Edouard Manet in 1882 and epitomises Paris life during la Belle Époque. Manet’s work is full of the bonhomie associated with one of the most famous nightspots in the city, featuring a well-stocked bar, glistening fruit, a raucous crowd and a comely waitress. Manet loved this place, and the painting shows it.

You can see A Bar at the Folies-Bergère at the Courtauld Gallery in Somerset House on The Strand, and one look may be all you need to see why this work managed to finish top of a pile that included paintings by the likes of Caravaggio, Vermeer, Hogarth and Millais. Taste is a personal thing, of course, but on this occasion the people have spoken!

It’s the Choice That Counts

The variety of galleries in London ensures there are works on display to suit all tastes.  The capital benefits from numerous galleries that show the work of artists from around the world, from all periods and genres.  This diversity is made possible, to a large extent, because of the efforts and commitment of patrons and supporters of the arts, including individuals such as Marilyn Ofer, Yassmin Ghandehari, Sasan Ghandehari, Simon Palley, John Porter and Sir John Ritblat.

http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/support/thank-you

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/visualarts/article4499559.ece

http://www.arts.ac.uk/alumni-and-friends/support-and-donate/ual-development-council/

http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/Cultural-Crossroads/2012/11/abu-dhabi-art-kicking-off.html

October Highlight – the Opening of Damien Hirst’s South London Gallery

Painting is the will and the whole self in harmony, without self-deception.

John Hoyland

sasan ghandehari and yassmin ghandehari

Fans of the world renowned artist, art collector and infamous hellraiser Damien Hirst might well be strangely pleased to see an end to the summer of 2015 as October heralds the opening of his long awaited £25 million gallery.

Hirst’s ambition has long been to share his diverse collection and the Newport Street Gallery includes over 3,000 works. It is free to enter, with the inaugural show being ‘Power Stations’, a solo exhibition of paintings by leading abstract painter John Hoyland, which kicks off on October 8.

http://www.arts.ac.uk/alumni-and-friends/support-and-donate/ual-development-council/

Funnily enough, it’s not surprising that this should be the inaugural exhibition for the new Lambeth gallery, as Damien Hirst was known to describe the works of Hoyland as “a massive celebration of life”.

Considered an important and innovative force within international abstraction, Hoyland has previously been the subject of retrospectives at the Serpentine Gallery (1979–80) and the Royal Academy of Arts (1999). This time the exhibition of his works will include paintings dating from 1964 to 1982, taken from Hirst’s collection, which will give new insights into the huge colour-stained canvases of the 1960s, textured surfaces of the 1970s and the more spatially complex paintings of the early 1980s.

The works of the exhibition display a particularly significant period in the artist’s career, when he was starting to make a name for himself and it is the first major exhibition of his work since his death in 2011. In Hirst’s own words, the man who became one of the most famous artists alive said:

“I’ve always loved art and art deserves to be shown in great spaces, so I’ve always dreamed of having my own gallery where I can exhibit work by the artists I love.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/visualarts/article4499559.ece

 I believe art should be experienced by as many people as possible and I’ve felt guilty owning work that is stored away in boxes where no one can see it, so having a space where I can put on shows from the collection is a dream come true. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I’m lucky enough to actually own work by some of the artists who first inspired me and made me want to become an artist – like Picasso or Francis Bacon – but my favourite works by far are those by my contemporaries, and I definitely feel a responsibility to share them as much as I can.”

http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/Cultural-Crossroads/2012/11/abu-dhabi-art-kicking-off.html

Curated by Hirst himself, Newport Street will present images from his Murderme collection, which was started in the late 1980s and includes work spanning several generations from international artists such as Francis Bacon, Banksy, Tracey Emin, Richard Hamilton, Jeff Koons, Sarah Lucas and Pablo Picasso. It also features natural history specimens, taxidermy, anatomical models and historical artefacts.

At 37,000 square feet the gallery, which was designed by Caruso St John (who recently remodelled Tate Britain), includes a restaurant and shop as well as a large-scale LED screen on the outside of the building which will display exhibition information, and provide a platform for artists’ projects and interventions.

Giving a Little Back

Successful artists often show a generous spirit when it comes to giving a little something back in the later stages of their careers, and this offers a tremendous opportunity for art lovers and younger artists who also aspire to emulate their idols and mentors.  It is just this sense of community that the London art scene is famous for, and it includes not only the artists themselves, but also the galleries, venues, art collages and patrons, which includes such names as Abigail Baratta, Joseph P Baratta II, Victoria Barnsley, OBE, John Botts, CBE, Yassmin Ghandehari and Sasan Ghandehari

http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/support/thank-you