New Offices Update: December 2020
Helping Us To Help You
Unique Property Bulletin
New Offices & How This Hosted A Singing Legend!
For 25 years Unique Property Bulletin has been run by volunteers. This free website is here to help you find an amazing place to live. Since transferring the magazine to an online format in 2012 we have had up to 180,000 readers per month view unusual properties for sale, such as this old lighthouse keeper’s cottage which was surplus to requirements at our northern offices…
High readership numbers meant we got so
very busy we had to either…
Close this website, or grow bigger!
We chose to stay open and employ staff.
That meant we needed to buy business premises. Retain 3 offices for this website and rent out the spare shops/offices as a very safe way to ensure inbound rental income funds to guarantee sufficient to pay staff wages each month. A monetised website does bring in a fair amount of money through Google Adsense (click here). But employing folk is an onerous responsibility and we wanted to guarantee staff wages are paid in perpetuity. Google Adsense is a wee bit Quixotic and can range between £500 and £5,000 depending how busy your website gets each month.
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This is a very healthy business model as with a building and staff wages paid, this website should last forever, or at least a very long time and remain free for our readers.
So the search for premises started. The first building we bought was this one…
Lighthouse Engine House
Bought by Unique Property Bulletin as A Main Office
However, even though several staff will remote work, there is still a need for a physical HQ building and the commute is a 501 mile trip from Carnoustie which is where three of our six volunteers live.
So we focussed on Arbroath + Montrose + Brechin + Forfar. All just a 10 to 20 minute commute instead of a 5 hour drive.
Our founder’s main business is creating jobs by buying empty/closed buildings and renovating them to help newstart business via the Real Dragons’ Den (here). So whilst looking for vacant premises near to his home earlier this year, he spotted this building next to Arbroath Abbey…
280 High Street, Arbroath, Angus, DD11 1JF
It also included the adjacent building at 1 James Street. On 28th February 2020 the supporters of Unique Property Bulletin clubbed together and bought both buildings…
Uique Property Bulletin’s New HQ
Plus we will be renting out several newstart business offices (here).
The plan is to buy a dozen or so empty shops in Arbroath, renovate those and the new businesses in the 1 James Street part of the building that grow well will then be moved into their own dedicated and renovated shop. Our Argyll Group arm have helped other High Streets avoid the slow death and decline seen in many towns in other parts of the country.
-> It is certainly possible to keep the High Street alive. Our website founder is passionate about reviving town centres and creating jobs. Hence buying this building ~ the thirtieth one to date. Plus 20 more jobs on top of the 131 jobs created over the past 20 years.
The formula to save the High Street is simple.
-> Renovate empty shops and crucially keep the rents affordable.
-> Units at 1 James Street will range from from £23 to £48 per week: (here).
As well as the 280 High Street + 1 James Street buildings, our group has already presented purchase offers on two other empty shops in Arbroath. When the next couple of High Street shops are renovated, these will be rented out at £70 per week, not £300 per week which is what greedy City hedge-fund types have been doing for decades.
Stealthily the “greedy-landlord” syndrome has seen High Street rents reach eye watering level. This is one of the main reasons that shops close.
We believe that if you keep rents fair, and in Arbroath we reckon £10 per day, you have can assist your newstart tenant with a decent chance at making their business viable.
-> For tenants: If your idea for a shop cannot afford £10 a day in rent, then maybe an time to choose a different form of employment.
-> For landlords, we have found 7.5% return on money used to buy shops in return for a fair rent keeps businesses viable and tenants happy.
For sure, 7.5% return on asset-backed investment is far better than the derisory 1% the banks currently pay. Plus you, we, and our 383 readers and former Unique Property plc shareholders have the reassurance that jobs are being created. Which is a lot better than the disreputable RBS mob (here) and thee other job slashing banks: here and here. There are lots more reports of appalling behaviour from the banks. Which is why this website and its subscribers put our money into buildings and jobs, and for good measure we ban mortgages. After what RBS did to lots of viable businesses, killing them off, throwing people out of the lifeboats to save their own bank CEO skins, such as RBS/Santander’s Nathan Bostock (here), we do not like banks nor their senior management very much.
We digress. Back to how we can help you find a unique home (thanks to our 383 former Unique Property plc readers/shareholders helping us). For example, you might like to move to a lighthouse home. Great for telecommuting…
Noss Head Lighthouse Station.
You Could Buy An Old Keeper’s House For £175,000.
Or an old building to renovate for £25,000.
Unique Property Bulletin: Northern Office.
Bought This Lighthouse Station (here)
Some of the surplus buildings were sold.
Arbroath is now the main HQ
The southern office will be on the Isle of Wight.
The 1 James Street building at Arbroath in Angus is being renovated. It was previously the Swinton Insurance brokerage, but that closed several years ago when Swinton had problems (here). During years laying empty, 280 High Street/1 James Street had several leaks in the roof. None too bad at the start, but over long periods of time this can cause significant damage. So we have bitten the bullet and have been making sure the repair work is being done properly….
Unique Property Bulletin HQ
280 High Street, Arbroath ~ Roof Overhaul & Leak Repairs
The view from the top of the scaffolding gave an interesting perspective of Arbroath High Street…
Trying to get a better photo: closer to the edge, and then woosie vertigo kicks in…
Happier back at ground floor level…
So what has this to do with hosting a rock singer?
Well for starters you have to be over a certain age. But once you here the tune, you are likely to have heard the composer and singer on your radio at some point in life…
Gene Vincent Singing (here)..
So how on earth do we know this American Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee (here) was singing his heart out in our old building at 280 High Street Arbroath. Okay we specialise in helping folk find unique homes to live in, but a place with a stage in it that hosted rock-and-roll singers!
Well our new friend Mr Ronald Milne just posted an old photo of 1 James Street online (here)…
Spot The Difference?
Can you see the resemblance between the photo above and the one below?
1 James Street, Arbroath.
Formerly the…
Palais de Dance in Arbroath
Source: Click Here
Here at Unique Property Bulletin and Argyll Group, we confess to being a wee bit anorakish about the history of our buildings.
All we knew about 280 High Street and 1 James Street is it used to be an insurance brokerage. That always felt a bit like watching paint dry.
We hadn’t a Scooby that this was once where the dance hall and meeting place for maws and paws of half the population of Arbroath used to go courting.
It is a wonderful surprise to know some of the history of this building. That it is a little bit unusual in line with what we are supposed to be helping others find.
The Palais.
A place where hundreds of folk had a great time in days of old.
Aye, that’ll do.
If you have any old photos or information and would like to share it, we would love to hear from you.
Our contact details are: here
Back To Unique Property Bulletin Main Page…
Click Here
Satan-der Banker and bloody creep Nathan Bostock: Click here
