Manchester Jazz Festival is an annual 9-day-long festival focused on showcasing contemporary jazz from the North West of England and beyond. Serviced City Pads.

The 15th Manchester Jazz Festival will take place from 23 to 31 July in Manchester City Centre.

The Manchester Jazz Festival was created in 1996 as a one-day showcase and has grown into a 9-day event, with 60 gigs and 300 musicians planned for July 2009.

Key Dates and figures for the festival:

1996: 1st Manchester Jazz Festival – 1 day, 1 venue, 10 bands.

2000: 1st new jazz work comissioned by the festival

2003: 1st mjf all-day finale in Albert Square, with 5 bands, 50 musicians and 5,000 attenders

2006: 1st ever jazz festival podcast in the UK – won the Independent’s Critics Choice

Over 80 bands will play across 8 city centre venues, at all times of the day and night – indoors and out! mjf is all about trying something new and this years it’s easier than ever to discover a new world of music, unlike any other on the festival circuit.

2010 includes musical firsts from Britain and abroad, inlcuding the mjf originals commissions surroundings, a new antiphonal suite for jazz  orchestra composed by Manchester trumpeter Neil Yates. International debuts come from Spanish pianist Baldo Martinez and Franco German duo Daniel Erdmann and Frances Le Bras. Other highlights include jazz ’supergroup’ Simcock/Walker/Swallow/Nussbaum, featuring Salford born guitarist Mike Walker, and Phil Bancrofts multi media Home-Small as the World which features one musician’s contribution beamed directly by wi-fi from his Manchester home. Please call Serviced City Pads on 0844 335 8866.
As you’d expect, Band on the Wall, Manchester’s legendary live music venue, is one of mjf’s main venues, with performances fromthe Indo-Jazz fusions of ex-Mancunian clarinettist Arun Ghosh, to the city’s most revered DJ, Mr Scruff. Even ‘80 icon Kid Creole makes a comeback! Also at the venue, the BBC’s flagship jazz radio programme Jazz on 3 will broadcast live from the festival on Monday 26 July.

A multitude if jazz vocalist, all with their own personal approach to jazz, featuring in the line up: Terry Shaltiel has the blues, Rodina an Irish lilt, Monika Lidke her Polish folk songs, Alice Zawadzki her Jewish folk songs and An Jacobs her French chanson.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is music for the Jazz aficionado too: mjf champions artists who are crossing the boundaries and pushing the music to new limits: The Golden Age of Steam features and unusual line up of the bass clarinet, organ and drums, and their soundworld – nothing to do with trains – evokes swirling soundscapes and contemporary classical music. Jim Hart studied and unsual instrument – the vibraphone – at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester; now he’s one of the UK’s leading exponents and he’s joined forces with Ralph Alessi, the innovative New York based trumpeter, for his gig to launch the festival on 23 July.

A whole day is devoted to the energetic and vital rhythms of Afro-Carribean music. From 2.00pm on Sunday 25 July, take part in special percussion and dance workshops in the Festival Pavillion in Albert Square, and at 8.00pm catch the double bill featuring two of the north west’s foremost ensembles of this genre: Dispora, a young 11 piece band with dynamic orchestrations, and Mojito, with authentic Cuban vocalists and a lively percussion section. All you need to add is the rum and the cigar. Short stay in Manchester with Serviced City Pads.mjf introduces continues in the afternoons with 6 new young artists from Greater Manchester launching their careers at the Festival Pavillion in Albert Square. New to the festival this year is a series of afternoon tea events in the award winning French restaurant at the Grade II-listed Midland Hotel.

Steve Mead, mjf’s Artistic Director, says: ‘There’s an incredible amount of wonderful music in this year’s festival and so much for free. Not only that, but such a wide mixture of sounds and styles, from twice BBC Jazz Award-winner and singer/songwriter Liane Carroll, bringing her relaxed pop and blues influences into the mix, to the most challenging of artist’s at the cutting edge of jazz, like Stuart McCallum (Cinematic Orchestra) and the punky Trio VD. mjf guarantees you a memorable time, whatever your taste’. Serviced City Pads supply Serviced Apartment Accommodation throughout Manchester.

London is the financial capital of the world alongside New York as well as being the home to the headquarters of most of the UK’s top 100 listed companies and more than 100 of Europe’s 500 largest. Hundreds of thousands of people visit London every day for business and more often than not they will be looking to stay for an extended period of time. Most people’s first thought will be to look at hotels, but nowadays it’s serviced apartments that are becoming the number one choice for accommodation in London. As seen around the rest of the country, serviced apartments are growing in number and popularity in London and it won’t be long before hotels will overtaken as the number one choice when people think of accommodation.

It’s easy to see why too. To compare staying in a serviced apartment to a hotel is like comparing Portugal to North Korea in the World Cup. It’s a whitewash. You are getting more than double the amount of space in an apartment compared to a hotel of a similar standard, which is not only good practically, but mentally too as it means you aren’t stuck inside the same four walls you would be in a hotel. Apartments have their own kitchen which means you are free to cook and eat whatever you want in your apartment, without being forced to expensively eat out or stick to the hotel food. Whether you fancy yourself as a bit of a Jamie Oliver/Delia Smith type and want to whip yourself up a risotto or Thai curry or you just want to throw a frozen pizza and some wedges in the oven, you have the choice and freedom to dine how you wish. The simple luxury of being able to kick back on a comfy sofa and watch TV or a DVD as opposed to stuck in your bed all evening and all night gives you so much more in an apartment that you get from a hotel. Serviced Apartments in London really are the way forward when visiting if you want to stay relaxed and refreshed when conducting your business in the City.

If you’re working in admin or Clerk and you’re tasked with finding accommodation in London it can often seem like a daunting task with some many places to choose from, all seeming to have astronomical prices and no availability. However help is at hand, and free help too. Serviced City Pads can do the work for you with our account management service designed to save you time and take all the hassle out of searching for and booking serviced apartments in London. Just one quick call or e-mail to our expert and professional Reservations Teams and they can find what’s available for you. Using Serviced City Pads you will also benefit from our corporate rates, specially set up to save you money when making long booking in London and other cities across the UK.

Next time you’re face with booking apartments in London, give Serviced City Pads a call on 0844 335 8866 or visit www.servicedcitypads.com to see how easy we can make it for you.

Serviced apartments are beginning to play a more important role in the accommodation sector in London. Serviced City Pads, a corporate accommodation account management service which deals with both very short stay apartments in London, so stays from as little as 1 or 2 days, as well as intermediate stays in London, which are generally anything from a 1-6 month stay; has noticed that companies are starting to prefer staying in an apartment instead of staying in a hotel in London.

Apart from the obvious issues with space that staying in a hotel room presents to a corporate guest who is staying in London for more than a couple of days, there is also an economic consideration. If you are working away from home in the city of London for a couple of months, perhaps you are a project worker in London or a contractor, the serviced apartment booking company will be able to cut a deal that works out cheaper than staying in a good quality London hotel. Saving money for companies that are booking accommodation in London is important to Serviced City Pads. It is clearly important to companies that are operating in what is a very difficult economic climate and saving money helps the company turn a profit from any projects that it is working in the city of London. These companies that are working in the City of London tend to be IT or finance consultants who bring their own expertise to other city based companies.

Aside from a money saving exercise, at Serviced City Pads we feel that we can demonstrate that we will save your company time and resource by booking London accommodation. We see time and again that office managers spend hours trawling through the internet in the hope that they will find a cheap serviced apartment in London, and then when they do find an apartment at the right price, they don’t have the relationship that they could have with Serviced City Pads to answer any questions that they have about the quality and location of the accommodation. Serviced City Pads is a business that is built on relationships and trust.

Of course, I say you can ignore space when comparing staying in a serviced apartment in London v a hotel in London, but you can’t really can you? Whenever I have stayed away from home with work I have always craved the additional space that an apartment offers, and it is incredibly annoying having to watch your tv perched on the end of your bed in your hotel room, unless you are lucky or rich enough to be able to stay in a hotel suite, but that’s what a serviced apartment is and more, and at considerable cost savings to the business!

If you or your company is planning an extended stay in London then perhaps you should consider calling Serviced City Pads. There is no obligation or cost involved and we will be happy to discuss what you need from your London accommodation. Serviced apartments may be an alternative that you didn’t know existed, and working with us will save you time and money; that has got to be a good thing hasn’t it?

Call Serviced City Pads on 0844 335 8866 or visit us at www.servicedcitypads.com.

At Serviced City Pads, we have noticed over the last 2.5 years a growth in the requirement for what Martin Holt, the Sales Director at Serviced City Pads has termed Intermediate stays (estate agents in London have started to call them Short Lets). These are stays of between 6 weeks and 6 months, it may be for a group of project workers working away from home or a team of consultants staying in another city. Short stay corporate accommodation requirements: often business people working away for a night or so who either want to stay in a serviced apartment or a hotel who are happy to spend £100 per night. They may be in London for a couple of nights a week and then head back home or back to their office. In this case the apartments are fully serviced – usually once or twice a week – with linen and towels changed and the serviced apartment cleaned throughout.

The Intermediate stays that are required are normally required at prices lower than those offered by serviced apartment operators. However, the project team don’t want the hassle of on AST. A 6-12 month AST can, on the face of it be a very reasonably priced option but it is not a flexible option for the corporate client who will not want the hassle of setting up standing orders for electricity bills, telephones, broadband accounts and council tax. On the other hand, if they are going to stay in an apartment for 3 months then they are often happy enough to do their own cleaning and servicing.

This is where an Intermediate stay comes into it’s own. Intermediate stay apartments London are often provided to the market not by serviced apartment operators but by city centre letting agents or property developers. In this instance all bills for the property are covered within the rent. This is a turn key accommodation in London solution, effectively a serviced apartment without the servicing element. The prices that can be offered to the corporate client make the stay much more affordable and the client can retain the flexibility of not being tied to a 12 month contract. Bookings are usually made by the month with each month paid in advance. These fees are generally not refundable but include all bills such as wi-fo, electricity and water. Apartments for Intermediate stays are fully furnished to the same standards as you would expect hotels and serviced apartments in London and across the UK. 

Serviced City Pads now has a number of corporate clients who are making requests for these intermediate stays and would like to speak to more companies who have similar accommodation requirements.

At the same time, Serviced City Pads is keen to speak with more city centre letting agents across the UK to discuss how we can help provide better returns on their properties.  

If you are interested to learn more about Serviced City Pads and Intermediate stays in city centre apartments then call 0844 335 8866 and we will be delighted to discuss with you.

Gatwick airport is within easy travelling distance to London and is the busiest single runway airport in the world. It is also the second largest airport in the United Kingdom and serves two hundred destinations. As approximately ninety airlines operate from Gatwick airport there is a very good chance that you will fly from there one day. However, getting to Gatwick – although not difficult – can be a very long journey for many holidaymakers, depending upon your location in the United Kingdom, and staying the night in London hotels nearby can be a more viable option than spending the night before a flight at home.

Rather than set off on holiday feeling tired and lethargic it is recommended that you travel to the airport and spend a night in one of the many hotels at Gatwick airport so that you will be refreshed and ready for your flight, especially if you have a long haul flight. Unfortunately, many of the hotels at Gatwick airport are extremely busy and can be quite noisy with people coming and going at all hours of the day and night. This hectic atmosphere can keep you awake when you are trying to get some much needed rest and will actually make you feel worse than ever.

If you really like the idea of getting a good night’s rest before jetting off on your holiday it may be advisable to stay in an apartment close to the airport. Not only will you have peace and quiet so that you can enjoy a good nights sleep, but you will have much more space to relax. Here at Serviced City Pads we have serviced apartments in London that allow you the convenience and comfort of home combined with the luxury of a top hotel at a comparable price.

October 9th 2010 would have been the 70th birthday of Liverpool icon, indeed global icon, John Lennon. It is 30 years since Lennon was murdered outside his New York apartment building and  the city has celebrated his life since. Lennon’s city of birth now plans a 2 month festival of music, poetry and film, starting on what would have been his 70th birthday.

Many people will see this as an opportunistic stance taken by a Liverpool City Council that is happy to encourage even more Beatles tourists visiting Liverpool on the back of fairly tenuous link. 

Others will argue that is is fitting for Liverpool to celebrate the life of one of it’s most famous sons. Where else, and who else, could such a celebration be carried out?

Chris Rose, Managing Director at Serviced City Pads said, “Whatever people think, this 2 month celebration will increase the number of tourists visiting Liverpool and that can only be a good thing for the local economy. We expect to be booking accommodation in Liverpool for visitors from as fay away as the USA and Japan. The reality is that the Beatles brand is the biggest pull that Liverpool as a city has. Something that places like Manchester, Leeds and Bristol can only dream of. Many snipers will say that scousers are over sentimental and flog a dead horse. I simply don’t think this is the case.

This is more great news for the new hotels in Liverpool that have opened over the last 12 months, including the Hilton Liverpool and Novotel, as well as the Liverpool city centre serviced apartments.

Liverpool can’t rely on corporate travellers in the same way that Manchester can, so it is the leisure side of the tourist market that it really needs to take advantage of.

The Liverpool economy has suffered on the back of LFC’s dismal early exit from this season’s Champions league – evenings where Liverpool hotels and apartments alike where full of Irish and Norwegian reds fans.

The 2 month extravaganza that will showcase John Lennon and pay tribute to the man and his will act as a timely boost to businesses in the city.”

Serviced City Pads is the professional booking company that is based in Liverpool city centre. It has serviced apartments listed across the UK and deals with both corporate and leisure stays. If you would like to know more about serviced apartments as an alternative to staying in a hotel, then please call 0844 335 8866 and ask for Chris Rose. To get a better idea of the types of apartments that we have available for your stay then please go to www.servicedcitypads.com.

Belfast has changed enormously in recent years – the Northern Irish capital is now one of the UK’s fastest growing regional economies. A popular location for business, investors and traders, it enjoys strategic links with major business centres around the world.

If you’re visiting for work, although there are good air links making day trips possible, the chances are you’ll need to stay in Belfast. If you use a serviced apartment rather than a hotel for your corporate accommodation in Belfast, you’ll have far more room than even the best hotels can offer, and a home from home where you can relax after a long day of meetings. Equally, if you want somewhere to hold meetings, serviced apartments are much quieter and more private than hotel bars or lobbies.

At Serviced City Pads, we have 10 apartments across the city, offering superb corporate accommodation in Belfast. Our perfect hotel alternatives include one and two bedroom apartments in the city’s Great Victoria Street. With floor to window ceilings and private balconies, these flats really do allow you to unwind in the lap of luxury.

With prices starting at just £85 for a one-night week night stay, this kind of corporate accommodation in Belfast allows you to enjoy all that the city has to offer for less than it costs to stay in a hotel. And that’s before you take into account the way serviced flats save you money by giving you the option to eat in rather than out, thanks to a fully equipped kitchen.

We have other options in the heart of Belfast’s city centre, too. Just log on to our web site to see all our superb value apartments under one virtual roof, or give us a ring for the cost of a local call.

The RBS Six Nations Rugby Championship sits at the pinnacle of Country Rugby competitions in the Northern Hemisphere. The competition officially became known as the “Five Nations” in 1910, when France officially joined Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland. Much later this group of nations became Six with the addition of Italy. Traditionally matches have been passionate and fought with national pride at stake, with England having been the most successful of the Six Nations, having won the Grand Slam (winning all of their matches) a record Twelve times. The 2009 Championship was won by Ireland (that was also a Grand Slam year) with Wales, having lost two of their five games, trailing in a distant Fouth.

Wales, along with New Zealand, is probably the hottest of Rugby hot beds in the world. Rugby runs through Welsh veins. Traditionally Welsh sides were noted for their attacking panache, and this remains the case today.  Wales used to play their home Rugby matches at Cardiff Arms Park. They have since moved to the fantastic Millennium Stadium which sits proudly on the River Taffe in Cardiff City Centre. It is a fantastic place to watch Rugby during your stay in Cardiff.

This year the Six Nations runs from 6th February reaching it’s finale on 20th March. Wales will be desperate to perform better than they did in 2009 and will believe they have the team to do so. One thing to their advantage is that they play 3 of their 5 matches in Cardiff, on the following dates:

*Wales v Scotland on Saturday 13th February

*Wales v France on Friday 26th February

*Wales v Italy on Saturday 20th March

So if you are already planning your Cardiff visit, and are still to organise your accommodation in Cardiff, why not book a serviced apartment in Cardiff with Serviced City Pads? Our serviced apartments are clean, modern and spacious, and would make the pefect base for a weekend in Cardiff watching the Rugby. Cardiff is a great city to spend a weekend, being to small enough to walk around. If you are likely to be in Cardiff during the Six Nations Serviced City Pads would strongly recommend buying a ticket for a match at the Millennium Stadium. The experience of the roar is something you will never forget. On the flip side, if you are planning to visit Cardiff on any of the other weekends (not just for the Rugby) we also advise that you reserve you Cardiff serviced apartment sooner rather than later as accommodation in Cardiff can become scarce quite quickly (there are never enough hotels in Cardiff when Wales are playing Rugby), so book early with Serviced City Pads. Call us on 0844 335 8866 and one of the Reservations Team will be delighted to help. Alternatively, have a look at our website www.servicedcitypads.com.

The Edinburgh Mela Festival will return to Pilrig Park, between 6-8 August 2010. Why not come along and join in the festive celebrations with the family, and experience diversity through the arts? The weekend will be jam packed with visual art and physical performances as well as live music, theatre productions and film exhibitions.  While soaking up the entertainment you can enjoy a wide variety of food from a world food market and really dig into the Mela, which is the Sanskrit word for ‘Gathering’ .

The Festival is best known by its South-Asian performances, but this year the festival will bring a taste of Chinese, African and other cultural arts. This aim towards diversity will promote the chance to explore and experience other cultures of the world, in a relaxed and laid back atmosphere.

In a world where artistic boundaries are being constantly challenged by important themes to create new possibilities, The Edinburgh Mela festival strives to feature such performances. This gives the opportunity for artists and performers around the world to show case their cultural and diverse ways. The Edinburgh Mela Festival is a world of creativity with a programme that excites, challenges and stimulates finding connections that unite us all.

Some events to look forward to will be a musical from New Asia from Singapore, belly dancing and Ghanaian Drumming. More diverse performances such as a ‘Scottish Bollywood-Desi Bravehearts’ and snake charming will also be on show.  And no Edinburgh Mela could be complete without its own catwalk for the multicultural fashion show.

If you’re staying in Edinburgh for the festival, why not stay in one of the amazing Serviced Apartments in Edinburgh that can be booked through Serviced City Pads. With the current economic climate, hotels and B&B’s are too expensive. Serviced Apartments in Edinburgh are the new alternative to hotels, which offer the convenience of self-catering services and a large living area for a more ‘at home feeling’, additionally many serviced apartments can accommodate up to 15 people for an affordable price.

If you chose to stay in one of our luxurious serviced apartments in Edinburgh after a jam-packed day at the festival, then you will want to come back and relax in a cool and cosy, welcoming Edinburgh Serviced Apartment. You could take advantage of the bath tub, and enjoy a long soak with the aid of bath amenities. Or if you’re still in the mood to stay up then you can entertain yourself with Sky TV in a comfortable stylish lounge. However if your all out at the end of the night, then enjoy a beautiful night sleep, to end a perfect night in a comfortable warm bed.  Serviced Apartments in Edinburgh can only enhance your Festive Celebrations.

For all yourself catered accommodation needs visit the Edinburgh apartments page on the Serviced City Pads website here – Edinburgh Service Apartments – or call our dedicated booking team on 0844 335 8866.

IPEX is one of the Big four printing events and runs every four years. IPEX is a global exhibition for the Graphic Communications Industrty and will take place at Birmingham’s NEC from 18-25 May 2010. It is sure to be a huge event in the Birmingham exhibitions calendar and as there are many delegates visiting Birmingham from overseas there is sure to be a mad scramble for all of the available accommodation in Birmingham.

If you are an exhibitor at IPEX 2010 you can call Serviced City Pads to book your Birmingham Serviced Apartment now. We are suggesting that apartments are booked as early as possible as on previous occasions many delegates have had to stay miles from Birmingham due to the lack of hotels in Birmingham (and other types of accommodation).

As this is a seven day event, Serviced City Pads believes that staying in a Birmingham apartment is the sensible choice rather than booking a hotel room. This is just the sort of stay where serviced apartments really come into their own. The additional space that a serviced apartment offers v a hotel room in Birmingham means that you can relax as if you were staying at home. A 2 bedroom serviced apartment option will also mean that you can share the cost of accommodation and this will mean you save money v staying in a hotel. So as well as being a more spacious option for your stay in Birmingham, we would also suggest that a serviced apartment is a more ecomical option than staying in an equivalent quality hotel. Book soon as we are sure that availability will become scarce after New Year.

Check out our apartments at www.servicedcitypads.com or call us on +44 151 709 8000. We will be delighted to book an apartment for your stay in Birmingham.