June 2009 Newsletter

Client Success Story - La Résidence

"The French Property People"

Stephen Hilton runs La Résidence, the property consultancy specialising in Houses in France.

Whether you are looking for barns or manor houses, cottages or châteaux, bed & breakfasts, gîte complexes or hotels, Stephen and his team have been helping clients buy and sell French properties for over 20 years.

Stephen's operation is based from Oxford's Prama House. "We chose Clarendon because it gives us the equivalent of adding five new members of staff to the team. That's all of the power but with none of the responsibility!" comments Stephen, "When we are in France consulting with our colleagues, the Clarendon team keep us in constant contact with all of our clients and prospects so no business opportunities are missed."

Interestingly, the savvy investor realises that, although the Pound is 15% weaker against the Euro compared to this time last year, the discounts that can now be negotiated on an asking price (due to le Crédit Crunche etc!) means that the British buyer is actually in a much stronger position than at first glance.

This Month's Best Buy...
As pictured above... Situated beside a babbling brook in a village with shops in the Northern Dordogne, this is the ideal holiday cottage. It is detached with 4 bedrooms and comes with a 400 square metre garden which runs alongside the stream. This delightful cottage could be yours for only £83,000!

Beautiful properties with this spec and at this price don't stay on the market very long, so if we have whetted your appetite, please call Stephen on 01865 339500.

If you would like to find out more about La Résidence and their range of fabulous French properties, please visit their website at: www.laresidence.co.uk.

Would you like us to feature your success story next month? If so, please email us at: newsletter@clarendon-enterprise.co.uk.

Local Networking Opportunities

"New business opportunities and a sausage too..."

One of the most cost-effective ways of drumming up some more business in these interesting times is to do some more networking. To help you out, we've highlighted some networking events that you could attend in your locality.

Oxford Area
The BNI Academy - This is one of the most successful networking meetings in the UK at the moment. Approx 40 business people meet over breakfast every Friday at The Oxford Centre, 333 Banbury Road, in order to introduce each other to new business opportunities. To come and see, please call Chris Hooton on 01865 339 429 to book your place.

Bournemouth Area
The Dorset Junior Chamber is run by young business people for young business people to make it easy to meet business colleagues, make new friends and socialise with like-minded people. Come along on Thursday 4th June to meet the DJC Committee and members for a drink from 6.30pm at The 1812 Bar in The Royal Exeter Hotel in Bournemouth. Your contact is Katie Wilson on 01425 477 281.

Bracknell Area
The next Bracknell Business Breakfast, arranged by The Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce, is scheduled for Friday 5th June at the Coppid Beech Hotel, John Nike Way, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 8TF. Please call 01753 870 500 to book your place.

Want to invite our readers to your networking group? Please email us with the details: newsletter@clarendon-enterprise.co.uk

Did You Know?

"Well, I never...!"

Welcome to this month's Quick Headline stories...

Did you know that:

·  Chloe Thomas from Indium Web Management has been shortlisted for The Shaw Gibbs Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award at this year's Oxfordshire Business Awards. Keep your fingers crossed on June 19th...

·  Link Fortune International client and motor racing driver, James Walker, finished third in the World Series by Renault race in Monaco that took place before the Formula 1 Grand Prix...

·  Stephen Hilton of La Résidence was interviewed live on BBC Local Radio about the joys of owning property in France...

·  David and Marnie from Premier Sky Repairs moved into last month's Bournemouth Office of the Month - Congratulations!

·  Angus Phang and Francesca Lee from Cresco Legal will be presenting at this month's Clarendon Business Success Seminar. Come along to Prama House on Tuesday 16th June at 8.30am to hear about some of the legal implications of running a business.

Got an interesting One-Line Headline for next month? Please email us with the details: newsletter@clarendon-enterprise.co.uk

James Walker Wins In Spa!

"Little angels..."

For this month's Special Offer, we are delighted to launch The Summer Holiday Office Club. For those of us who work from home, it's a delight to be able to share our days with our children during the summer holidays. However, occasionally we need to finish that report, write that proposal, or catch up with our correspondence, but without being disturbed. Therefore we are delighted to offer you the opportunity to register for our special Summer Holiday Office Club.

Registration is free and you are not committing yourselves - it is simply to give us an idea of numbers for scheduling the office availability. You will need to register your interest during June, but thereafter, if you need to hire an Office for a Day during JUNE, JULY, or AUGUST, you will be charged at the reduced office hire rate of only £20 per day.

Full Telephone and Internet services are available, and office space is subject to availability. Our usual terms and conditions apply.

To register your interest in The Summer Holiday Office Club, please email us at: newsletter@clarendon-enterprise.co.uk

Competition Time

"Futuristic or what?!"

May's Competition Results:
We had a lot of correct entries this month, including two essays and a full dissertation on the history of The Met Office! However, the correct answer was that the Met Office moved from Bracknell to Exeter!

Congratulations to our winner, Ray Dolby from Control Lighting Ltd, who will receive his prize courtesy of our Prama House Office.

Actually, Ray has a good reason for knowing about this move. When the Met Office relocated, the local council built a lighting installation on the nearby road junction (see above) and Control Lighting Ltd were brought in to help!

Dune Competition:
As it's June and a new team of film makers is considering remaking the Sci-Fi Classic "Dune" (whatever became of that actor nicknamed Sting?), this month's question is slightly trickier:

What is the reason that, in some releases, the Director of "Dune" is listed as Alan Smithee?

Please email: newsletter@clarendon-enterprise.co.uk and we will choose the winner from the correct entries on Tuesday June 9th 2009. One lucky winner will receive a £25 Marks and Spencer's voucher to spend on sun cream and shades, dude.

As ever, the judge's decision will be final!

About Clarendon Enterprise Centre

Cost-effective office space - hassle free!

Since 1998, Clarendon Enterprise Centre has provided both emerging and established businesses with friendly, hassle free and cost-effective serviced, managed and virtual office space.

Our offices offer instant availability and are fully furnished and cabled. Our flexible approach means that you only pay for space you use, you only commit for the length of term you want, there’s no upfront capital expenditure and you can upsize and downsize as needed.

In addition to serviced office space, our business centres offer modern and well equipped meeting and conference facilities, as well as Virtual Office, mail handling and call diversion services.

Offering the latest IT and telecoms infrastructure, and high levels of customer service, Clarendon has a solution for every type of business…and every budget.

Call us on 01865 339300 or email us at
newsletter@clarendon-enterprise.co.uk