As one of the world’s leading cities for nightlife London naturally caters for all – from 1000+ capacity all-nighters to boutique soul session DJ sets and one-off pop-up raves, but if the distinct lack of guitars and leather jackets puts you off many of our capital’s leading club nights, worry not, there are plenty of alternatives on offer.

Propaganda, O2 Academy Islington

Billed as “the UK’s biggest indie night”, Propaganda sees 25,000 people through its doors every week.

With 20 venues hosting indie disco nights across the UK, Propaganda will be familiar to many – London’s instalment being held in Angel’s N1 Shopping Centre at the O2 Academy, Islington.

Two rooms of indie chart and rock classics draw a wide spectrum of clientele, and a large cohort of teenagers and students. Cheap drinks promotions and a relaxed atmosphere make Propaganda a safe bet for a good, if slightly cheesy, Friday night out.

10.30pm – 3.30am. Every Friday. £5 advance.

O2 Academy Islington, N1, 16 Parkfield Street, N1 0PS

Ultimate Power, Electric Ballroom

The ultimate communal karaoke experience, Ultimate Power now runs across three cities and tickets for upcoming London dates sell out way in advance.

Solely playing big sing-a-long power ballads (Meat Loaf, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Bonnie Tyler, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, Aerosmith etc.), think high energy, trashy rock and bad wigs.

Visit ultimatepowerclub.com for latest listings. £10 advance.

Electric Ballroom, 184 Camden High Street, NW1 8QP

The Christmas Club, The Borderline

More than 20 years old, The Christmas Club is London’s longest running indie night and still one the most influential club nights in town.

Despite the name, it runs all year round, playing indie and alternative from the 60s right up to the latest cutting edge bands.

Still surprisingly unpretentious, Christmas Club is held every week in the heart of Soho.

11pm – 4am. Every Saturday. £7.

The Borderline, Orange Yard, Manette Street, W1D 4JB

Club NME, Koko

Marrying the grandeur of Camden’s seminal concert venue, live performances from some of the newest bands and guest DJs, Saturdays at KOKO are one of the best alternative club nights in town, and would we expect any less from NME? Acting as brand extension for a magazine that has remained at the forefront of cutting edge music journalism for more than fifty years, Club NME is as good a place as any to discover who and what are new on the scene.

1a Camden High, NW1 7JE

Death Disco, Notting Hill Arts Club

With the list of past DJs reading like a who’s who of the alternative music scene – Courtney Love, Tim Burgess, Mick Jones and Ian Astbury to name but a few – Wednesday nights at the Notting Hill Arts Club are not to be missed.

Spinning indie/punk classics, 60s rock, 70s punk and everything inbetween, with cheap drinks and two live band performances every week, Death Disco is deserving of its wide acclaim.

7pm – 2 am. Every Wednesday. Free before 11pm, £3 after.

About 40 people, many of whom faced redundancy with Barrow-based Cumbria Cruise Centre, have been taken on by the Glasgow-based firm,

About 25 of those started on induction yesterday and were undergoing systems training today ahead of the phones going live next week at what is Barrhead’s first English base.

Company chairman Bill Munro said: “It is our intention to expand here.

“We have got enough room, and an option on the ground floor, to accommodate 70 or 80 people.

“It depends on the take-up of the business.

“We are offering tailor-made holidays, long haul holidays, cruises, and hopefully there is the business for us to go into the corporate market as well.”

And Mr Munro hinted that Barrhead Travel may even switch its company head office south of the border if Scotland votes for independence.

He said: “If that happens in Scotland we might look to move our head office south of the border.

“A lot of people in Scotland are thinking about it (independence) with emotion and with a Braveheart approach rather than taking a reality check on what it would really mean.

“It would not make business sense.”

The 37-year-old family-run business, employs 550 people in 34 offices across Scotland and also has a travel agency and small call centre in Belfast.

Speaking about the offices in Emlyn Hughes House, Mr Munro said he was very impressed.

He said: “It’s very nice. It’s bright, it’s modern.

“We are very happy to be here.

“There is a shortagegenerally of experienced travel consultants and the fact there were 40 down here who were available seemed too good to be true.”

Managing director Jacqueline Dobson earlier said that Barrhead Travel had been looking at potential sites in England since August 2011.

Emlyn Hughes House was built in late 2007, and its only tenants had been the Crown Prosecution Service, who moved in during December 2008.

Chief executive of Barrow Borough Council Tom Campbell said the council were delighted to welcome the new tenants.

He said: “They are taking the top floor and part of the ground floor and we are hoping that they take more in the long run.

“We are delighted and have been speaking to them about it for a while.

“They have been looking to come to Barrow and looked at a few properties.

“Barrhead moving in just leaves part of the ground floor available, so we are looking to get a final tenant in there.

“But we are hoping that once they get settled then they might well take the rest of the building.”

Furness Enterprise helped to attract the company to Barrow and said they were sold on the benefits of moving to the area to set up business.

The company is offering a $25 hotel credit to all Fairmont President’s Club loyalty programme members that stay at any of its hotels in the Middle East. The hotel credit may be used at any of the onsite restaurants, at properties including the Fairmont Dubai Hotel, Dubai; Fairmont Bab al Bahr, Abu Dhabi; Fairmont Nile City, Cairo; Fairmont Heliopolis and Towers, Cairo; and Makkah Clock Royal Tower, a Fairmont Hotel in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The promotional hotel credits are available on every stay booked at these properties until December 31, 2012, and are for loyalty programme members only.

In Abu Dhabi, the hotel credits may be redeemed at Frankie’s Italian Restaurant and Bar, or the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and Grill at Fairmont Bab al Bahr; in Dubai at the Spectrum on One restaurant in the Fairmont Dubai; and at Baharat, the Lebanese-inspired Al Dar, and the rooftop Al Dira restaurant at the Makkah Clock Royal Tower Hotel in Makkah.

The company is also offering a special offer for Fairmont President’s Club members staying at the Makkah Clock Royal Tower, A Fairmont Hotel in Saudi Arabia. Members will receive two complimentary nights at the hotel, which may be redeemed before February 28, 2013, on completing a stay. This offer is available for members with premier or platinum status.

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts’ portfolio of 60-plus hotels includes The Savoy in London and The Plaza in New York.

It’s thought the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant at the beginning of June, and the 2012 games will lure in tourists from across the World.

Business minister Edwina Hart said the figures were positive but the task was to improve on them.

An additional £850,000 has been allocated to the Visit Wales UK campaign during 2012, added Mrs Hart.

“These are encouraging figures and positive news, the task now is to improve on these figures.

“I have therefore allocated an additional £850,000 for the Visit Wales UK campaign to promote holidays in Wales during 2012,” Ms Hart said.

Hard work

Holiday trips accounted for 62% of all visits to Wales in 2011, while the average spend per night was approximately £50 in 2011, compared with £44 in 2010.

The total number of trips to Wales rose by 11.9% to 9.70 million while total spending increased by 20.6%.

Dan Clayton Jones, chair of the tourism sector panel, made up of business people who advise the Welsh government, said the figures reflected the continued hard work of the tourism industry in Wales, but he warned against complacency.

“This is only one set of figures. Wales’ marketing and product development will need to improve if the growth shown in these figures is to continue,” he said.

Statistics gathered by the Times found that 24,000 of the 154,000 divorces in England and Wales each year involved foreigners.

London attorney James Stewart said, “There has clearly been an increase in divorce tourism where potential divorces are moving to England hoping to satisfy our jurisdictional requirements for divorce – six months residence, if the petitioner was domiciled in England, otherwise one year”.

Another lawyer, Mark Harper, said the number of international divorces was increasing because of the popularity of living in London, but was also “a symptom of London being the divorce capital of the world, very generous to wives, and allowing a second bite of the cherry over assets after they have obtained a foreign divorce”.

South Lakeland Parks said the proposal, which emerged in the recent Budget as part of the drive to close loopholes and remove anomalies from the way VAT is applied, could lead to people spending their holidays overseas rather than in Britain.

Nigel Wimpenny, managing director of the company which operates nine parks throughout the Lake District and Lancashire, said: ‘Much has been made in the media of the ‘pasty taxes’ and ‘granny taxes’ but yet again it seems the caravan and holiday park industry has been overlooked as a poor relative.

‘At a time when we should be doing all we can to encourage more people to holiday at home and buy British, the reality is quite the opposite.

‘Even on our most affordable brand new caravan, a 20 per cent price hike adds an extra £4,000 to the cost of purchase, which is substantial enough to make people reconsider buying a UK holiday home in favour of simply taking a few more European holidays.’

He added that the move could cause a knock-on effect on the British manufacturers of holiday homes, causing job losses.

‘As holiday parks see a drop in demand from consumers, they will inevitably buy less from the manufacturers. Both of which will lead to job losses in the industry and in those businesses that are indirectly supported by tourism spend such as local cafes, pubs and restaurants, visitor attractions and shops.’

He said research from the British Homes & Holiday Parks Association has shown that 53,000 jobs are supported by the industry, often in rural areas. The ‘holiday tax’ is predicted to lead to one job lost for every 15 holiday park pitches left vacant, he continued.

Mr Wimpenny added the VAT hike would also impact on affordable housing for locals in areas like the Lake District.

‘We are proud of the fact that our parks help to alleviate the problem of affordable housing for locals,’ he said.

‘People choosing to buy a lodge or a caravan as a second holiday home are freeing up more standard properties for young people looking to buy their first home in the area where they work. However, adding 20 per cent to the cost of a lodge or caravan will make bricks and mortar properties seem more attractive to people looking to buy a second home, which will start to price local people out of the housing market.’

The UK’s Tea Council team of inspectors took tea in hotels and tea rooms across Britain to find the finest tea experiences.

Points were awarded for the variety, flavour and knowledge of the teas offered, together with the quality of food, service, décor, ambience, and presentation.

Irene Gorman, head of The Tea Guild, praised the hotel’s consistently high standards of tea-making and customer service. She said the quality of its afternoon tea was “exceptionally good” and judges awarded high marks in every category.

William Griffiths, owner and general manager of The Angel Hotel, said: “We are thrilled to retain the award for excellence for another year.

“It’s a real team effort here and all our staff work tirelessly to create somewhere special, where the quality of food, relaxing atmosphere and the very best standards are paramount.”

The association says the duty tax, which is paid by every traveller departing Britain, has increased by 500% in the past five years.

Four incremental increases since 2007 have taken the cost per passenger from just under $40 to about $180 for economy passengers and almost $370 for all others. The latest rise of 8% was announced on Monday.

The cost for passengers flying locally around Europe has stayed relatively low, going from $10 to $25 in the same period.

Tourism Industry Association policy and research manager Simon Wallace says tourists from Britain bring a huge amount of money to New Zealand and make up the country’s second largest market.

“The industry has seen a decline in numbers from the UK over the last few years. Much of that is because of the global financial crisis but anything like this does put a barrier in the way of visitors travelling to long haul destinations like New Zealand and Australia.”

Mr Wallace says the British government is calling the rise in air passenger duty an environmental policy but aviation is already covered by the European Union’s emissions trading scheme and the increase is really a revenue gathering exercise.

The head of the Aviation Industry Association says the rise comes on top of increased fuel prices and the economic crisis in Europe.

Irene King says the disparity between long and short haul flights is discriminatory and will keep British tourists away from New Zealand.

Booking hotel can be chore considering that many tourists that visit London for the first time does not know which locations to avoid and which are near the historic places. Booking a hotel far from the city center can be costly and time consuming. The transportation costs in London are very high so it is important that the hotel property is near the city center or near a Tube (London subway train) to be able to enjoy the trip economically and conveniently. Secondly, it is important that hotel provide complete information about the room size, features and bathing facilities. Many hotel properties do not offer a separate bath rather people have to share baths.

Cheaphotels.co.uk offers a convenient and reliable United Kingdom hotel booking engine. Tourists can search hotel properties based on price, location and amenities. The web site has access to almost all hotel properties in United Kingdom. The booking can be made online or by calling a toll free number in USA, Canada and United Kingdom.