Retired seatholders can fill in empty slots, but there is now a waiting list of several months.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood

An attempt is being made to de-list a derelict former Northampton hospital which has been empty since 1998.

BBC: St Edmund's Hospital, Northampton

Marcus Binney, the charity's president, said the list was designed to highlight "historic buildings standing empty and decaying".

BBC: Decay fears for Portsmouth 'haunted house'

Maidstone Borough Council said there were more than 1, 500 empty homes in the town, and 3, 500 people on the housing waiting list.

BBC: Maidstone empty home owners 'could be forced to sell'

One other company on the top ten list that seems decidedly unsexy: Coyote Logistics in Chicago, an outfit that matches empty trucks with merchandise that needs to be shipped.

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