Now rebranded, renovated and thoroughly upscaled, the hotel nonetheless embraces its previous incarnation as the Continental Hyatt House, dubbed the "Riot House" by touring musicians who used its hallways, balconies and rooftops to make headlines between their shows in the various rock clubs along the street below.
Carphone Warehouse said the focus would now be on selling more electronics goods from Best Buy Europe's 805 Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK, and 1, 648 Phone House shops in continental Europe.
In most of continental Europe the combined costs of buying and selling a house amount to 10% or more of the purchase price (see chart 7), and in Belgium to as much as 18%.