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"It's a way of getting a bit of extra cash," says Thornton, a 27-year-old bass-guitarist. The spare room in his apartment near London's Tower Bridge normally rents for about 150 pounds a week ($237) but Thornton has put it on Gumtree at 500 pounds ($792) a week for the royal wedding. He's hoping that staying in an apartment will appeal to travelers looking for a home away from home. The rental boasts a double-room with a TV, wardrobe, chest of drawers, private bathroom, free subway card and the city smarts of Thornton, who has lived in London for six years. That will help -- as Tower Bridge is several miles (kilometers) away from the likely wedding route. One rental website, HomeAway.co.uk, has already had 300 inquiries about holiday rentals in the Westminster area
-- two or three times its typical volume for this time of year. That's the neighborhood where William and Kate will exchange vows
-- a prime location for royal watchers looking to bask in the wedding hubbub. To some Londoners like Andrew Shillam, getting out of town is as appealing as some extra income. The 52-year-old property developer is hoping to rent out his four-bedroom home right "in the thick of it" near Westminster Abbey. "It doesn't interest me whatsoever," he says.
Ed Thornton, no relation to Jonathan Thornton, and his wife already had a holiday booked when the prince and Middleton set a date. They had paid about 1,500 pounds for two round-trip tickets to attend a friend's wedding in Australia and hope that they can break even on the trip by renting out their Victorian home. Thornton had no qualms about leaving Britain during the historic moment. "We'd much rather be at the wedding of a close friend," he says, "than at a wedding of people we don't know."
[Associated
Press;
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