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Homes&
Property
Wednesday 3 June 2015
Furniture
maker
Sebastian
Cox
My design London
Page 16
MILLWALL ROARS: NEW HOMES P6 COMMUTING HOTSPOTS P8 PAINT YOUR GARDEN P32 SPOTLIGHT ON KING’S CROSS P36
Poptastic
ADRIAN LOURIE
Our home: Page 26
4
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Online
homesandproperty.co.uk with
This week: homesandproperty.co.uk
Property
search
Trophy buy of the week
pale pink tops the style chart
Last Zone 4 hotspot: Barking, with its new town square, is
a first-timers’ option, with homes averaging £274,173
news: first-time buyers need
to load up their Oyster cards
LONDONERS are having to travel further to find their first
home because strong annual property price rises mean
key areas affordable to those on an average budget are
now only found in the depths of Zones 4, 5 and 6.
The latest Land
Registry house
price index,
published this
week, shows
there are now
only three
boroughs in
London where an
average home
costs less than
£350,000: head to Zone 6 and Ewell,
£304,205, the
south-west London, to find this fouraverage budget
bedroom house for a growing family
of a first-time
O See homesandproperty.co.uk/4ewell
buyer. These are:
O Barking and Dagenham, with an average price of
£274,173 — a planned London Overground extension,
linking the Barking Riverside regeneration project to the
Gospel Oak to Barking line, will improve transport links.
O Bexley, with an average price of £287,732 — voted the
best place to bring up a child in London in the last Family
Hotspots report by Family Investments, due to its good
schools, low crime rate, amenities and green space.
O Newham, with an average price of £295,306 — an area
that is not only affordable but has seen London’s
strongest annual price rise, at 17.2 per cent.
O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
Facebook:
£9.5 million: well, the neighbour may have contrasting
taste, but the soft, pale pink façade of this elegant Chelsea
Green home is an indication of the sophistication to be
found within. It is two houses knocked into one to provide
a luxurious Italian kitchen, a fabulous skylit dining and
reception area, three en suite bedrooms and a superb
upper drawing room that opens out on to one of the
house’s three roof terraces. Through John D Wood.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/trophy
London buy of the week window of
opportunity. Own a flat with striking views
£317,000: first-time buyers looking
for that next regeneration hotspot to
invest in should visit Greenland Place,
Surrey Quays SE8, where a collection
of smart new homes is springing up
by the Thames.
This one-bedroom flat has bright,
open-plan living/kitchen and dining
areas, a double bedroom with a
£650,000: this lovely Cornish farmhouse on Bodmin Moor
comes with 11 acres of paddocks, manicured gardens, a
stable yard, sand school and barn. The Grade II-listed home
is full of period charm throughout its four reception rooms,
spacious kitchen/breakfast room and four bedrooms.
There’s a one-bedroom annexe by a pretty lake that could
also be let for extra income. Through Country & Waterside.
O homesandproperty.co.uk/lifechanger
Editor:
Janice
Morley
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or visit www.cottages4you.co.uk
O homesandproperty.co.uk/botw
Life changer rural retreat
with room for holiday letting
ESHomesAndProperty • Twitter:
We’re the No 1 choice for both
cottage owners and holidaymakers
fitted wardrobe, and a sleek shower
room. Striking skyline views of the
capital are one of its main appeals,
along with 24-hour concierge and a
fitness suite on the doorstep.
Completion from next month,
through Barratt London.
VISIT homesandproperty.co.uk/
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House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington,
London W8 5TT.
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New playgrounds in the sky
THIS is the first image of London’s
latest regeneration hotspot — a
vertical village containing 1,500 new
homes within six skyscrapers,
complete with the capital’s first
playgrounds in the sky.
Millharbour Village is to be built
on a six-acre site alongside South
Dock on the Isle of Dogs, just south of
Canary Wharf. It will one day be
home to more than 4,000 people.
The multi-billion-pound project,
designed to be family-friendly, is
expected to be given the green light
this week. Developer Galliard Homes
says that more than a quarter of
the homes will be earmarked for
low-income Londoners.
It will be served by the Crossrail
station at Canary Wharf, due to open
in 2018, and will include a new state
primary school, a nursery school and
two parks, plus almost 4,000sq ft of
playground space for under-fives, on
the tops of two of the skyscrapers.
O Read Ruth Bloomfield’s full story at homesandproperty.co.uk
5
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
News Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
This is the
headline that
goes like this
Money
can buy
me lofty
views
£11 million. Sir Paul’s American home,
above, has five bedrooms, magnificent 40ft floor-to-ceiling windows
and a terrace overlooking Central
Park. The former Beatle, 72, currently
on a world tour, will leave the UK for
the US later this month, so perhaps
he’ll relax on his new terrace with
New York-born wife Nancy, 55
By Amira Hashish
Got some gossip? Tweet @amiranews
Starchitect in
‘factory sale’
Fulham square’s
celebrity gardens
É DAVID ADJAYE, the UK
architect with a global reputation,
has designed homes for artist
Jake Chapman and his wife
Rosemary Ferguson, right,
as well as photographer
Jürgen Teller and actor Ewan
McGregor. A recent exhibition
at Haus der Kunst in Munich,
Germany, was devoted to him.
In London, he has converted a
factory, above, between the
Union Canal and Harrow Road on
the fringes of Queen’s Park.
Called Silverlight, it is on five
levels, with four bedrooms
and a bold green kitchen.
With direct access on to
the canal, as well as a roof
garden and bar, this supercool home is on Domus
Nova’s books for £5.5 million.
É FANCY buying a garden designed
by one of this year’s RHS Chelsea
Flower Show winners?
Jo Thompson, below, who won a
silver-gilt medal for the M&G Garden,
recently designed picturesque
terraces and the private garden of the
show home at London Square
Fulham. Thompson also scooped a
gold medal at Chelsea last year for
her garden full of early summer
scented roses and jasmines in a
palette of whites.
Two properties in the square,
above, are currently available, each
priced at £3.95 million with Savills.
DAVE BENETT
É PAUL McCARTNEY has just
splashed out £10 million-plus for a
Manhattan penthouse, but it isn’t the
most expensive asset in his property
portfolio. His five-bedroom detached
house in St John’s Wood, a short
stroll from Regent’s Park and his
beloved Abbey Road Studios, holds
that title and is valued at more than
ÉA MANSION
which Marilyn
Monroe used as
her party palace is
for sale on its own
private island.
The six-bedroom,
Tudor-style
house, right, at
Tavern Island in
Connecticut, left,
overlooks New York.
A favourite among the Hollywood
glitterati, golden girl Marilyn was so
taken by the retreat
that she regularly
used it for a spot of
escapism with pals.
Barbra Streisand
has also rented the
mansion, which
sits in three-and-ahalf acres.
Now on the
market for a cool
£7.1 million, it comes with a twobedroom cottage in the grounds as
well as a 25ft x 75ft swimming pool.
ALEX LENTATI
REX
Monroe’s £7m private island party palace
6
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
On track: this is
still a gritty
district but
many of its
railway arches,
left, are
gradually being
turned into
creative
workshops and
retail spaces
Inspiration:
the Southwark
Street area of
Bermondsey,
right, has
a café
culture that
nearby New
Bermondsey
hopes to match
We are Millwall! But we’ll soon be
B
ERMONDSEY’S residential
rise has been unstoppable
in the past decade, with
buyers and renters flocking
to its fashionable riverside
neighbourhoods, such as Shad
Thames.
Now change is spreading to the
gritty hinterland — Millwall Football
Club territory — where Mayor Boris
Johnson has stepped in to
fast-track regeneration of a run-down,
semi-industrial tract, renaming it
N e w B e r m o n d s e y. E v e n p o s h
Boris Johnson’s push to revamp
this run-down area is paying big
dividends, says David Spittles
Grosvenor Estates, the Duke of
Westminster’s property company, has
set its sights on this promising patch,
buying up the former Peek Frean’s
biscuit factory for new homes and
workspaces for small businesses.
TURBO-BOOSTING
THE HOMES ZONE
The area under the spotlight is
sandwiched between Peckham and
Rotherhithe, and is so close to central
London that it gets into the large-print
pages of the A-Z. By designating it as a
housing zone, the Mayor is giving
the area a turbo-boost, accelerating
development. What was initially
planned as a 12-year initiative is now
expected to take half that time.
A new Overground station, already
partly built due to the recent East
London line upgrade, is expected to
open within two years. It is located at
Surrey Canal Triangle, a 30-acre site
wrapping around railway viaducts,
where developer Renewal will soon
unveil the first phase of 2,400 new
homes — high rise and low rise, a mix
of apartments and family houses.
Other planned developments include
shops, parks and squares, cycle ways
and footpaths, a “creative quarter”
with galleries, artists’ studios and livework units, plus the biggest new sports
complex since Crystal Palace National
Sports Centre was opened in 1964.
Derelict railway arches will be refurbished and re-let as commercial
premises and some will be opened up
as part of new pedestrian routes.
GREEN GIANT
Green architecture plans focus on community gardens and allotments on
top of apartment blocks, while an
estate recycling system will link into a
neighbourhood heat and energy centre
that incinerates rubbish. Rainwater
will be collected and used for fountains
and street sculptures. To register, call
020 7358 1933.
Currently raw and uninviting, this
Zone 2 area is relatively cheap and
likely to attract lower-budget buyers
— certainly investors — as the new
station will open up quick commutes
to the City, West End and Canary
Wharf. The proposed Bakerloo line
extension runs through this swathe of
Bermondsey, too.
There is also a proposal to reinstate
Grand Surrey Canal, built in 1807 as a
trade route to the docks, but concreted
over in 1971. This opens up the possibility of popular waterside homes.
Badge of
pride: Millwall
FC’s club logo,
left, reflects
the side’s
Lions
nickname
Much of the land is being sold off by
Lewisham council. Builders are past
masters at talking up rough urban areas
and glossing over the negatives, peppering brochures with gyms, concierges and car clubs, so do your
homework before you rush in to buy
off-plan. Is this the location for you?
Home side:
Millwall, in
League One
for the
2015/16
season, play
at The Den,
below, in
South
Bermondsey,
soon to be
“New
Bermondsey”
LAUNCHING THIS WEEK
Bermondsey Works, in Rotherhithe
New Road, is scheduled for completion
in the summer of 2017. It is being
built above a new free school and
City of London sixth-form academy —
another improvement to the area’s
infrastructure. There will be 148
homes, mainly apartments, but
also two-storey “villas”. Prices start
from £342,500. Call Telford Homes
on 01992 809800.
Chevron Apartments, in St James’s
Road, comprises 37 loft-style flats
behind a Fifties factory façade, with an
impressive double-height entrance
foyer created from the original loading
bays. A warm-brick warehouse-style
extension at the rear links with a landscaped cobbled courtyard. Prices start
from £250,000. Call estate agent
Stirling Ackroyd on 020 7749 3810.
Roomy: Chevron Apartments, in
St James’s Road, has 37 loft-style
flats behind a Fifties factory façade
7
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
New homes Homes & Property
From
£250,000:
Chevron
Apartments
surround a
landscaped
courtyard
New Bermondsey
Old Kent Road, which forms the
western boundary of this patch being
sold as an “opportunity area”, is also
getting a facelift. One of the oldest
routes in England, it was created by
the Romans and famously used by
Chaucer’s pilgrims travelling from
Southwark to Canterbury. In Victorian
times, it was a handsome thoroughfare
lined with famous pubs and music
halls, later converted to cinemas. A
sprinkling of heritage buildings survive
amid the large retail stores, which are
now being bulldozed for homes.
A former car showroom has been
demolished to make way for Park
View, occupying a prominent corner
site overlooking 140-acre Burgess
Park, recently refurbished. Under
way nearby is Old Kent Road, a
scheme of 27 flats by Higgins Homes.
Call 020 8508 6000. Spark, a develop-
ment by Hyde housing association, has
apartments for sale or rent. Sharedownership options start at £101,500 for
a 35 per cent share. Call 0845
6061221.
in “place-making” — creating and
enhancing neighbourhoods — and says
that it is “starting the process at
Bermondsey by getting to know the
people and the area”.
GROSVENOR COMES
OVER FROM MAYFAIR
C
Grosvenor’s foray into this traditionally
working-class area is highly significant,
as the company normally confines its
activities to the gold-plated territory of
Mayfair and Belgravia, where it owns
300 acres. Peek Frean closed in 1989
and the 11-acre site became an industrial estate. Grosvenor paid £51 million
for it and lobbied Boris Johnson to
make the area a high-density development zone. The company is now working on fresh plans for a mixed-use
scheme of homes and small business
premises. Grosvenor has a track record
O M M U N I T Y initiatives
include planting a new
orchard in nearby Southwark Park and support for
Old Vic Workrooms, an outpost of the famous theatre company,
while a new secondary school is
proposed as a way of enticing more
families to the area.
Photographs: Daniel Lynch
Loft look: nearby Spa Road has New
York-style warehouse apartments
similar to those planned for New
Bermondsey, next to Millwall FC
2
8
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Commuting
£220,000: a three-bedroom Victorian semi in
Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, through Malcolms
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/euston
£550,000: four-bedroom detached house near a
nature reserve in Hatfield, Herts. Through Connells
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/bramble
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Put the
home into
the home
counties
Ruth Bloomfield finds family
homes for £150,000, only
50 minutes from King’s Cross
and close to great schools
T
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HERE’S a wealth of destinations in the home counties
north of the capital that
offer great-value homes
with plenty of selling points
— and they’re all reachable from King’s
Cross station. For example, for “outstanding” Ofsted-rated schools and
average property prices of £153,819,
you need only travel about 50 minutes
to reach Peterborough — voted one of
the best commuter destinations among
Londoners. But the surrounding areas
also have plenty to offer.
HERTFORDSHIRE
HATFIELD
Research by Savills shows that one of
the strongest price performers in
the county is Brookmans Park, a
Hertfordshire village about four miles
from Hatfield, which is surrounded by
green belt countryside with a nature
reserve nearby.
Another huge draw for the area are
the schools — Brookmans Park Primary
School and Chancellor’s School (seniors) are both rated “good” by Ofsted.
Matthew Craker, a partner at Fine &
Country, says the majority of his buyers
are families leaving north London.
Brookmans Park is not cheap, but in
comparison to the capital’s N postcodes, houses here are a steal and a
good investment.
Property prices have increased by
17 per cent in the past year to an average of £450,217, according to Savills.
Locals tend to be young families,
empty-nesters keen to stay in the area
and veteran footballers — Gary
Mabbutt, former Tottenham Hotspur
captain, and Brian Talbot, ex-Arsenal
player, both live in the area. Most
#
£850,000: a Grade II-listed, five-bedroom house with a
pool in Glinton, Peterborough. Through Hurfords
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/glinton
homes are substantial, detached and
built in the Thirties or Fifties. A fourbedroom detached house with a
good-size garden would cost about
£800,000.
Homes in Brookmans Avenue, which
are within minutes of the station, start
at about £1.2 million. Trains to London
take half an hour and an annual season
ticket costs £2,068.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE
HUNTINGDON
The market town of Huntingdon is a
48-minute train ride from London,
with an annual season ticket costing
£4,964. Homes here are excellent
value, with average property prices at
£194,138, an increase of more than
four per cent in the past year.
This is an ancient town on the banks
of the River Great Ouse that features
some lovely buildings, although it is
more a working town than a picturepostcard one.
Portholme Meadow offers plenty of
green space, with more than 250 acres
of open land alongside the river.
About 45 minutes’ drive north is Rutland Water, a hotspot for watersport
lovers, while horse racing fans
will enjoy the racecourse located in
Brampton, about seven minutes’
drive away.
There is a good selection of primary
schools well-rated by Ofsted, but the
local seniors — Hinchingbrooke School
and St Peter’s School — both “require
improvement”.
Roger Stoneham, a director at Peter
Lane & Partners, says the town and
surrounding villages are now so busy
with London commuters that last year,
the local council finished work on a
new road access to the station to prevent long rush-hour tailbacks.
In town, modern developments at
Hinchingbrooke are popular with
commuters since they are only
seconds from the station and are also
close to Hinchingbrooke Country Park.
Prices range from about £200,000 for
9
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
Commuting Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
ALAMY
£275,000: a four-bedroom, Grade II-listed terrace house
in High Street, Huntingdon, through Sharman Quinney
O Visit homesandproperty.co.uk/highhunt
Landmarks: the cathedral and Butter
Cross Guildhall in Peterborough
a two-bedroom, semi-detached property to about £500,000 for a detached,
five-bedroom executive home.
GODMANCHESTER
If your idea of a commuting destination
is a little more traditional, then
Godmanchester, a lovely period village
south of Huntingdon town centre,
might be for you.
It is just 20 minutes’ walk away from
its neighbouring town, and is located
by the river, which sets off its 17th-century houses a treat. It has some good
pubs, including the pretty, timbered
White Hart. Prices start at about
£250,000 to £275,000 for a two-bedroom cottage, rising to about £600,000
to £750,000 for a wonderful fivebedroom manor house.
PETERBOROUGH
More good value is to be found in this
cathedral city, with homes priced at
an average of £153,819, up more than
five per cent in the past year. But these
low prices need to be set against its
50-minute commute to King’s Cross
and the expensive cost of an annual
season ticket at £7,276. On the plus
side, Peterborough was recently named
one of the best destinations outside
London for commuters in a study by
property consultants Carter Jonas,
based on analysis of factors such as
house prices, train services and
education.
It has some great schools, such as
Fulbridge Academy (primary), The
Deepings School and The King’s School
(both senior), which are all rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.
Annabel Morbey, an associate at
Smiths Gore, says buyers interested in
being close to the station head for
Thorpe Road, where a four- to fivebedroom detached house costs about
£540,000, while a two-bedroom
converted flat is priced at about
£180,000.
But Peterborough’s real charm lies in
its outlying villages — even though
they are being rapidly absorbed by
new buildings expanding out from the
city centre.
L o n g t h o r p e v i l l a ge i s l ove ly,
surrounded by woodland, and with
some pretty homes priced at about
£700,000 for a period property with
four to five bedrooms and a good-size
garden.
The Hamptons and Ortons, two
communities of a series of villages,
both to the south-west of the city, are
also well worth exploring for homes
with a country feel.
Morbey says her London exiles tend
to want this type of property.
“They are usually young families who
find Oxfordshire or Gloucestershire too
expensive,” she adds.
“So they come here, where the commute is actually quicker.”
Welwyn Garden City
Welwyn North
Hatfield, Herts
Knebworth
Stevenage
Hitchin
Brookmans Park
Biggleswade
Welham Green
Arlesey
St Neots
Sandy
Huntingdon
Peterborough
20
20
21
23
24
28
31
31
34
36
40
45
48
50
2,748
2,888
2,560
3,092
3,516
3,704
2,068
4,240
2,304
3,892
4,756
4,404
4,964
7,276
283,487
584,711
238,677
423,448
226,900
308,339
450,217
230,247
540,799
194,353
227,713
233,553
194,138
153,819
Annual
price
growth
Price
growth
since 2007
4.2%
11.4%
8.6%
33.6%
9.1%
9.8%
17.0%
9.4%
11.1%
0.8%
5.2%
6.6%
4.1%
5.1%
19.1%
22.1%
18.1%
31.3%
12.6%
15.6%
27.7%
12.9%
28.8%
2.5%
6.9%
7.4%
7.2%
2.6%
Source: Savills
#
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TOP KING’S CROSS COMMUTER DESTINATIONS
Journey time to Price of an Average
annual season property
London
ticket (£)
price (£)
in minutes
ALAMY
Picturesque: the
small village of
Godmanchester
features period
homes along the
River Great Ouse
# !
Spotlight on
King’s Cross:
turn to Page 36
10
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Second homes
homesandproperty.co.uk with
:
A PLACE TO STAY
BARNSLEY HOUSE
Barnsley House is an 18-room
hotel, 10 minutes from Cirencester,
where traditional 17th-century
Cotswolds architecture combines
with modern and comfortable
interiors. Stand-out service
without any stuffiness, just
90 minutes from Hammersmith,
means that nearly 90 per cent of
guests are from London, says
general manager Michele Mella.
“The Cotswolds has upped its
game, with a strong local organic
food movement and some excellent
pubs with rooms opening,” he says.
“The luxury market is still buoyant,
but has had to adapt. It’s about
great service and comfort in an
informal, beautiful place.”
The hotel design is by Londonbased Martin Hulbert, who has
created calm, elegant interiors
based on natural colours. The
garden’s 11 acres include four of
formal planting by renowned garden
designer Rosemary Verey, who lived
at Barnsley House in the Fifties.
Rates start at £300 per room per
night, including breakfast.
O Barnsley House: visit barnsley
house.com (01285 740000).
O Martin Hulbert Design: visit
martinhulbertdesign.com
Elegant: the designer interiors
£365,000: a three-bedroom cottage in picturesque
Bourton-on-the Water. Call Butler Sherborn (01451 830731)
S
TONE cottages, slate roofs,
village pubs and countryside
pursuits have always attracted
Londoners looking for a rural
home. Just two hours west of
the capital, among gentle folds of green
countryside, the Cotswolds meets all
those requirements.
While traditional, this piece of England is certainly not stuffy, says Sam
Butler, of estate agents Butler Sherborn. “The Cotswolds is relaxed and
has moved with the times,” he adds.
With excellent schools, attractive cities
including Oxford, Bath and Cheltenham and swift access to the capital by
road and rail, there is a clear trend for
Londoners switching their main home
to the Cotswolds and keeping a pied-àterre in town, says Butler.
£985,000: Dowdeswell Place, a fine listed manor between
Northleach and Cheltenham. Call Savills (01242 548000)
£650,000: pretty Gilly Flower Cottage,
near Stroud (Butler Sherborn as before)
Traditional or modern, the choice is yours in the Cotswolds, a top
spot for commuters and holiday home buyers. By Cathy Hawker
Everything you
could wish for
BRIMMING WITH CHARACTER
The Cotswolds reaches towards Broadway in the north, Cotswold Water Park
to the south, Cheltenham to the west
and Burford to the east. Regency Cheltenham and the Roman town of
Cirencester, with its market square and
independent shops, are popular.
Prices peak in small valleys, including
the Coln, Windrush, Evenlode and
Churn. Eastleach, Heythrop and
Southrop carry a premium, along with
Bledington. Expect to pay from
£350,000 for a three-bedroom semidetached cottage and £900,000-plus
for a four- or five-bedroom detached
house in just less than an acre of land.
Grander homes, with 10 or more acres,
start from £2.5 million.
A four-bedroom listed stone cottage
with many period features near Stowon-the-Wold is £460,000, while a threebedroom 17th-century cottage in
Windrush is £565,000, both through
From £500,000: new waterside
homes at gated Lower Mill Estate,
Cotswold Water Park, with shared
pools, tennis courts, a gym and
spa (lowermillestate.com)
Butler Sherborn. A larger five-bedroom
house in Lechlade, painstakingly
restored, is £850,000 through Savills.
LETTING OPPORTUNITIES
Cotswold Water Park, with more than
150 lakes and protected wildlife,
provides secure gated environments,
with activities and facilities on tap.
Lower Mill Estate opened in 1996
and today has 325 owners across its
eight lakes. Owners buy a plot and
build their own home, with completed
prices from £500,000. Most owners
do not let their homes, but those who
do can earn £3,000 a week for a fouror five-bedroom house. Facilities
include indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, a spa and gym and fishing
and children’s play areas. Annual service charges average £3,200 plus VAT.
12
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property London life
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Regent Street?
Now that’s a
good address
W
£1,000 a week: a two-bedroom flat
with porter in Maddox Street, W1
O homesandproperty.co.uk/moxrent
£3.5 million: a two-bedroom flat at
Verge Apartments, in Dering Street
O homesandproperty.co.uk/dering
£1,200 a week: a three-bedroom
sixth-floor flat in Sackville Street, W1
O homesandproperty.co.uk/sack
ITH its flagship shops
for Karl Lagerfeld,
Burberry, Michael
Ko r s a n d App l e ,
Regent Street has
become a luxury shopping destination
to rival Paris’s Champs-Élysées or New
York’s Fifth Avenue, but it is also at the
heart of a thriving city village.
Some people are lucky enough to live
in the street itself, while many more
have found homes in the cobbled lanes,
quiet mews and newly created courtyards tucked away behind Regent
Street’s grandly sweeping terraces,
built to a plan by John Nash in 1825.
The “parish” of Regent Street has a
church with a primary school close by,
a doctors surgery and a cobbler’s.
There is a Whole Foods shop for groceries and John Lewis has a Waitrose.
Berwick Street food market is less than
five minutes away. “Regent Street has
everything for day-to-day living,” says
Nasa Hadadi, an investment manager
for Genii Capital, who lives in neighbouring Swallow Street.
The Apple store — in the former Hanover Chapel — has its own theatre and
has staged gigs by acts including REM,
while the Kaiser Chiefs have played
Christopher Bailey’s Burberry store.
And now the street has its own cinema. Following a multimillion-pound
restoration, the 200-seat Regent Street
Cinema has just opened at number 309
— where moving pictures were first
shown almost 120 years ago by the
Lumière brothers. Architects have
preserved the original plasterwork,
cornicing and barrel-vaulted ceiling,
while creating a state-of-the-art auditorium for red-carpet film premieres,
lectures and seminars.
It is just the latest stage in the Crown
Estate’s £1 billion regeneration of
Regent Street, which stretches 1.2 miles
and, along with its shops, has a million
square feet of office space rented by an
impressive list of blue-chip tenants.
Office workers in the area have been
joined by 5,000 BBC staff in Broadcasting House at the top of the street.
As the main landlord, the Crown
Estate has been coaxing more people
to live in and around Regent Street by
encouraging the conversion of former
commercial space into new homes.
Japanese student Hiroka Miyama, 26,
who has just finished an MA at Regent’s
University, also lives in Swallow Street.
“It’s walking distance from everywhere. And it feels incredibly safe and
quiet walking home at 2am,” she says.
Her top-floor flat has two bedrooms
and two bathrooms, a living room and
a skylight overlooking the curve of
Regent Street, for £1,000 per week.
Flats are rented from the Crown
Estate. “We furnish them all and dress
them differently, depending on the
location,” says Bradley Williams, of
Regent Street Management Direct, the
managing agent. A split-level apartment in Hanover Street, with two
Star attraction: gigs have been held in
Apple’s European flagship store
ALAMY
Top brand: high-end US fashion store
J Crew is a recent Regent Street arrival
This famously elegant street is linked to secret
courtyards and lanes now filled with homes
for young Londoners, says Liz Hoggard
13
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
London life Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
From £615
a week: the
latest residential
additions to
the area are
14 smart
balconied flats
at Shaftesbury’s
Carnaby Court,
part of a fresh
district emerging
around Kingly
Street and
Carnaby Street,
with many new
shops, cafés,
bars and
restaurants
Open for
business:
Regent Street
caters for
shoppers and
tourists with
traffic-free days
and pop-up
markets
shoppers, there is a “secret” gin bar
upstairs at Hackett.
The “gateways” to Regent Street,
Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus
have also been upgraded, while the site
of the old Regent Palace Hotel has been
turned into the Quadrant building,
housing 2,000 workers. On top of the
building are eight apartments. Below
is Parisian-style café Brasserie Zedel,
with its restored Art Deco interiors.
Regent Street attracts the art crowd,
with new galleries from Sadie Coles,
Hauser & Wirth and Blain|Southern.
The Crown Estate has commissioned
13 pieces of public art and is producing
an art walking tour of the area.
For Hadadi, it is home: “I live on the
top floor, so it is quiet, with great views
across the city.”
An exceptional new collection of 1 & 2 bedroom
apartments woven into the heart of Islington
ALAMY
double bedrooms, two bathrooms, a
study and a spacious reception/dining
area, is £1,550 a week. A penthouse in
Sackville Street — two double bedrooms, two bathrooms and an openplan reception — is £1,050 a week.
There are 18 more modestly priced
flats in Albany House at 324 Regent
Street, where rooms have the feel of a
traditional London townhouse. Expect
to pay £400-£500 a week for a onebedroom flat and up to £2,000 a week
for a two-bedroom flat. Regent Street
Management Direct has also unveiled
six flats in Mortimer Street, just off
Oxford Circus, aimed at BBC workers.
More than £25 million has been
invested in and around Regent Street,
anticipating Crossrail’s arrival in 2018
— with stations at Tottenham Court
Road and Bond Street, and a station
exit planned for Hanover Square. Two
pedestrianised food quarters have
been created, and there are pop-ups,
markets and traffic-free days. Chefs
Jason Atherton, Gordon Ramsay and
Angela Hartnett are leading a “backstreet” foodie revolution, and for tired
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Register your interest
Fine dining: chefs Angela Hartnett,
Jason Atherton and Gordon Ramsay are
leading a “backstreet” foodie revolution
in areas such as Heddon Street
)...$.,$.,)$.
16
Homes & Property Design
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
homesandproperty.co.uk with
By Katie Law
S
EBASTIAN COX transforms
sustainable British timbers,
such as coppiced hazel, into
beautiful furniture and
accessories. Since 2010 the
furniture designer has run his own
Woolwich-based studio.
MY HOME
I live in a one-bedroom flat with my
girlfriend, Brogan, in Deptford, right
by the river with views from the
London Eye and Big Ben to the City.
The landmarks stay, but the view is
always changing. The weather means
no two days look the same. From our
windows, I can watch the rain roll in
and the sunshine burn off the city
fog. I’m incredibly lucky to have
this view.
We moved in two years ago and, at
that point, I discovered that my
ancestor, John Cox, lived in the same
street in 1794 and plied his trade as a
waterman, rowing people from one
side of the Thames to the other, right
outside what is now our front door. I
feel a great sense of place at home,
My design London
SEBASTIAN COX
Shaping the future: Sebastian Cox
takes time out at his Woolwich studio
FURNITURE DESIGNER
knowing he trod the same streets and
earned his living from the river that
flows by my flat, to Woolwich where
my workshop is.
Abstriacticus. I repinned them into a
new frame. Our house is incredibly
modern but creative, colourful and
representative of our personalities
and interests.
MY STYLE
Our home is decorated with William
Morris fabrics, lovely geometric
Eleanor Pritchard cushions from
Heal’s on our sofa, piles of books on
sustainability and design, colourful
rugs and lots of prototype furniture,
as well as my aunts’ prints, paintings
by artist Heidi Plant and unusual
maps, plus framed pictures and
postcards. In pride of place are some
very old taxidermied butterflies. I
picked them up for about £5 from
an oddly charming little shop in
Deptford Broadway, SE8, called
FAVOURITE THING
My vinyl record collection
would be top of the list —
music is really important to
me. It started out with
wanting to have a copy of my
five favourite albums when I
was 22. As my list of “favourite
albums” has changed, the
collection has grown. I buy vinyl
Favourite thing: Rough Trade, Brick
Lane, is a key source for Sebastian’s
treasured vinyl record collection
from Flashback Records in Islington,
Casbah Records in Greenwich and,
of course, Rough Trade in Brick
Lane.
17
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
Design Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Best design shop: ceramicist Billy Lloyd goes to work on a
new creation at his studio in Iliffe Yard, Kennington
Luxury at home:
Le Creuset pans,
left, both look
and act the part
when it comes to
slow cooking
Money no object:
A sought-after
D-Type jag,
below, with its
distinctive fin,
would cost about
£2 million
My style indoors: Sebastian loves Eleanor Pritchard’s geometric cushions, sold
in Heal’s. His secret escape is to St Nicholas’s churchyard near his Deptford home
a dramatic fin that projects
backwards from the driver’s head,
and it makes a fantastic sound. It was
the fastest car in the Fifties when
British design and engineering were
among the best in the world. My dad
restores vintage cars, mostly Jaguars
— I’ve definitely caught the bug. I love
the history of classic cars. You can
repair or restore them and, in doing
so, thoroughly understand the
evolution of car design.
LAST WORD IN LUXURY
Cooking with my Le Creuset pans.
They represent cooking slow meals.
I can dip in and out of the process
and do other things, call my mum
and put on a record. Le Creuset is
made to last, functionally and
aesthetically. I’d like the Classic
Cast Iron Grillits. A worthwhile
investment at about £100 each.
BEST DESIGN SHOP
My favourite way to shop is one
that lets me see the making process,
which adds to the story of everything
I buy. So I would pop over to
ceramicist Billy Lloyd’s studio and
buy something. I recently got a
special cup and saucer from him,
which I love.
MONEY NO OBJECT
TALENTED NEW DESIGNER
I would buy an original Jaguar
D-type, which would cost about
£2 million. It has beautiful lines with
I think you should keep your eye on
designer Phil Cuttance. He has a
fantastic eye for detail. He works in
Talented new designer: Phil Cuttance
produces beautiful faceted vases
Lazy Sunday: The Garrison in Bermondsey Street for Eggs Royale for brunch
FAVOURITE RESTAURANT
resin, making incredible faceted
vases and lampshades and hosts
wonderful casting workshops for
£80 a person in Crouch End.
SECRET ESCAPE
St Nicholas’s churchyard, near me in
Deptford. It’s where my ancestor was
christened and the playwright
Christopher Marlowe is buried. I feel
connected to the history of London
and my family’s small part of that
when I’m there. It is so peaceful.
The last time I was there I saw a
magnificent jay and goldfinches
flitting around in the trees.
I love the new pop-up dining
experience Tentacle SE8. The chef,
Olivia Bennett, formerly worked for
Bompas & Parr but recently set up
her own eatery, creating wonderful
seafood dinners in celebration of
“what the water gave us”.
For £40, everyone sits around
one table with sharing platters of
incredible food, their own bottle
of wine and gets to know one
another.
I’d recommend Maddy’s Fish Bar in
New Cross. It is everything you want
fish and chips to be — comforting,
greedy and delicious. For about
£12 you can have the fresh catch
of the day, from Dorset, in a light
tempura-esque, gluten-free batter,
served with a delicious cabbage
slaw, minted peas and the thickest,
creamiest tartare sauce I have
ever had.
LAZY LONDON SUNDAY
A relaxing day would start at about
8am with coffee, listening to Radio 4.
Occasionally, for a treat, I’ll cycle
out for brunch. The Garrison in
Bermondsey Street does a beautiful
Eggs Royale and is just the other side
of Southwark Park. Paying a visit to
the new Meantime Brewery in
Greenwich is on my list of many
things to do.
APARTMENTS WHERE
CONTEMPORARY CHIC
MEETS WAREHOUSE
AUTHENTICITY
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20
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Reader promotion
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Quirky canine
floor lamp will be
your best friend
ANIMAL-INSPIRED lamps from
Iconic Lights are quirky and fun. At
82cm tall, the large Modern Sitting
Dog with Cone Shade floor lamp is an
accurate life-size replica of a dog.
Iconic Lights is offering 20 per cent
off its entire range until next Tuesday,
reducing the lamp, right, to £60 from
£75. To claim, visit iconiclights.co.uk
or call 0161 837 6092 and quote
ICONICFRIEND at checkout. All
lights come with free delivery.
Similar items are available
in this range, including a
matching table lamp.
Parasols have it made in the shade
Bargain
Barg
Bargai
arga
rga
gain
g
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ain ne
ne
GEAR up for summer in style with the
Lotus, above, and Geisha parasols
from One Regent Place.
Currently on offer at £79.99, they
come with an oriental touch and in a
variety of vibrant colours to suit any
garden. The unique Lotus parasol
features a double canopy, while
the multifaceted Geisha is an
eye-catching design. Each has a
crank handle and a push-button tilt.
To claim, visit oneregentplace.co.uk
or call 020 7087 2900 (Monday to
Friday) before next Monday.
Alison
Cork
Make an entrance
THE Aurelia mirrored and chrome
dressing console from my-furniture.
co.uk features high-quality bevelled
mirror finishing and two drawers on
steel chrome-plated legs. Ideal for
any hallway or bedroom, it has
matching bedside tables available to
buy separately. Readers can claim a
£20 discount, reducing the price of
the console to £179.99, with free UK
mainland delivery. To order, visit my
-furniture.co.uk or call 0800 092 1636
and quote MYAURA before June 14.
Table’s
simply
stylish
PAINTED in French grey,
the Hampton side table
from Within is simple, sleek
and hand-carved in solid
mango wood. It would
look lovely next to Within’s
Fitzgerald armchair, too.
Set up perfect alfresco dining
Readers can claim 15 per
cent off, taking the price
from £145 to only £123.25.
To claim, visit withinhome.
com/hamp or call 020 7087
2900 and quote HAMP15
before June 23.
THE LA two-seat bistro set
by Maze Living is ideal
for small gardens. Its
weatherproof curved
rattan chairs and table can
be left outside year-round,
and come with a five-year
guarantee. While the price
is already reduced from
£399 to £349, readers can
receive a further £50 off by
using code ESBN50 at
mazeliving.co.uk or by
calling 01440 710 673.
O The companies listed here are wholly independent of the Evening Standard. Care is taken to establish that they are bona fide, but we recommend that you carry out your own checks prior to purchases and use a credit card
where possible. To offer feedback on any of these companies, email homesandproperty@standard.co.uk with “Bargain News” in the subject line. For more bargains, visit alisonathome.com or homesandproperty.co.uk/offers.
“
24
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Exhibition
homesandproperty.co.uk with
T
FLAMBOYANT JEWELS
THE WADDESDON BEQUEST. © THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Bold, black cabinets hold glittering
rock crystal, pure gold, diamonds,
emeralds and miniature carvings in
boxwood that, under the terms of the
bequest, have to be shown together in
one room.
Most items date to the 16th and 17th
centuries, but there are a few funerary
handles from the third century BC in
superb condition that look just like
bronze door knockers.
The collection also included masterfully faked 19th-century pieces, so fine
that it is hard to tell the difference,
particularly among the flamboyant
of the Rothschilds is a classic rags-toriches story. They escaped the Jewish
ghetto in Frankfurt to create an international banking dynasty.
By the end of the 19th century the
family, whose surname is a byword for
unimaginable wealth, controlled a rail
network, a global mining industry and
invested in art. Ferdinand became a
British citizen in 1860.
Delicate touch:
a curator
installs
items from the
Waddesdon
Bequest in a
new gallery at
the British
Museum
KEEN ON PROVENANCE
There’s fakery and fun
How a Rothschild dressed for a party. By Philippa Stockley
PA
REASURES beyond your
wildest dreams. That’s the
only way to describe the
contents of the British
Museum’s latest display, the
Waddesdon Bequest, showing 265
medieval and Renaissance pieces
c o l l e c t e d by B a ro n Fe rd i n a n d
Rothschild in the 19th century.
The beautiful collection was left to
the museum by the banking heir on his
death in 1898. He had inherited part of
the collection from his father, Baron
Anselm Rothschild, and originally displayed it at his country home, Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire.
The bequest is being presented anew
from next Thursday in a purpose-built
gallery which was once a library used
by novelists Charles Dickens and William Thackeray. Fitted out for an undisclosed sum by the Rothschild family, it
has been designed by architects
Stanton Williams.
Renaissance jewels, some shaped like
mermaids and other fantastic creatures
with baroque pearls for their torsos.
Ferdinand enjoyed wearing them to
fancy-dress parties.
He also liked people to gasp at the
intricate detail of his superb
possessions. On his death he
was keen that they
should be seen by a wider
audience. The miniature carvings in boxwood are certainly
worth a look under a magnifying glass. Take the Boxwood
Tabernacle. A prayer aid,
its top opens in four petals to show the
Virgin Mary,
while the middle section contains a tiny
account of the Crucifixion and the
Resurrection in mind-boggling detail.
The gorgeous Lyte Jewel is an
exquisite enamel and diamond locket
holding an equally brilliant miniature
for James I, the first Stuart king of
England, produced by Nicholas
Hilliard in London in 1610. The tale
Dr Dora Thornton, curator of the
Waddesdon Bequest who has been
involved in creating the collection’s
new home since 2012, says: “Ferdinand
was very keen on provenance, and
bought from individuals such as
Horace Walpole.”
He bought two superb majolica vases
from Strawberry Hill in Twickenham,
Walpole’s Gothic fantasy home. Made
in Urbino, central Italy, the vases feature writhing snakes for handles and
luscious figurative painting.
There are brilliant vessels in rock
crystal, as perfect and magical as the
day they were painstakingly carved out
of single lumps of crystal 400 or more
years ago.
The silver-gilt drinking cups shaped
like animals must have amused
Ferdinand. The portly boar, whose
head comes off to reveal a cup, is an
absolute charmer, while one of his
companions, a deer, apparently still
smells of cherry brandy.
O The Waddesdon Bequest at the
British Museum opens on June 11. Visit
britishmuseum.org for details.
O From left: a turquoise glass goblet
from the late 15th century is enamelled
and gilded with pairs of lovers.
O A stunning 17th-century silver-gilt
boar cup — the head comes off to allow
the user to drink the contents.
O One of a pair of vases circa
1565-1571. Formerly owned by Horace
Walpole at Strawberry Hill, they are
made of tin-glazed ceramic.
O Miniature tabernacle and case
featuring boxwood, leather and gold
fittings circa 1510-1525. A prayer aid, it
opens like a flower to reveal a minute
carving with scenes from the life and
passion of Christ.
O A glass beaker, c1673. Adding
arsenic to the glass before firing gave it
a remarkable opalescent finish.
26
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Our home
homesandproperty
Souped up:
Charlotte and
Philip Colbert at
home in Jesus
Green near
Bethnal Green
We live in
an art house
A photographer and her fashion
designer husband stripped an
east London house to create their
pop art world. By Amira Hashish
C
Photographs::
Adrian Lourie
HARLOTTE and Philip Colbert
belong in a Woody Allen
movie. She is a photographer,
whose film noir works hang at
Mayfair’s Gazelli Art House.
She also dabbles in cinema with credits
including a new screenplay for Olivier
Dahan, director of La Vie en Rose.
Philip is a fashion designer who created
pop art label The Rodnik Band. André
Leon Talley, contributing editor of
American Vogue, described him as “the
godson of Andy Warhol”. Together,
Charlotte and Philip form a pow-tastic
couple with a knack for making cultural
projects commercial and fun.
“We first met in a massive warehouse
in Farringdon,” says Philip. “We had both
studied philosophy and Charlotte was
writing a script on Friedrich Nietzsche,
the German philosopher, composer and
poet, so luck was on my side when I
took her to his house in Switzerland to
impress her.” They married at St Bartholomew the Great in east London.
Philip wore a suit from his label decorated
with lobsters — it is the same three-piece
he pulled off at this year’s Vanity Fair
Oscars bash, where Charlotte sported a
gown inspired by a leg of ham.
Such eccentric ensembles aren’t
reserved for weddings and red carpet
occasions. At the couple’s Victorian terrace house in Jesus Green E2, Charlotte
is kitted out in a dress parodying a tin of
Campbell’s soup and Philip rocks a
Snoopy suit. That’s just how they roll.
I am welcomed with open arms and a
plate of biscuits by Charlotte, whose soft
French accent complements her kookiness. She grew up in France with her
socialite/journalist mother Laure Boulay
de la Meurthe. Her father is the late
Anglo-French billionaire financier and
tycoon, Sir James Goldsmith.
Now, home is “a strange Escher-type
building near Bethnal Green that used to
be a shop before the Second World War”.
I am ushered to the bright yellow submarine-style sofa in the living room,
which faces a shark armchair — one of
Philip’s furniture designs, for sale on
Made.com. Cactus and lobster-shaped
seats are a fun touch and the TV is hidden away in a giant popcorn stand.
“When we got the space it was quite
run-down and Charlotte did an art show
called A Day at Home, where she took
pictures of the house and staged scenes
of imagined domestic life with the backdrop of crumbling walls,” says Philip.
Prickly pair: cactus and lobster-shaped
chairs by The London Workshop
Favourite spot: the kitchen opens on to a
conservatory filled with beautiful plants
PEELING OFF THE PAPER
Once the show was complete, they
enlisted the help of friend Patrick
Williams, who runs architectural design
practice Berdoulat (berdoulat.co.uk).
“We stripped back the property to what
it would have been like before the Fifties
décor. Peeling off the wallpaper, we discovered the history of the people that had
lived there prior to us,” says Charlotte.
“The walls also shaped the overall colour scheme. There was an element of
surprise as to what we would find under
27
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
y.co.uk with
Our home Homes & Property
Artistic licence: the design for a paint palette table was conceived during breakfast
Surreal at the
seaside: left, the
shark armchair
makes a wacky
match with the
submarine sofa
and the popcorn
television cabinet
the peeled paper.” As well as revealing
cuttings from old newspapers, they found
colour, a sort of Thirties yellow. “We left
the rest as apparent plaster. We kept the
original floorboards upstairs, which we
painted a grey/blue colour, and downstairs we used reclaimed boards.”
They describe the style as romantic
nostalgia reminiscent of the French
countryside merged with bold, surreal
touches. “It is old-world vibe meets
graphic humour,” adds Philip.
There are three storeys and three bedrooms. Making extra space, they knocked
down and pushed back walls to form
mezzanine levels that double up as reading nooks or sleepover pods for after-parties. The lower ground floor is Philip’s
workspace, where he has hosted gigs for
friends such as pop singer Kate Nash.
The ground-floor kitchen opens on to
Charlotte’s favourite spot, a conservatory filled with beautiful plants and a
dining table. The upstairs master bedroom is a mash-up of Mexican rugs,
gramophones and antiques. Trinkets
from their travels fill shelves and walls.
“We stayed one night in this small and
legendary hotel in the South of France
called La Colombe d’Or, where Pablo
Cactus- and lobster-shape
seats are a fun touch, while
the television is hidden away
in a giant popcorn box
Picasso, Fernand Léger, César Baldaccini
and Georges Braque would all go,” says
Charlotte. “It is filled with pieces they
left there, often for payment for meals
when they were poor, making it a living
art house. We wanted to bring a bit of
that magic back to our pad, so I made
the stained-glass window above our
front door with glass master Anthony
Bristow. Philip designed the fox wallpaper in our bathroom with Katja Behre,
who runs homeware brand Elli Popp.”
LOVING THOSE LOBSTERS
Friends Alfred and Tess from furniture
maker The London Workshop created
many of the original pieces, such as a
paint palette table, “from sketches
drawn up while eating slices of toast at
breakfast”. Prop-maker Tess Gammel
also chipped in to paint some pieces.
Pottery shapes were created by art
dealer and ex-Burberry model Harry
Scrymgeour. “I’ve bought a kiln and we
are planning on creating our own mini
series called The Lobster Pottery,” says
Philip. A colourful Niki de Saint Phalle
sculpture and a Karel Appel painting
Continued on page 28
28
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Our home
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Bold touches: far left, a multicoloured
duvet lifts a bedroom; left, the pair’s
prized Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture
‘We wanted to bring a
bit of magic to our pad’
Continued from page 27
are the couple’s most treasured art
pieces. Pendant lights hang from the
ceilings — “we found a box-load of
industrial shades at a flea market and
thought they were quite amazing”.
They are teamed with lamps from Dickinson’s Period House Shops (periodhouseshops.com).
The space is always evolving. In their
spare time, the Colberts potter around
Old Spitalfields Market and Golborne
Road, or peruse Lassco in Vauxhall for
antiques and salvage items. Petersham
Nurseries is the go-to place for plants
and Columbia Road Flower Market is
conveniently round the corner from
O therodnik
band.com
O charlotte
colbert.com
Photographs::
Adrian Lourie
them. Other highly recommended
hangouts include The Gallery Café in
Old Fort Road, a vegan café that supports charity projects, and Leila’s Shop,
a community café in Arnold Circus.
“E Pellicci’s in Bethnal Green Road is
a must,” says Charlotte. “Run by Nev
and his sister Ana, it is a staple that
makes everyone feel at home around a
gorgeous dish of cannelloni cooked by
their mum from the open kitchen.”
As we say goodbye, I am inspired to
sample these hidden gems. But for
all of east London’s hip haunts, something tells me that finding another
space as surreal as Charlotte and
Philip’s wacky, wonderful world will
be no easy feat.
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29
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
Events Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
1
2
4
5
3
Five things to see in June
1 SPIRIT OF SUMMER FAIR
AND HOUSE EVENT
June 17-20, Grand Hall, Olympia
Exhibition Centre, W14 (spiritof
summerfair.co.uk; 0844 412 4623)
THE new House event is a heavierweight companion to Olympia’s
popular Spirit of Summer fair, with
its fashion, gifts and food. House has
100 home design exhibitors, from big
brands to small specialists. Taking
centre stage is a Georgian show home
by designer April Russell, but don’t
miss stand A9 and the Safari collection
of wallpapers from London-based
designer Juliet Travers, pictured.
Tickets cost £16 (adult); £8 (ages
13 to 16); free for under-12s. Use code
HSE2 for a 15 per cent discount.
By Barbara Chandler
2 RHS HAMPTON COURT
PALACE FLOWER SHOW
June 30-July 5, tickets from £13 to
£36 (rhs.org.uk/hamptoncourt)
THE world’s biggest annual flower
show celebrates its 25th year with a
large maze, a turf sculpture and giant
floral birthday cake. As well as the
main show gardens, Festival of Roses
and Floral Marquee with its 90 plant
nurseries, there will be conceptual
gardens and an RHS community
street feature in the Inspire zone,
historic gardens in the Grow zone
and the popular cookery theatre and
food stands in the Feast zone.
PB
3 RE-WORK IT: CHAIRS
FOR THE ART ROOM
Until June 14, Selfridges, Oxford Street,
W1 (selfridges.com)
HERE is a jaw-dropping display — a
cascade of chairs in the atrium of the
largest store in Oxford Street. It is the
work of 90 celebrities, architects,
artists and designers, each invited to
transform a simple chair. The results
are beautiful, witty, provocative
and/or surreal. Spot Paul Smith’s
Sunshine Chair, Patrick Hughes’s
rainbow print, pictured, and Cara
Delevingne’s Together slogan. There
is also an online auction in aid of The
Art Room, which helps young people
through art therapy, at paddle8.com/
auction/TheArtRoom.
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5 AFFORDABLE ART HAMPSTEAD
4 OLYMPIA INTERNATIONAL
ART & ANTIQUES FAIR
June 18-28, Olympia, W14 (olympiaart-antiques.com; 0115 896 0269)
THIS huge fair, in its 43rd year, is set
to attract 30,000 visitors. They will
find 160 specialist dealers parading
high-quality vetted art and sculpture
to 20th century classic movie art
such as the Italian poster for Caccia al
Ladro (To Catch a Thief ), pictured.
Tickets for preview day on June 18
cost £100, and from £15 for other
days, with a two-for-one offer for
readers online and on the door with
code EVESTAND2015.
June 11-14, Lower Fairground Site,
East Heath Road, Hampstead NW3
(affordableartfair.co.uk)
CHOOSE well at this fun show and
get a classy finishing touch for your
home. Browse a marquee hosting
more than 100 galleries, with a mix
of genres and artists. Prices start at
£100, with a cut-off point of £5,000.
The best work from new graduates
is curated by Made in Arts London.
We love this surreal take on Battersea
Power Station with miniature people
by Roy’s People for the Curious
Duke Gallery, pictured. Tickets cost
from £10. Readers can get two tickets
for the price of one online by quoting
code EveningStandard.
32
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Outdoors
Get the
bright
stuff
Paint garden
walls and chairs
to match your
flowers
BENNET SMITH/MMGI/DESIGN CHRIS BEARDSHAW
B
OLD, vibrant colour transforms an outdoor space like
nothing else can. Choose a
paint shade with punch for
tired garden furniture and,
at a brush stroke, you give the whole
garden a lift.
Amid safe pastel planting, for
instance, a pair of fire engine-red chairs
looks spectacular — Little Greene’s
Atomic Red in Estate Emulsion fits the
bill. Alternatively, find six sizzling
colours — including scarlet, turquoise
and sunshine yellow — of Adirondack
chairs, those handsome American
slatted wood outdoor armchairs, at
countryfieldgardens.co.uk. These are,
however, made of recycled plastic,
are UV resistant, and won’t need
repainting. You can also bring overwrought metal café tables and chairs
into the 21st century — and get rid of
the rust at the same time — with Hammerite’s Direct To Rust Metal Paint in
luscious Rhubarb Compote, which will
do more for your patio than regulation
dark green or grime-gathering white.
If you’re planting up containers,
include a few glazed pots that will make
your displays twice as vibrant — a
glazed turquoise pot teamed with
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Pattie
Barron
Mood indigo: paint a wall a strong, clean colour and you create a great backdrop that suggests exciting plant possibilities
MARIANNE MAJERUS
purple petunias, a lavender longtom
making rose-pink calibrachoa all
the rosier — see Kew planters at
terraceandgarden.nordicshops.com.
Alternatively, paint cheap-as-chips
terracotta flowerpots with Cuprinol’s
Garden Shades tester pots, available in
a wide matte palette from lime and
olive to raspberry and navy iris.
Paint the patio or garden wall a
strong, clean colour and you open up
a world of enticing possibilities — a
burgundy potted acer with a backdrop
of pale pink, a scarlet-flowered Japanese quince against lemon. In front of
a cool blue wall on a London terrace,
landscape designer Christopher Bradley-Hole planted a grove of violet
bearded irises, thus intensifying both
High drama: sumptous shades of deep
purple lupins add impact
colours. Instead of pulling out the living
room cushions, invest in deckchair
stripes with a dash of Deauville. Find
RE’s French canvas cushions in primary brights at re-foundobjects.com,
or check out Kirkby Design’s new
Terrazzo range of water-repellent outdoor fabrics in zingy stripes, chevrons
and basketweaves, at dcch.co.uk.
Throw a bold-striped canvas runner
from RE down the patio dining table
and, believe me, nobody will notice the
jasmine hasn’t flowered.
One fabulous plant colour won’t
make the garden sing, but put two or
three great shades together — in one
small group, or with bold colour
blocking — and you’ve got a whole
rhythm section. Chelsea Flower Show
was full of great colour combos
this year, including the chartreuse
green of euphorbia with the purple of
flowering sage, colours which translate
well to containers too, with, say,
acid-green golden marjoram teamed
with purple petunias. Matthew
Wilson’s tangy choice for Royal Bank
of Canada was Euphorbia Fens Ruby
with sage Salvia Caradonna.
From these striking bass notes, it’s a
simple matter to add highlights of
bright orange from Geum Totally Tangerine, which Adam Frost on the
Homebase garden contrasted with
taller crimson Cirsium Atropurpureum. In the Sentebale garden, Matt
Keightley contrasted grey-green grasses
with bright orange perennial wallflower, Erysimum Apricot Twist. In the
L’Occitane garden, a scattering of
scarlet poppies throughout the space
provided a great colour pop, while
burgundy rose Chianti made a luscious
counterpoint to apricot foxgloves.
Designers love to use rich shades to
create drama, and we all can, in the
simplest way. For example, purple
lupins, everywhere at Chelsea this year,
needed just a tall, slate planter to show
them off at Capital Garden Products, and
in the Morgan Stanley Healthy Cities
Garden, Chris Beardshaw gave them a
perfect supporting cast of crimson
Cirsium and sugar pink Verbascum.
O Garden queries? Email our RHS expert
at: expert gardeningadvice@gmail.com
O For outdoor events this month, visit
homesandproperty.co.uk/events
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36
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Property searching
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Spotlight King’s Cross
T
£650,OOO
A ONE-BEDROOM garden flat in
Wharton Street, WC1, with goodsize rooms and its own entrance.
Through Hamptons International.
homesandproperty.co.uk/whart
£849,950
A MODERN third-floor flat with two
en suite bedrooms and a balcony in
Acton Street, WC1, would make an
ideal city home. Through Foxtons.
homesandproperty.co.uk/actst
£5 MILLION
A DETACHED three-bedroom house is
for sale in Flaxman Terrace, WC1, on
Bloomsbury’s edge. Grade II-listed,
it has large rooms, an additional loft
space and a generous rear terrace.
Through Stones.
homesandproperty.co.uk/flax
HIS has got to be London’s
biggest transformation
story. In just six years,
King’s Cross has gone from
a shabby, grim district to
avoid, to being the hottest property
ticket in town.
The numbers say it all — there are now
2,000 new homes, 67 acres of derelict
land reclaimed, 50 new buildings,
20 new streets, 20 heritage buildings
restored, 10 new public squares,
26 acres of open space and even a
new postcode, N1C. This newly emerging neighbourhood has risen, phoenixlike, from what were the old railway
badlands behind King’s Cross station.
Now it is a vibrant district, energised by
the fashion, design, art and media students of Central Saint Martins college,
making the area lively and stylish.
Granary Square, with its fountains
and restaurants, has already become
a favourite new destination. The backdrop is the Victorian Granary Building
that became the home of Central Saint
Martins, part of the University of the
Arts London, four years ago.
Much has already been achieved
since outline planning permission was
granted in 2006. The Great Northern
Hotel has been restored and reopened,
the buildings next to Granary Square
now house the Art Fund and the House
of Illustration, there are new social
and student housing developments,
and offices have been let to major
companies including Google, Havas
and Louis Vuitton.
There is also plenty more to come.
Opening soon is an £18 million flagship
Waitrose store and cookery school,
while the landmark German Gymnasium will house a new restaurant. The
historic Coal Drops are being converted
into a new retail precinct called Coal
Drops Yard, while the Grade II-listed
Gasholder No.8 will become a park.
Gasholders 10, 11 and 12 are being
restored and will house a series of
A great
success
story is
right on
trend
It took six years and
some seriously good
design to turn this
grim place around,
says Anthea Masey
modern flats. In the meantime, the
famous KERB street food market has a
new home in Lewis Cubitt Square on
the western side of the Granary Building. It lies close to the new outdoor
swimming pond, the only natural public swimming pool in London purified
with plants rather than chlorine.
WHAT THERE IS TO BUY
There is a mix of early Victorian houses
between York Way, Caledonian Road
and Pentonville Road, as well as on the
Lloyd Baker estate south of Pentonville
Road and east of King’s Cross Road.
Converted Victorian houses and tenement flats are found in the roads and
squares south of Euston Road. You can
also find estates of council houses —
HAVE YOUR SAY KING’S CROSS
@iamfabish So many great places in
Kings X but @rotundalondon and
@GandFCafe are my go-to places for a
relaxing drink
@brandmcqueen Check out the
hidden gem @rotundalondon for a
lovely canalside view
@chrisjwalker84 Without doubt
dinner & drinks @rotundalondon and
coffee & cake from @GandFCafe
@ILGouldy Simmonds happy hour(s) is
fun. Grain Store with outdoor bar
@Barchetta66 Lived here for 18 yrs.
Best tip would be coffee from the best
coffee cart in LDN — from the boys at
@Noble_Esp at KX station.
@Izybella1 Best coffee bar
@HarrisAndHoole Caledonian Road
@ChloeFletcher_x @lunchTimeLondon
is the best café in #KingsCross by far
NEXT WEEK: Abbey Wood. Do
you live there? Tell us what
you think @HomesProperty
To find a home in King’s Cross, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/kingscross
For more about King’s Cross, visit homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightkingscross
F
1, 2 AND 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS AND PENTHOUSES, PRICES FROM £659,950*
DISCOVER MORE | LONDONDOCK.CO.UK | 020 3773 3679
Computer generated image is indicative only. *Price correct at time of going to press.
37
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
homesandproperty.co.uk with
GRAHAM HUSSEY
Clockwise from right: The Big Chill
House bar and club, Pentonville Road;
Philip Litanzios, owner of 2K Mirror
UK; fun in Granary Square fountains;
the square’s canalside steps
Creative: Central Saint Martins students
bring colourful vitality to King’s Cross
most notably the Priory Green estate
designed by Tecton, the mid-century
firm led by Berthold Lubetkin — and
converted warehouses. The latter have
been occupied by pioneers such as
photographer David Bailey and inventor Sir Clive Sinclair in the time before
King’s Cross underwent its major
transformation.
SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS
Walk along the concourse of St Pancras
station and you will find plenty of
shops and cafés, including a John Lewis
gift store and Cath Kidston, Fat Face,
LK Bennett, Fortnum & Mason, Searcys
Champagne Bar and Searcys St Pancras
Grand brasserie.
Sitting outside one of the restaurants
in Granary Square on a sunny day
watching children splashing in the
fountains is a joyful experience, but
you can also find delight in the wide
range of eateries on offer. Marcus Wareing’s The Gilbert Scott brasserie and bar
serves British classics at the St Pancras
Renaissance Hotel, while Caravan is an
all-day Antipodean restaurant, a larger
branch of the Exmouth Market favourite,
and Chef Bruno Loubet’s Grain Store
specialises in vegetable-inspired dishes
without being especially vegetarian.
Tea lovers can have tea — any type —
and cake at a branch of the small
Yumchaa chain, while round the corner
in Stable Street there is Dishoom, which
draws inspiration from the Irani café
culture of Thirties Bombay.
Wine bar Vinoteca has recently opened
a branch in Battle Bridge Place, while
Australian chef Bill Granger’s Granger &
Co opens soon. At Plum & Spilt Milk, the
restaurant in the restored Great Northern
Hotel, Michelin-star TV chef Mark
Sargeant devises the menu.
It is easy to get sucked into all the new
openings in the King’s Cross development, but it is also worth looking into the
streets beyond. In and around Caledonian Road, you will find an eclectic mix
of independent cafés and bars. They
include tapas bars, Camino and Bar
Pepito. Drink, Shop & Do is described as
a “café by day, bar by night and fun things
to do”, while TED restaurant stands for
Think, Eat, Drink and follows an ethical
and sustainable ethos.
The Driver is a gastropub and restaurant with a roof terrace and vertical
garden growing on its exterior walls,
while burger fans can get their fill at
Honest Burgers in Pentonville Road,
which is a branch of the eatery that
started life in Brixton Village. There are
surprising discoveries, too, in Amwell
Street on the Lloyd Baker estate, where
Scottish designers Timorous Beasties and
textile designers Wallace#Sewell are
joined by delicatessens Charlotte’s Fine
Foods and Myddeltons.
Council: King’s Cross mainly lies in
Camden, which is Labour-controlled.
Band D council tax for this year costs
£1,336.81. But some areas lie in Islington,
also Labour-controlled, with Band D
council tax for this year amounting to
£1,276.01.
Property searching Homes & Property
CHECK THE STATS
■WHAT HOMES COST
BUYING IN KING’S CROSS
(Average prices)
One-bedroom flat £659,000
Two-bedroom flat £979,000
Three-bedroom flat £2.62 million
Source: Zoopla
RENTING IN KING’S CROSS
(Average rates)
One-bedroom flat £1,880 a month
Two-bedroom flat £2,676 a month
Three-bedroom flat £3,250 a month
Source: Zoopla
GO ONLINE FOR MORE
O The best schools in and around
King’s Cross
O All the latest housing
developments in the area
O The best streets (not necessarily
the most expensive)
O Where to find outside and
sporting facilities
O Smart maps to plot your
property search
O How King’s Cross house prices
compare with the rest of the UK
Photographs: Daniel Lynch
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
At which King’s Cross station
platform does this trolley disappear
into a wall? Find the answer at
homesandproperty.co.uk/spotlightkingscross
40
if you’re in the market
for a London property,
we’re
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Ask the expert
Tell us how to exploit
our hidden depths
Q
LOTS of our friends have
recently added value to
their properties with a
basement conversion.
We’ve got a vault under our house
which we hardly use. We can’t
afford to convert it ourselves, but
think it could be a good selling
point when we eventually move.
The new owners wouldn’t need to
excavate as the space is already
there. However, the vault is not
shown on our title deeds. An estate
agent told us we should sort out
the paperwork before trying to
sell. We are the only people with
access to the vault. What do we
need to do?
A
IT’S not that difficult,
although you may wish to
instruct a solicitor to act for
you. Application needs to be
made to the Land Registry for title to
the vault to be registered.
Search the index map to ensure
the vault is not already registered.
A statutory declaration must be
prepared to support your application
OnTheMarket.com is the new simple
way to search hundreds of thousands
of properties.
More and more estate and letting
agents are moving all their properties
from other sites to OnTheMarket.com
and are advertising them exclusively
with us first.
So, for a head start in the hunt for
properties you won’t find anywhere
else, search OnTheMarket.com.
'" ""#""!""!" %"!"$"(&)%"""""%"
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! " Q
MY godfather left me a
penthouse flat in his will.
The property is currently
occupied by a tenant who
is due to leave in two months’ time.
My wife is pregnant and it would
be great to get a quick sale before
the baby arrives.
My godfather’s solicitor and I are
the executors, but he reckons we
can’t sell until probate is granted
and the tenant has gone. My wife
thinks this isn’t true and we can
sell now. Who is right?
A
THE flat can be marketed
before the grant of probate
is issued and when the tenant
is in occupation. Your
co-executor is being cautious.
Contracts cannot be exchanged
until the grant of probate is available,
but a suitable offer can be accepted
and the conveyancing process can
go ahead. Sometimes exchange of
WHAT’S
YOUR
PROBLEM?
IF YOU have a
question for
Fiona McNulty,
please email
legalsolutions@
standard.co.uk
or write to Legal
Solutions, Homes
& Property,
London Evening
Standard, 2 Derry
Street, W8 5EE.
We regret that
questions cannot
be answered
individually, but
we will try to
feature them
here. Fiona
McNulty is legal
director in the
real estate
team of Foot
Anstey LLP
(footanstey.com)
O These answers
can only be a
very brief
commentary on
the issues raised
and should not be
relied on as legal
advice. No
liability is
accepted for such
reliance. If you
have similar
issues, you
should obtain
advice from a
solicitor.
More legal
Q&As
Visit: homesand
property.co.uk
Fiona
McNulty
OUR LAWYER ANSWERS
YOUR QUESTIONS
for registration of title to the vault.
The declaration should explain all
the circumstances which confirm
you are entitled to the vault, such as
the length of time you have owned
the property, whether you have had
exclusive use of the vault, if anyone
has ever tried to stop you using it or
demanded rent for it from you.
Once prepared, the statutory
declaration must be sworn before a
solicitor — but not the one who
prepared it for you.
You are likely to be granted
possessory title rather than absolute
title as your application is based on
adverse possession.
Possessory title is granted if the
person claiming ownership cannot
produce documents of title to prove
ownership, as in your case where you
only have a statutory declaration.
contracts does take place when the
tenant is still in occupation, but on
the basis that the tenant will vacate
prior to completion.
This can be risky as problems arise
if the tenant fails to leave, which
means that the seller cannot give
vacant possession on completion.
To avoid this, contracts are not
exchanged until a tenant has vacated
the property — unless the buyer is
purchasing subject to the tenancy.
Remember that the tenant may not
be too keen to allow prospective
buyers to view the flat. Look at the
tenancy agreement to see if it
requires the tenant to allow access
for viewings.
Tell your co-executor you
understand his concerns, but wish to
progress the sale as much as possible
so that once the grant of probate is
issued and the tenant leaves,
contracts can be exchanged and the
sale completed.
42
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Inside story
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Enchanted by twinkling home of Peter Pan
MONDAY
Arriving at the office at 7.45am, I am
preparing myself for the frantic week
that lies ahead. I am off on holiday to
Norfolk next week with my wife and
three daughters, and no doubt I will be
taking plenty of unfinished work with
me.
It has been noticeably busier around
Notting Hill since the general election
a month ago. Confidence is certainly
back and we are receiving bids and
serious interest on properties that have
been for sale for a few months. These
are all good houses that had simply
been the victim of a nervous and
indecisive market.
What we must now be careful of is
an expectation gap that seems to be
opening between buyers and sellers.
Some vendors mistakenly think the
value of their home has rocketed since
the Tories won a majority and the
threat of a “mansion tax” on properties
of £2 million-plus vanished — but it
would be wrong to believe buyers have
any more cash to spend than they did
three weeks ago. I think I’m going to
have some awkward client conversations this week.
TUESDAY
A number of second viewings are
booked in at Leinster Corner, one of
the most exciting properties I have ever
been involved with. It was launched for
Diary of
an estate
agent
THURSDAY
Good news travels fast. I receive a call
first thing from an industry journalist
who has heard about an impressive
property we sold last month and wants
to run a story on it. It’s a substantial
and imposing 11,660sq ft end-of-terrace
house in Kensington Park Gardens, one
of the largest and most impressive
private houses to have been sold in
Notting Hill for several years. Sales like
this show that the upper end of the
market is very much alive for the most
exceptional properties in prime
addresses.
sale very recently and is an exceptional
place. The former home of author
JM Barrie, it is where he wrote Peter
Pan and has been in the same family
for five generations.
It’s a Grade II-listed, late-Georgian
semi-detached house that was built in
1820 — one of the two last remaining of
its type in Bayswater Road — with
almost 5,000sq ft of space.
It is unusual to come across a property in London with such personality.
Rather magically, the exterior of the
house is covered in tiny pieces of
broken mirrors, embedded into the
brick façade, and they twinkle in
the light like fairies in homage to
Tinkerbell.
FRIDAY
WEDNESDAY
Racing back and forth from appointments on my scooter in the spring
sunshine today, I feel as though I should
be wearing branded trainers and gym
kit, rather than a suit and tie.
It’s fair to say this year’s spring
property market — typically one of the
busiest periods of the year — was something of a late bloomer. Now that we
are into June, families seem to be out
in force looking for homes before the
start of the school summer holidays,
when the Notting Hill house market
becomes much quieter. It is crucial that
we make the most of this period.
Ask free on 0800 302 9396 or view our property investment guide at martinco.com/askmartin
I have a meeting with our client at
Clarendon Works — a quirky and
unusual listing. A former Victorian
foundry, the house has an industrial
atmosphere and Manhattan loft
style, including an impressive wine
room and integral glass-walled
garage. It’s not your typical W11
period property, but it has definitely
got the wow factor and is attracting
a variety of buyers.
The afternoon is spent tying up loose
ends and briefing the team for when
I’m away. Somehow I think my week
in Norfolk may well feel like another
week in Notting Hill.
O Miles Meacock is a partner at Strutt
& Parker in Notting Hill (020 7221 1111).
44
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property Letting on
D
AVID CAMERON ruffled a
few feathers when he
slipped into a speech on
immigration his plans for
a “mandatory licensing
regime” for landlords. It would be a
weapon in the fight against illegal
immigration. But wait, what? There
was no mention of “mandatory
licensing” in his election manifesto.
Prior to the election, landlords had
assumed the “Leftie lot” were the
bad guys, what with those threats of
compulsory three-year tenancies and
rent caps. The Tories were cast as the
party that would leave landlords be.
But then Cameron announced that
he is going to be the one to “crack
down on unscrupulous landlords
who cram houses full of illegal
migrants” by introducing licensing.
Seriously, it was enough to make
me think of selling up. I’ve nothing
against licensing in principle, but the
thought of dealing with inefficient
town halls stuffed with bureaucrats
makes me want to go and lie in a
darkened room.
However, panic not. It doesn’t look
as though the Tories are going to
force all landlords to obtain a licence.
As far as I am aware, full details of the
plans haven’t been revealed, but the
Department for Communities and
Local Government, which looks after
housing, has since said that the PM
was referring only to homes in
multiple occupation — HMOs.
At the moment, any property with
three storeys or more let to five or
more tenants who form more than
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Immigration
red tape will tie
me up in knots
Mandatory licensing of landlords won’t root
out people living in Britain illegally and could
cause hardship, warns Victoria Whitlock
The
accidental
landlord
one household — ie sharers — must
have an HMO licence for health and
safety reasons. Councils can choose
to license smaller HMOs if they wish,
but most do not. Now Cameron is
looking at using this legislation to
weed out illegal immigrants.
So most of us can relax... a little.
However, I’m nervous that the Tories
are going to insist on licensing for all
properties let to any number of
sharers, because I’ve got a two-storey
maisonette let to four students. I
certainly would not invest in any
largish rental properties until the
proposals become clearer.
A further concern is that the PM is
pushing ahead with his plan for
landlords to check the immigration
status of every tenant under his Right
to Rent scheme, which he plans to
roll out nationwide, even though a
pilot scheme running in the West
Midlands has yet to be evaluated.
We don’t know yet when Right to
Rent will be introduced in London,
but when it is, we will all have to
check every new tenant’s right to live
in the UK. That will mean taking a
NO
BIGGER!
£750 a week: in Prince of Wales Drive, Battersea, John D Wood has available to
rent a three-bedroom flat with a double reception room, a balcony overlooking
the park, and a porter living on site (homesandproperty.co.uk/alrent)
copy of their passport and relevant
visa, and presumably keeping these
under lock and key to make sure we
don’t fall foul of the Data Protection
Act. It sounds simple enough but, as
I’ve previously written, I wouldn’t
know a genuine visa from a fake and
if I make a mistake, I risk a nasty fine.
Mr Cameron is also planning to
change the law so we can evict illegal
immigrants more quickly and he is
looking into the idea of tenancies
being automatically cancelled when
a tenant’s visa expires. Sadly, I think
this will only make it harder for
foreigners from outside the EU living
here legally to find accommodation,
while it will do nothing to weed out
illegal immigrants. Landlords will be
reluctant to let to anyone requiring a
visa, especially if they want longterm tenants, forcing immigrants
into the clutches of “unscrupulous
landlords”, who will continue to stick
two fingers up at the law.
O Victoria Whitlock lets three
properties in south London.
To contact Victoria with your ideas
and views, tweet @vicwhitlock
Find many more homes to rent at
homesandproperty.co.uk/lettings
Brought to you by
46
WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015 EVENING STANDARD
Homes & Property New homes
By David Spittles
Smart
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ALAMY
Super-fast trains and a
river to mess about on
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Tradition: a “Victorian day” at Boulters Lock, Maidenhead
MAIDENHEAD is a Crossrail winner in Berkshire and the
impact of the east-west train link continues to be felt
ahead of the scheduled opening in 2018, with London
buyers attracted by the prospect of a direct 37-minute
commute to Paddington.
While the Thames-side town is not pretty, the local area
is full of lovely villages. “About 30 per cent of people
relocating here are moving out of west London,” says
David Redmond, manager of the local Hamptons
International branch. “By crossing the M25 divide, they
can get much better value for money while enjoying the
quick commuter links. Buy-to-let investors are making
their presence felt, too.”
The train station is getting a Crossrail facelift and a
much-needed new shopping precinct is being created,
with homes as part of the mix. There are also plans to
restore a stagnant stream into a showpiece waterway.
Buy now and
get furniture free
B
UY AND complete on a
one-bedroom flat before
the end of next month and
you get £26,000 worth of
furnishings. That’s the deal
at Great Minster House, above and
right, a new development close to the
Houses of Parliament where flats cost
from £885,000. Can this be a sign of
an ailing market in Westminster
village? Developer Barratt insists
that’s not the case.
The firm says the deal is simply
part of its routine end-of-financialyear drive to boost sales. Included
in the interior design package are
a bespoke sofa and armchair,
wenge dining table and chairs, a
bronze and glass TV unit, satin
weave curtains and an — anonymous
— piece of abstract art.
The building, opposite the Home
Office, echoes the area’s Edwardian
mansion blocks with parquet floors
O Alexandra Park, above, on the
edge of the town, is a collection of
new semi-detached and detached
traditional family houses, with redbrick and cream-render exterior.
Prices from £585,000. Call Shanly
Homes on 01494 685800. Shanly is
also building town centre flats for sale
from £515,000 at Hitcham Court.
O New rentals have been launched
at Athena Court, a five-minute walk
from the mainline station. Rents for
two-bedroom properties start at
£1,150 a month. Call Sorbon Estates
on 01494 683823.
O One notable address for the future
is Skindles, a former hotel alongside
listed Maidenhead Bridge. The 42-acre
development by Berkeley will bring a
new waterfront community of more
than 150 properties, with restaurants
and a riverside promenade.
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From £1,150 a month: two-bedroom
homes to rent at Athena Court, five
minutes from Maidenhead station
47
EVENING STANDARD WEDNESDAY 3 JUNE 2015
New homes Homes & Property
homesandproperty.co.uk with
Read more: visit
our new online
luxury section
HomesAndProperty.co.uk/luxury
Trinity Crescent is
a Tooting favourite
and high ceilings. There is also
24-hour porterage. Show apartments
are open for viewing. Call 0844 811
4334.
Nearby Westminster Quarter,
in Great Peter Street, has 91 flats
grouped around a landscaped
courtyard. Crisp architecture
features floor-to-ceiling windows
and incorporates communal roof
gardens. Some of the apartments
have a view of Big Ben and there is
underground parking, a gym and
concierge.
Prices start at £990,000. Call JLL
on 020 3053 0743.
LIKE a lot of south London, Tooting
spent much of the 20th century
asleep in run-down respectability —
until the late-Nineties property
boom, when buyers priced out of
Clapham started to search further
down the Northern line.
Today, homes in coveted spots such
as the Heaver Estate — bordering
Tooting Bec Common, with its
splendid refurbished lido dating
from 1906 — are similar in price to
Clapham. But in general, property
prices in Tooting remain a good 15
per cent or more below those of its
prestigious neighbour. Trinity
Crescent is a Tooting favourite, with
splendid mid-19th century stucco
houses and mansion flats. This leafy
enclave now features two new-build,
secluded 3,000sq ft family houses,
above, behind a high-walled garden
and with off-street parking.
Inside and outside space integrate
well and one of the homes has a
spacious, well-lit basement level
with cinema room.
Prices from £2.25 million. Call
estate agents Featherstone Leigh
on 020 7228 2278.
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Score a charming
mews by Kia Oval
THERE is more to Vauxhall than the
giant Nine Elms regeneration zone
dominated by the brutalist power
station and shiny new skyscrapers.
Percival Mews, above, moments
from Kia Oval cricket ground, is
more in keeping with the area’s
low-rise Victorian fabric of terraces,
mansion blocks, charitable housing
and council estates.
Four freehold classic-style mews
houses with modern, open-plan
interiors and private parking cost
from £1,265,000. Call estate agents
Lurot Brand on 020 7590 9955.
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Dalston’s on
the right lines
REVITALISED by its new Overground
station, Dalston in east London is
no longer a spillover territory for
buyers priced out of Shoreditch,
and developers are finding corners
away from the lively hub around
Broadway Market and towards
Stoke Newington.
Artisan, above, is a low-rise
scheme of 21 flats priced from
£440,000. Call Bellway on 0845
257 6064.