We Nearly Bought A House On A Film Set
Yesterday, I went to see It Always Rains On Sunday and thought the church featured was very familiar. A bit of research said it was in Hartland Road just north of Camden Town. So I went and had a look this morning.
Looking at old pictures, the spire was larger than in the film. But now it seems to have been completely demolished. It apparently was damaged in the Second World War.
In about 1970, we trried to buy a house in Hartland Road. It was possibly number 7 or 9 and would have cost the grand sum of £8,000. Today it must be worth at least £800,000. It could possibly have been the one used in the film.
In the end we moved to the Barbican.
The church was originally an Anglican one called Holy Trinity. Now it is a Roman Catholic one called Holy Trinity with St. Barnabas
CrossRail Will Raise House Prices
Today’s Standard also reports that CrossRail will lead to house prices going up along its route.
Perhaps, this explains why no-one seems to be complaining about CrossRail.
Or have people noted what has happened to house prices around Dalston Junction station, after the coming of the Overground.
Nick Ross’s House
There has been a lot of talk in the paper about the profit TV presenter, Nick Ross, has made on his house. It’s all here in the Telegraph.
To turn an investment of a million into thirty five, shows a certain skill, but it more probably is down to a lot of luck.
But then like me, he’s one of that select club of Leo pigs, born in 1947! These seem to get their fair share of luck; good and bad. I could also include Roy Hodgson, Maddy Prior and Katherine Hamnett. Hewlett-Packard was also incorporated two days after I was born on the 18th.
It’s all very strange, but just coincidence.
Where Is Roy Brooks When You Need Him?
I was taken over a property tonight, that if the owner had wanted to sell it, he’d have been in great need of the estate agent, who could sell anything; Roy Brooks.
This article sums up the Roy Brooks, that everybody knew from his adverts in the Sunday papers. Here’s a paragraph from the article.
Who could resist making an app-ointment to view a bargain described thus: “Wanted: Someone with taste, means and a stomach strong enough to buy this erstwhile house of ill-repute in Pimlico. It is untouched by the 20th century as far as conveniences for even the basic human decencies are concerned. Although it reeks of damp or worse, the plaster is coming off the walls and daylight peeps through a hole in the roof, it is still habitable judging by the bed of rags, fag ends and empty bottles in one corner. Plenty of scope for the socially aspiring to express their decorative taste and get their abode in The Glossy, and nothing to stop them putting Westminster on their notepaper. Comprises 10 rather unpleasant rooms with slimy back yard, 4,650 Freehold. Tarted up, these houses make 15,000.”
There is also a book on Roy called Brothel in Pimlico. It sounds like a must-have for every toilet!
The trouble is do we miss Roy’s humour or honest estate agents most?
Is This £300m Home Unlucky?
It’s reported in the Standard that a house is being sold for £300m in London.
As the two previous owners died prematurely, would you want to buy such an unlucky house?
I wouldn’t even if I had the money.
And if I did, I certainly would spend that amount on a house.
Air-Conditioning
On the way back from the women’s football on Tuesday, I got talking to an air-conditioning engineer. I said about my solar gain problems and how I’d improved the atmosphere by installing air-conditioning.
He then asked if I lived in a loft. I said no, and he said that most needed air-conditioning, but the archiotects never specified it to save money. I suppose he didn’t mind, as it was a good earner.
But after my experience here, I do think that surveyors should understand solar gain problems better. If I had installed air-conditioning earlier, I might have saved myself a lot of trouble.
At least I seem to be finally on the mend.
Friday The Thirteenth
I’ve left two jobs on Friday the thirteenth. Both new jobs were hugely successful. As I’m retired now, I can’t do that today, but I did finally get rid of my old house yesterday and as the solicitors are dealing with it today, I assume it’s good luck.
French Target Foreign Property Owners
I’m so glad that C and I sold our house in Antibes in the South of France some fifteen years ago. I think I’d be paying a very large sum of French taxes now, if Francois Hollande gets his plans to tax foreign property owners implemented. It’s all here on the BBC.
The Italians Are Coming
According to a report in The Sunday Times, Knight Frank have said that the largest group of emigrants to the UK are rich Italians. I suppose they have to be rich to afford the houses Knight Frank sells.
I hope they bring their money with them and invest it in the City.
It’s Not All Depressing News!
Clicking through the BBC News website this morning is particularly depressing.
We have the story of the all-Labour Newham Council trying to offload some of their residents who need houses on Stoke-on-Trent. That would be an interesting commute. Governments for too long, have ignored the problem of housing in the South-East and London in particular. Only yesterday, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London was asking for more funds to create more school places in the capital.
You can understand, why politicians on the far-right have been calling for an immigration clampdown. But being from two immigrant lines myself , I can’t complain can I?
We have an imbalance in the number of houses in the UK and the number of people we have here. The main solution is to build more houses, which the government appears to be doing. But also we should ensure that the houses we have are fully occupied. It could be said, that I’m greedy living in a three-bedroomed house by myself!
And then we have the story about how The Netherlands, which many think is one of the more stable of the Eurozone countries is in trouble.
I could find equally depressing stories, such as how Clare Squires died in the London Marathon.
But in some ways that story has a remarkably heart-warming ending as many are contributing to her cause; The Samaritans. The Reverend Chad Varah would have approved.
So perhaps the immense wealth of human spirit will win out! If you want to contribute to Claire go here.
The Anonymous Widower 