When Time Out published its London guide book, it missed out The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. So, it attempts to put things right with a 10-point guide to the borough. Oh yeah, and here's the apology:

Time Out did a Bobbitt and cut the flaccid penis that is the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames off the map of the capital.

Well, don't know about you, but we at the Rat and Mouse have had plenty of experience distinguishing the difference between an apology and being called a cock. This - we're confident - falls into the latter category. So, go on, Kingston: what are you going to do about it?

[via This Is Local London]

Technorati Tags: London

Way back when the Rat and Mouse was just a little start-up, long before we even had premises and a receptionist, let alone valet parking, we drew readers' attention to the irony that Bob the Builder creator Keith Chapman was having something of a hard time getting his builders to finish work on his four-story house in Putney. Chapman had invited the Telegraph over to survey the damage. Well... today, they're back, and the house is on the market for £2.25m.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan are apparently shopping for £8 million homes in the Richmond Hill area. So what of the £18 million Chelsea home the pair were reported to have purchased in May last year?

Hugh Grant - "property mad" [April 25, 2006]

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

Well, not really. Writing in the Telegraph, Hannah Nemeth takes the forthcoming Shard as inspiration for a bit of domestic glass wall glamour. She visits a fund manager in Roedean Crescent, Roehampton (what? you like him already?) who bought a plot, knocked down the house and built two: one for him, one for a rich neighbour. Both designs are radically glass-heavy, and - in my opinion, anyway - they seem to work very well (although they look a little close together). Savills are handling the spare one (pictured), and it's priced at £2.9 million, which says to me... fund well-managed.

The Rat and Mouse - now with added search [January 29, 2007]

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

According to Land Registry figures, the average cost of a house in Putney is now £460,000... 16.9% up on last year. This quarter, flats have shown the greatest price increase. Putney is currently the most expensive area within Wandsworth Borough. More here.

Jeez, that headline's so bad it's made even me feel a bit nauseous. Sorry. The story is... we've just had word that Craig House, that giant former care home in Ham, Richmond, has just been sold to George Wimpey, (not) the beefburger tycoon, for £4.4 million. Which doesn't sound like a whole lot of money to us at the Rat and Mouse, considering we're talking about 1.8 acres of land, planning permission for 34 apartments and five three-bedroom mews houses... 27,726 square feet of accommodation, a walk away from Richmond Park.

It's featured in the Independent... a four-storey, four-bedroom, Grade II-listed, 17th Century house in Ormond Road, Richmond, combining the old (original panelling) and the new (ceiling speakers throughout), cleverly. It's with Featherstone Leigh, at £1.675 million. Particulars here.

Where? Peckham, innit, and in particular an area which, despite the unprepossessing start to its name, has been - according to the Independent - revivified. The Victorian and Georgian properties cost 60% less than nearby Clapham, and the area benefits from the sense of communal pride you get when a nabe is rescued from the dirt-heap and polished until it hurts.

Nunhead - it's not Peckham [October 26]
Peckham in the sky with diamonds [September 23]