Perhaps we were being a little cynical. According to this, the owners have already received a £1m bid from an Australian Beckham fanatic. But really??!!

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

So, this three-bedroom terrace in Leytonstone is under offer, somewhere around its asking price of £204,995. But this three-bedroom terrace in Leytonstone is on Gumtree with an asking price of £850,000. The difference? The second one used to be home to David Beckham. Here's the blurb:

A THREE BEDROOM HOUSE WITH BATHROOM TOILET AND GARDEN IN LEYTONSTONE THIS HOUSE IS FOOTBALLER DAVID BECKHAMS FIRST HOUSE HE LIVED IN BEFORE MOVING TO CHINGFORD THE THROUGH LOUNGE HAS WOOD FLOORING LOOKING ON TO THE FRENCH WINDOWS AND THE GARDEN WITH A FITTED KITCHEN AT THE BACK OF THIS LOVELY TOWN HOUSE IN LEYTONSTONE THE TUBE TAKES 20 MINUTES TO THE WEST END ON THE CENTREAL LINE AND IS IN ZONE 3 LEYTONSTONE AS MANY FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN HERE DAVID BECKHAM SIR ALFRED HITCHCOCK DAVID BAILEY JONATHAN ROSS TO NAME A FEW IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A OFFER FOR DAVID BECKHAMS FIRST HOME CONTACT COLIN [telephone number removed]

Potential for a Beckham museum perhaps?

[via Estate Agent Today]

Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate

And lives to tell the tale. Actually, this is an interesting piece about perception, reality and depressing territorial violence in the Hackney, Dalston areas; and it's sparked some lively debate in the comments section. Go visit.

Technorati Tags: London

Angel Cottage (2a Windmill Lane) stood on the corner of Windmill Lane and Angel Lane, it was built in 1826... when Stratford was a rural area not yet connected to London by rail. It was destroyed over the weekend. Nobody - as yet - knows who was responsible. English Heritage have advised Newham Council to hand the matter over to the police.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

The Olympics will turn us into couch potatoes, produce no long-term boost to local employment and is turning out to be the "catalyst for mass evictions and impoverishment". Monbiot looks at recent Olympic history and finds a shameful track record of social cleansing. He also finds signs for our own acts of shame in Clays Lane in Newham and Waterden Crescent in Hackney... where gypsies and travelers and a long-standing allotment will be swept aside. More here.

London's poor lose out over Olympics [June 6, 2007]

Technorati Tags: London, Olympics, property, real estate

... says Jesus, in a comment, here:

Lewisham... the Son of God's choice.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

On one of its regular More For Your Money jaunts, the Independent visits Highams Park and finds it quiet:

The drawback with Highams Park is that it lacks action. Whether you're after a movie or a meal - or just a decent cup of coffee - you're better off heading a mile up the road to Chingford.

What are you complaining about? You've Chingford on your doorstep.

Highams Park, on the fringe of London and the edge of Epping Forest, is a place however where you can buy a one-bedroom flat for £125,000 and a three-bedroom house for £250,000... both acceptably near a mainline station that can get you to Liverpool Street in 30 minutes.

property for sale

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Congratulations to the Telegraph's Caroline McGhie, not just for one of most entertaining pieces on the ever-so-slow-growing Thames Gateway redevelopment, but also for managing to make a Knight Frank estate agent sound like a character from a Dickens novel.

It isn't homely. If you play hunt-the-corner-shop you might eventually find a small parade with a Costcutter, a chippy, a bookie and a greasy spoon, with a strip club two corners away. "But you can have all your food home-delivered from the giant Tesco," says James Talbot of Knight Frank, who works and lives in Thames Gateway. "Historically this is London's largest sewage factory - the East End has always had the smells. With the westerly wind being dominant, that is why they put the houses for the poor in the East End in the first place."

Mr Talbot's nose twitches and his hands rub together.

Soon, he assures me, the area around here will be covered in homes

Ingress Park sounds like a triumph, though. Read McGhie's feature, it's great.

Hardly lacking facilities.

Don't forget the all new Rat and Mouse Forum.

There's news in today's Times that the organisers of the 2012 Games have lifted the threat of 95 CPOs just north of Stratford. Clearly, it's good news if it means 95 businesses aren't forced to relocate, and if the London Development Agency has managed to find a cheaper alternative venue for its temporary carpark (95 businesses were being threatened for the sake of a temporary carpark!)... but lawyers aren't in the business of applauding win-win wins. The lawyer representing the interests of the 95 (plus a further 200 threatened with CPOs) isn't impressed. They're only doing it for the money, he says. So? And, in any case, the remaining businesses will in all likelihood be forced out when their leases rocket at renewal time. Well he might have a point there.

East London vision [October 31]
Livingstone compared to Mugabe for Olympic land-grab [October 6]