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VIP's ABOUND; MARBLE ARCH W1
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There goes the neighbourhood: 'The Blairs ought not to be living here...'
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It is, it seems, the news every householder dreads: a major celebrity - or an ex-prime
minister - is moving in next door. Andy McSmith reports from a hitherto sought-after
location...
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They may seem to be the ideal neighbours - a wealthy, well-connected, law-abiding,
middle class couple with four children, not given to drinking heavily or holding
wild parties, whose mere presence reduces the risk of street crime by drawing extra
police to the area.
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But even before Tony and Cherie Blair have taken up their new home in Connaught
Square, near Marble Arch, relations with other residents are promising to be almost
as difficult as with their current next-door neighbour in Downing Street. |
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Officially, tomorrow is the day that the family will leave the flat above 11 Downing
Street, which has been their main home for 10 years. Removal vans have shifted most
of their belongings, many of which are now in a warehouse in Brent. |
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Meanwhile there is still an army of builders, electricians, plasterers and security
counsellors putting the finishing touches to the elegant new Blair residence. The
mews house at the back, which the Blairs have also bought, is marked by scaffolding
covered in tarpaulin. |
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The ground-floor room, which looks on to the square, was completely empty yesterday,
apart from a woman in a smart suit conducting endless negotiations over a mobile
phone. |
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What has alarmed the residents of the square is the extraordinary precautions underway
to ensure that the former prime minister and his wife are protected from anyone
who may be contemplating revenge for the war in Iraq or over some other grievance. |
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If the Blairs are really that much at risk, the neighbours say, someone should tell
them for their own sake that it is not a good idea to be living in a crowded part
of central London. On the other hand, if the risk is low, life in Connaught Square
is being disrupted for no good reason. A petition has been passed around the Square
pleading for help from Westminster Council. It says: "It has been suggested that
to protect the Blairs it may be necessary to prevent vehicles and unauthorised pedestrians
entering the west side of the Square, run part of the Square into a gated community,
policed by armed guards, prune or cut down some of our magnificent old plane trees
[and] have a police helicopter hovering above the Square." |
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The petition adds: "If the risk to the Blairs is so great, the security services
should advise them that they ought not to be living here. If it is safe for them
to live here, they should not need anything like the level of security that has
been suggested." |
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The police said yesterday that they plan to meet residents in the hope of allaying
some of their concerns. A Westminster Council spokesman said: "Once we have received
the petition we will put it through the due process, which is to contact the ward
councillors and ask them to bring it forward to full council." |
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Westminster Council also has to make a judgement on a separate dispute about whether
the alterations planned by the Blairs to their Georgian home, including a roof garden
and solar panels, will spoil the look and the general environment of Connaught Square. |
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Property developer John Larkey, who lives next door, has complained that noise from
the children's bedrooms on the upper floors of the five-storey house would be "disruptive"
and that if the couple held barbecues in their roof garden, the smell would be a
nuisance. Residents have also objected to the proposed solar panels, which they
called a "fashion accessory", and to the CCTV cameras. Builders have knocked through
the wall adjoining the two houses, and are converting part of the ground of the
smaller property into a shining new kitchen. The demolition work is almost complete.
The builders hope that they can be finished altogether in about another two weeks.
Meanwhile, Gordon Brown has told the Blair family that they can continue for the
time being to use Chequers, the Prime Minister's grace and favour home in Buckinghamshire.
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The Blairs have not been lucky in the property market. They seem to have less of
an eye for a bargain than many others dabbling in the top end. Madonna yesterday
snapped up what is believed to be the sixth London home that she owns. The singer
and her family live in a £7m, eight-bedroom home in Marylebone. Now, she has
paid £6m for the 10-bedroom Georgian house next door, which has six floors
and an artist's studio. The house belonged to the designer developer Paul Davies,
who bought it last year for £3.6m. He has the reputation of having a golden
touch, making headlines recently by renting out one of his Mayfair properties for
£40,000 a week. A source said: "Madonna knows that when Paul Davies moves
into the area it means prices are going to rocket. She said she wanted to buy the
whole street." |
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The Blairs, however, made an expensive decision in 1997 to sell their Islington
home, because it was not secure enough for them to live in and they did not want
the problems of renting it out. Cherie's first venture back into property ownership,
when she bought two flats in Bristol, brought nothing but grief because of the involvement
of the convicted con man, Peter Foster, whom she knew through her style adviser,
Carole Caplin. |
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The family bought the Connaught Square property for £3.6m in 2004, setting
off premature speculation that Mr Blair was on the point of handing over to Gordon
Brown. The couple hoped to rent out the house for £4,000 a week, but had to
settle for substantially less. They bought the mews house at the rear for £800,000. |
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All was quiet in the square yesterday, except for the clatter of workmen. One uniformed
officer was on patrol in front of the Blairs' new home, and another in the discreet
mews at the back. A notice on the door of the house next to the Blairs' warned:
"No reporters". The people of Connaught Square have suddenly attracted the curiosity
of outsiders, and they do not altogether like it. |
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Connaught Square, London W2
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MP: Mark Field (Conservative) |
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FAMOUS RESIDENTS: (past and present)
Paul Oakenfold, the multimillionaire DJ
William Orbit, record producer
Claudia Winkleman, television presenter and Independent columnist
Eric Mouilleron, entrepreneur
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HOUSE PRICES: Average house price: £1,411,710 - based on sales over the past
three years. You can buy a two-bed flat for £445,000; and a six-bed house
for £3.5m.
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SCHOOLS: Connaught House School;
Lansdowne Independent Sixth Form College; Maria Montessori School, Bayswater; Pembridge
Hall School.
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IMPORTANT BUILDINGS: St John's church (Hyde Park Crescent), Tyburn Convent (Bayswater
Road) and the Diana Memorial Fountain (Hyde Park) are all nearby.
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EATING AND DRINKING: The Carbon Bar offers cocktails and Ibiza-style tunes. Locanda
Locatelli has fine Italian food by celebrated Giorgio Locatelli; Maroush is a Middle
Eastern local complete with belly dancers; Cafe du Liban, a Turkish bistro; Cafe
Quebec, "light breezy Indian"; and the square hosts an annual.
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