For those looking to self-isolate in luxury in London, taking a ‘residence’ at The Milestone Hotel in Kensington could be the perfect option (if you’ve got £7,700 per week to spare)
If you’re rich, want to self-isolate during the coronavirus outbreak in London and don’t even want to go out to do shopping, you could do worse than move into a ‘residence’ within The Milestone Hotel overlooking Kensington Gardens and Kensington Palace in W8.
Though the Red Carnation Collection hotel, on its own website, is described as “temporarily closed due to current travel restrictions,” serviced apartments within the property are still being advertised online as available.
Listed on OnTheMarket.com for £7,700 per week ($9,600, €8,600 or درهم35,200 per week) or the equivalent of £550 per room per night ($685, €615 or درهم2,515 per room per night), a 743 square foot single-level, third floor apartment includes a reception room, two bedroom suites and a kitchen.
It is described by Harrods Estates as “beautiful” and “sumptuous” and having the “warm sense of being in your own private home.” Featuring a “vibrant and sophisticated” decoration scheme designed by Bea Tollman, the hotel’s founder, the agents laud the “contemporary polish that so cleverly blends with balancing the traditional features.”
‘Characteristics’ available to those taking the space include full 24-hour hotel service, access to the hotel’s health club, daily housekeeping services, 24-hour butler and room service and a full grocery shopping service.
The neo-Gothic former private home in which this ‘residence’ is situated became a hotel in 1922 and has been known as The Milestone since 1986. It has 43 guest bedrooms, 13 suites and 6 long-stay apartments and in 2019 unveiled a leopard print carpeted suite in honour of the Duchess of Sussex named the ‘Meghan Suite.’ A blessing or a bonus, depending on your view of the wayward on-off royal, is that the likelihood of the former Miss Markle popping in for tea at this time of lockdown is as likely as the Queen riding by on Shergar the racehorse.
The exterior of The Milestone Hotel, 1 Kensington Court, Kensington, London, W8 5DL, United Kingdom.The main bedroom.The second of the bedrooms.The kitchen of the apartment has a look of something from the 1990s, but is perfectly functional.A floor plan of Apartment 6, the ‘residence’ offered.
New contributor and classic cars enthusiast Theodora Ong covets roadsters with wings, curves and chrome at the London Classic Car Show 2020
If you dashed over to this year’s London Classic Car Show (LCCS) at Olympia, you may soon be planning to sell-up your everyday new car, to snap up a new-old motor for weekend cruising instead. Those who do so, succumb to full-on sensory satisfaction. Throw caution to the wind about the hazards of our congested London-town, secure garaging, and knowing when your car attains hallowed historic status. Your newly acquired chrome-y classic soon becomes an all-consuming passion.
From the £70 million worth of kaleidoscopic-coloured classic, vintage, prototype and magnificent marques at the LCCS, here’s The Steeple Times’ hotlist of top five pin-ups. They promise retro allure rather than just tarmac-burning brawn, as you glide up alongside your fellow road sharers at the lights. This is just your starters for inspiration.
No. 1 – 1959 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Roadster
This Benz oozes a rogue-ish riviera chic. It is a somewhat understated evolution of the futuristic 300 SL gullwing. When launched in 1957 it was one of the most audacious and thrilling sports rides to be seen on the open road. This 1959 model from Hemmels is claimed to be the first ever sold to the UK and has clocked up only 36,000 miles. Expect these examples to be a desirable £1million+ buy.
No. 2 – 1933 MG J2
Here is a flawless red pre-World War II MG that assures you are owning a slice of genuine history. Its story is detailed by previous owners, and it is listed in a host of publications and owner’s club articles. Sit inside and you immediately connect with the streamlined design. It was clearly built to wrap round a gentleman driver (most MG drivers were back then). Dealer Graeme Hunt uses all its cars for sale to keep them running smoothly and offers this MG for £57,500.
No. 3 – 1954 Jaguar XK120
This immaculately restored cat belongs to man of style David Gandy. It’s been subject to 2,700 man-hours of rebuild to deliver a superlative road racer – and its story was a feature of the LCCS. Its 3.4-litre inline six-cylinder XK engine cuts it at 225bhp. Marvel at new interior design finishes commissioned by the owner. The modish patina of warm tobacco leather contrasts with the tough impenetrable black shell.
Recently, a Ferrari 250 GTO gained the status of the highest priced vehicle ever sold at auction for £37.5m. But if we’re setting our Steeple Times budget at a more modest £100K, then we’d choose to drive away the pair of sleek ’60 two-seaters that follow below in the forthcoming Coys auction sale at the LCCS.
Dramatically sleek yet solid, this Lancia has a 2.8-litre V6 engine fed by triple twin-choke Weber carburettors to deliver over 150bhp. Drool over its distinctive Superleggera body [a build system which helps enable this innovative aluminium body shape]. Being fashioned slightly longer and 7cm taller than the GT model, means a more commanding ride. Only 300 were built. Consider these Lancias a snip alongside similar Astons and Maseratis.
This friendly-faced retro-mobile claims just one owner from 1963 until 2017, as a company car for the HR manager at Harrods – there’s a clue in the Harrodian Car Club badge it bears. Today it’s all style and restraint. Back then, this more pumped out Superminx convertible was ritzy one-upmanship over the standard Minx on the neighbour’s drive.
And what would we do with our change from £100K?
Splash out on luxe accessories. We’re eyeing up some British ’20s silver hip flasks across town at the Pullman Gallery. One is crafted in the shape of a car radiator; another like a mini petrol can. That’s for your destination drinking of course.
Matthew Steeples names and shames the retail giants who won’t be selling Royal British Legion poppies this year; they include Boots, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Tesco, Waitrose and Wholefoods
Even ‘Murky’ Meghan Markle – down under in New Zealand on tour – is sporting one right now; the humble poppy. A mark of respect to those who fought so we didn’t end up living under a regime of terror, most surprisingly, isn’t available at a single supermarket in Belgravia, Chelsea, Fulham or Knightsbridge.
Today, I visited Sainsbury’s in Elizabeth Street, Belgravia in the hope of buying a Royal British Legion poppy. I asked at the counter and was met with: “We don’t sell those things.” I then telephoned the company’s press office and was told: “Our employees got the wrong end of the stick.”
Subsequently, by email, a media relations executive working at the firm, Jordan Grant, replied and commented: “We can reassure customers poppies will be available in store this week.” Given it is already 29th October and Remembrance Sunday is just 13 days away, this is hardly acceptable – especially given the store is already selling Christmas decorations (Christmas Day is 57 days away).
Next, in frustration, I visited Tesco on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. Situated directly next to the National Army Museum and close to the Royal Hospital – home to the legendary and widely respected Chelsea Pensioners. On asking for a poppy, a till operative lackadaisically remarked: “We do not sell those things. We are a supermarket.”
Waitrose Belgravia – commonly known as “Celebrity Waitrose” due to the likes of John Cleese and Lady Helen Taylor being regulars –presented a similar but worse response. The customer service desk operative at the flagship store told me: “We do not condone war so do not sell poppies. It is against our company policy.”
A friend, on my behalf, visited Wholefoods and was told: “We don’t know what poppies are” (they, at least, suggested donating to a homeless charity). She also got told at Boots: “We don’t sell things like that” but did find a lovely pair of Sikh gentlemen selling poppies in the Fulham Broadway underground station. She gave them £25.
A phone call to Selfridges was met with: “We do not supply poppies” but Harrods came through. Their customer service desk call handler announced: “We will be selling poppies later this week. We like to support the Royal British Legion.”
Shame on the high street retailers of Britain. Not a poppy in sight and not an ounce of support for the heroes who’ve saved us. This is an utter disgrace and it should be named as such.
Clangers overheard and snippets spotted by readers of ‘The Steeple Times’
Mobile Arabs
An Arab sat outside a shisha café on Brompton Road told her friend: “I lost my phone in Harrods today but I went back and they’d found it. Thank God it was Harrods. They’d have been so racist anywhere else but Harrods, they love us. In this country, it’s whites first and us second but in Harrods, it’s the other way round.”
Lunching (Un)like Liz
At Granger in Chelsea, a Hill House mother chatted with another of her number. She stated: “I go to lunch at 4.30pm as I don’t do breakfast or dinner. You know why: I don’t want to end up looking like Liz Hurley, do I?”
Standard Death
A pair of Russian women lunched at Chiltern Firehouse. One announced: “I went to a really f***ing budget wedding recently… One thing that is so important is alcohol but these people served Russian Standard. Social death. It’s like doing something in Shoreditch.”
Priestly Observations
Two Brompton Oratory priests lunching at Colbert on Sloane Square chatted with a fellow diner about the locality. “It’s changed very much lately,” said one. The other added: “I preferred it when there were more ladies like Miss Marple.”
Submit comments you hear to [email protected]. We publish amusing and ridiculous chatter we receive and sometimes we change names and locations to protect the identities of the vain and the vacuous.
Six-storey Belgravia residence with controversial business connections goes on sale for 22% less than it was marketed for in 2015 and 3,497% more than it sold for in 1997
A 6,961 square foot freehold terraced townhouse in Belgravia has gone on sale for £25 million or 3,497% more than it was sold for in 1997.
4 Wilton Crescent – which sold in 1997 for what now seems like the paltry sum of just £695,000 – was marketed two years ago for £32 million and provides 5 reception rooms, 9 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms and 2 garages in an adjoining mews house.
Featuring traditional interior design by Robert Kime – decorator to the Prince of Wales – the property featured in court papers in December 2015 in the context of a dispute between a lawyer turned secretive property speculator named Glenn Maud and his former associate Robert Tchenguiz. Said to be at one-time worth £4.5 billion at the height of his success and originally from Sheffield, this businessman and his wife reportedly spent some £6 million renovating the house but was ordered to live on £500 per week in 2012 by a Guernsey court.
October 2017 – On the market for £25 million ($32.8 million, €27.9 million or درهم120.5 million) through Knight Frank.
March 2016 – On the market for £30 million ($39.4 million, €33.5 million or درهم144.6 million) through Beauchamp Estates.
December 2015 – On the market for £32 million ($42 million, €35.7 million or درهم154.2 million) according to court documents. Owner Glenn Maud reportedly spent £6 million ($7.9 million, €6.7 million or درهم28.9 million) on “improvements” to the property.
September 1997 – Sold for £695,000 ($912,000, €775,000 or درهم3.3 million).
Convoy of five yellow Lamborghinis spotted cruising around Kensington and Chelsea
Someone once said: “Work until you feel a Lamborghini is cheap” and plainly the owner of a convoy currently in London has exactly that attitude.
Pictured here on Brompton Road opposite the former premises of La Brasserie, a fleet of five yellow examples of these supercars has been seen driving around Kensington and Chelsea in recent days. Plainly, if indeed the vehicles belong to one owner, here is a man living by the opposite mantra of Oscar Wilde’s: “To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.”
Truly, however, most people would argue such a noticeable convoy to be nothing other than ostentatious. Get them parked!
After a Chelsea chef who came out of nowhere named Michael Riemenschneider is revealed to be a “conman” in the ‘Mail on Sunday’, readers tell of his past form
As can only be expected of a paper that loves a bit of sensationalism this week’s Mail on Sunday’s ‘YOU’ got rather carried away in an interview with a “wealthy widow” named Flora Mascolo – a woman who claims to be a victim of, mind the magazine’s gushingly cringeworthy description, a “delicious romance soon turned sour” with a Michelin starred chef named Michael Riemenschneider.
Bizarrely, that Riemenschneider – a man whose first London restaurant, we noted in February 2014, was literally covered with images of his face and captions referencing his name – is lauded as a “handsome celebrity chef” in the feature by Margarette Driscoll is somewhat ambitious given several locals we contacted remember him as “podgy” and a “little bit greasy.” A well-known Chelsea restaurateur – where the Swiss born chef opened a replacement restaurant that few ever even got to hear of just months after opening and nigh on immediately closing his original Marylebone premises in summer 2014 – recalls an individual whose “ability to talk about himself and his achievements made me immediately question the truth of his claims.”
That Driscoll lauds this individual as “talented and dynamic” is perhaps fair given his “experimental cuisine” most definitely had many merits, but that she describes a man Mascolo herself calls a “coward of a man” and “somebody who was a lie, from the beginning” as “destined for similar success” to Heston Blumenthal and Gordon Ramsay is nothing but far fetched. Here was someone who opened in bizarre off-piste locations, insisted diners fitted into limited time spots and ridiculously thought he could limit customers to a set menu priced at £275 per head or a ‘cheaper’ one at £95 per head.
Riemenschneider, a man whose exploits are reported to have cost the widow of the co-founder of the Toni & Guy hairdressing empire some £2.27 million, is now supposedly bankrupt and living in Austria. Cars bought by him including a Mercedes-Benz GTS have reportedly been seized and of him Mascolo comments: “If you wrong me, you will remember my name. He didn’t know who he was messing with.”
A wealthy female reader of The Steeple Times contacted us to share her thoughts on the interview. She did not wish to be named but stated: “This strange, anything but handsome individual, pestered me on social media. He messaged me one day out of the blue in 2013 and he told me that we had friends in common. I am glad I did not fall for his attempts to lure me. Plainly, Mrs Mascolo did and I am sorry for her.”
She continued:
“This man wasn’t a ‘celebrity chef’ but, in fact, a Facebook stalker of ladies he thought had a bit of cash. In his messages to me, I quickly realised he was an individual who’d come out of nowhere and brought with him an ego the size of Harrods.”
“The journalist [Margarette Driscoll] gets rather carried away about his restaurant. It was in a sub-basement off Sloane Square and it didn’t even have a website. Nobody went there because nobody even knew about it. Where there’s money, there’s muck.”
Michael Riemenschneider will no doubt reemerge someday. He was certainly a good cook, but sadly he turned out to be an even better conman.
Penthouse with tower in prominent Knightsbridge landmark for sale for £8.25 million
A penthouse with a tower in a Grade II listed landmark triangular ‘flat-iron’ building on the border of South Kensington and Knightsbridge has gone on sale for £8.25 million ($10.51 million, €9.39 million or درهم38.62 million).
Created in 1991 to designs by Susan Walker Architects and involving the clever merger of two fourth floor flats as part of a £1.70 million scheme (the equivalent of £3.35 million, $4.27 million, €3.81 million or درهم15.68 million today), the 3,475 square foot apartment offered overlooks the Brompton Oratory and has a vista down the Brompton Road towards Harrods. It is within a building known as Empire House that was itself built between 1909 and 1916 to designs by Paul Hoffmann and was originally used by a German firm, the Continental Tyre Company.
Currently featuring a large reception room, a dining kitchen, 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and a laundry on the building’s fourth floor, a tower with domed reception space from the sixth to the seventh floors and a private roof terrace on its fifth floor, the apartment comes with planning permission for internal rearrangement.
Held on a leasehold basis expiring 2142 and subject to a service charge of £20,550 per annum ($26,187, €23,391 or درهم96,211 per annum) according to agents JLL, a buyer will also have to pay a one-off charge of £12,054 ($15,360, €13,720 or درهم56,434) towards the cost of refurbishing the portered building’s lift.
Kensington and Chelsea – The land of the ‘have-a-lots’ and the ‘have-nothing-at-alls’; an example of a contrast too far
The mere mention of the area of Kensington and Chelsea brings all sorts of connotations: One thinks of the Albert Hall and Hyde Park, Harrods and Harvey Nicks and one imagines affluence and culture. Here is an area that one associates with a certain kind of genteel elegance and one where both dowager duchesses and an educated, international community has long lived in harmony. Sadly, however, the apple cart has tipped and the area has descended to become a place where homeless people shiver on the streets whilst multi-million pound mansions lay rotting. This is an area that has had its soul ripped from its very being and this is an area that has fast become nothing but a money park with a hidden edge.
The cause of this undoubtedly unwelcome change chiefly can be laid at the door of foreign ‘High Net Worth’ (HNW) investors – individuals and corporations who’ve brought ‘Home-aggedon’ to the Royal Borough by snapping up buildings that were once filled with families for crazy sums – and greedy landlords focused on kicking out local businesses in favour of high-paying, trophy tenants. Where once prosperous operations, such as La Brasserie on Brompton Cross, traded for nearly fifty years, are now empty units and outside them sit homeless people begging for scraps.
Yes, there are ‘fake homeless’, but the problem is real and beneath the surface one also finds what can be termed the ‘hidden homeless’. These ‘have-nots’ and ‘have-nothing-at-alls’ sit in Pret stores and mind their own business. They cause no trouble but have been let down by the system. You’d be surprised how many such people there are in the Royal Borough and you should realise one thing: Us mere non-HNW mortals are just one pay cheque away from joining them.
Pictured top: A homeless man in Pelham Street; he ‘lives’ just across the road from the £105 million home of billionaire Professor ‘Muck’ Flick.
A Land of Contrasts – Meanwhile, in Knightsbridge, ‘homes’ (not that anyone lives in them) in One Hyde Park sell for up to £140 million
A Land of Contrasts – Now, in Fulham Road, even “trendy” cafes such as L’Eto are unable to afford their rents and are so desperate to get out of their tenancies that they display ‘to let’ signs whilst still trading
A Land of Contrasts – The area’s new wealth, meanwhile, flaunts its money in the most ostentatious fashion possible and has not a care for the community
Two studio flats near Harrods for sale for extraordinary sums offer ideal homes for pint-sized people
A typical London Underground carriage provides about 464 square foot of space. In Knightsbridge and just seconds from Harrods, a property offering just over half that area has just come on sale on a short lease for £450,000 ($553,000, €525,000, درهم2.03 million).
The 258 square foot raised ground floor ‘cupboard-like’ property in Jefferson House at 11 Basil Street is offered at a price that equates to £1,765 per square foot ($2,170, €2,050 or درهم7,965 per square foot) consists of a single room decorated with Austin Powers-esque wallpaper, a kitchen with, the selling agents boast, the luxury of “an electric hob” and a shower room. Carter Jonas point out that the lease on the studio is extendable but neglect to detail what that will cost.
For pint-sized people with a larger budget, Beauchamp Estates have also just launched a slightly larger third floor studio to the west of Harrods in Beaufort Gardens, SW3.
Priced at a much more punchy £1.65 million ($2.03 million, €1.92 million or درهم7.45 million) or £3,061 per square foot ($3,760, €3,570 or درهم13,815 per square foot), the 539 square foot flat is within a redeveloped building of nine properties and features an open plan sitting, dining and kitchen area with a corridor to a separate sleeping area. It has a full-sized bathroom and lift access.
Pictures and plans of the Basil Street studio:
Pictures and plans of the Beaufort Gardens studio:
