The Steeple Times

Tag: SW3

  • Breaking with Boris

    Breaking with Boris

    Breaking News – Rachel Johnson explains why she ditched the party of her Foreign Secretary brother Boris and defected to the Lib Dems

     

    On this morning’s Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, Rachel Johnson was interviewed about her decision to defect to the Liberal Democrat Party.

     

    Explaining her rationale for ditching the Tories and the party of her Brexit supporting Foreign Secretary brother, Boris Johnson, Rachel Johnson commented:

     

    “This is single issue election. We could be going over a cliff on a hard Brexit… Everything on the table from last June is now off the table. Business needs to stay in the Single Market. It’s all lose, lose, lose… A second referendum gives the country another go”.

     

    Answering a question about whether she plans to stand as a candidate herself, Johnson, a columnist for the Mail on Sunday, remarked:

     

    “This is my paper making mischief to embarrass me… [But I am] not ruling anything out”.

     

    Later, in the segment, she tempered this further by adding:

     

    “I am very tempted to campaign in my constituency of Kensington and Chelsea”.

     

    Given her comments, The Steeple Times urges Rachel Johnson to join with us to support Gina Miller’s Best for Britain tactical voting campaign and suggests she also throws her campaigning efforts behind the Liberal Democrats’ Annabel Mullin for Kensington and Louise Rowntree for Chelsea & Fulham.

     

    #BritainDeservesBetter #MakeJuneEndOfMay

     

    Breaking with Boris – Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel Johnson defects to the Lib Dems – The Steeple Times urges her to support Gina Miller’s Best for Britain campaign and Liberal Democrat candidates Annabel Mullin for Kensington and Louise Rowntree for Chelsea & Fulham
    Louise Rowntree (left) pictured with Matthew Steeples of The Steeple Times and Annabel Mullin in Chelsea last week
    Breaking with Boris – Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel Johnson defects to the Lib Dems – The Steeple Times urges her to support Gina Miller’s Best for Britain campaign and Liberal Democrat candidates Annabel Mullin for Kensington and Louise Rowntree for Chelsea & Fulham
    The Johnson clan – Stanley Johnson (far left) with his children: Rachel, Boris and Jo
  • Advertorial – City Relay

    Advertorial – City Relay

    Matthew Steeples takes a look at the services offered by City Relay, a hassle free short-term rental management company

     

    Established three years ago and based in Earl’s Court, City Relay offer the very best guest and host management services for over two hundred apartments and houses in Central and West London.

     

    Primarily focused on taking away the hassle of managing bookings through marketing services such as Airbnb, City Relay’s 5-star hospitality team deal with check-ins, key holding and guest support. The firm also have their own property maintenance team to ensure properties are kept in immaculate condition between change-overs and can organise housekeeping services and supply fresh hotel quality linens also.

     

    Of the firm’s services to those with apartments and houses to rent, the company’s Mathilde Le Bault comments:

     

    “Brexit has brought a bonus for landlords and has encouraged many to opt for short-term rentals to tourists and business people rather than leaving their properties empty in a declining long-term market. Higher yields follow and with the ease and convenience of dealing with just City Relay’s team, we make it much easier to navigate the Airbnb process”.

     

    “City Relay’s reception desk is located at 62 Kenway Road, London, SW5 0RD and the many international, mostly European clients we deal with find that having someone they can actually speak to and meet in person most useful”.

     

    For further details about City Relay’s services, click here. Alternatively, telephone: +44 (0) 20 7993 5693.

     

    Advertorial – City Relay – Matthew Steeples takes a look at the services offered by City Relay, a hassle free short-term rental management company in London. Advertorial – City Relay – Matthew Steeples takes a look at the services offered by City Relay, a hassle free short-term rental management company in London.

  • The Cross Word Couple (AKA ‘The Crossword Couple’)

    The Cross Word Couple (AKA ‘The Crossword Couple’)

    Though never a cross word was uttered between this duo during their visits to the sadly now defunct Chelsea restaurant La Brasserie, their dislike of what they perceived as “loud music” (and other forms of noise) made them retreat to a quiet corner. Known to occasionally ‘share’ a cocktail – though firm believers in “one between two will do” – ‘The Cross Word (or Crossword) Couple’ enjoy puzzles but intensely dislike pointless chit-chat. Cross them at your peril.

  • The Horror in the Hummer

    The Horror in the Hummer

    Known for plaguing the streets of SW3 with her beast of a vehicle, ‘The Horror in the Hummer’ was a skeletal-like, bleach blonde haired woman. Thankfully not seen in recent times, this shockingly bad driver could not park her contraption and often blocked First Street by leaving it in the middle of the road. Of her, one Chelsea local was once heard to comment: “Some people have severe brain damage. She has it on a humongous scale”. She is not missed and nor is her gas guzzling 2001 Hummer H2, HU09 MER.

     

  • 0800 Rolls

    0800 Rolls

    Custard yellow Rolls-Royce complete with ‘0800’ numberplate takes to the streets of Knightsbridge

     

    Each year a bevvy of Arab and Russian owned supercars arrives in London and each year they get more outlandish. An especially fine example has just descended in the form of a bright yellow Rolls-Royce Phantom coupé complete with the registration plate ‘0800’.

     

    Spotted in Knightsbridge’s Cadogan Place on Sunday, this custard coloured creation most certainly plays homage to the vehicles designed by Nicolas Bijan Pakzad in Malibu, California. It will no doubt delight the snap-happy youngster’s on Sloane Street in the coming days but we also very much doubt the owner will be the kind to spend much of their time calling freephone numbers.

     

  • K&C Doesn’t Care

    K&C Doesn’t Care

    As 50% of care homes in Kensington & Chelsea are rated “inadequate”, we suggest this reflects what the area has become: A money park for the selfish rich

     

    A society that does not care for its elderly is, as the Pope pointed out in 2015, a “perverse society” and bizarrely, it has just been revealed, Britain’s richest borough, Kensington and Chelsea, has some of the worst care homes in the country.

     

    A study by the charity Independent Age found that Kensington and Chelsea falls within the five worst areas in the United Kingdom for its percentage of care homes rated “inadequate”. It found that one was even infested with mice and another “put residents at risk from poor management of medicines”. Out of ten care homes in the borough, five were rated poor.

     

    On Tuesday, Andrew Kaye, head of policy and campaigns at Independent Age, told the MailOnline:

     

    “It definitely surprised us to find affluent areas among those with poor rates, but this shows older people who pay to enter care homes, as well as those who are funded, are losing out”.

     

    “This might be because of staff vacancies, difficulty recruiting, or a lack of support. It is unacceptable that some older people are forced to choose a care home that is unsatisfactory”.

     

    In an area where basement flats sell for upto £5 million and houses and flats go for upto £250 million, it is shocking that so little effort is being put into taking care of the old and infirm. It is a reflection on the priorities of our society and yet another sad indication of what the money park that is the Royal Borough has become.

     

  • 81 Miles From New

    81 Miles From New

    1996 Mercedes-Benz SL500 that has been driven just 81 miles and stored in a Knightsbridge garage since new to be auctioned for 1,000% more than a normal example of its age

     

    A Mercedes-Benz with a difference is to be auctioned on its twenty-first birthday on 12th April. The car to be offered is an SL500 that effectively has covered an average of just 3.9 miles per year during its lifetime and it is presented in “virtually new condition”.

     

    Offered by Coys of Kensington, the Imperial Red with Mushroom leather two-seat roadster was bought from Normand of Mayfair and was only recently recommissioned after spending the vast majority of its life locked in a Knightsbridge garage.

     

    Of the time warp car, Chris Routledge, CEO of Coys of Kensington, remarked:

     

    “This is a car with a fantastic story. Purchased as a birthday present and driven only 81 miles before the [female] owner lost the keys and never drove it again. It even comes with a letter written by the owner’s butler verifying its mileage and its provenance”.

     

    “Had she not lost the keys and used it regularly, we estimate it would now be worth between £5,000 to £7,000 ($6,200 to $8,700, €5,900 to €8,200 or درهم22,800 to درهم31,900), but the fact that it has kept such a low mileage and has not been driven in more than twenty years makes it worth between £45,000 and £55,000 ($56,000 to $68,000, €53,000 to €64,000 or درهم205,000 to درهم251,000)”.

     

    “What happened with the keys remains a mystery but the car comes with new keys for the new owner”.

     

    81 Miles From New – 1996 Mercedes-Benz SL500 that has covered just 81 miles since new to be auctioned by Coys of Kensington at their Spring Classics 2017 sale on 12th April with an estimate of £45,000 to £55,000 ($56,000 to $68,000, €53,000 to €64,000 or درهم205,000 to درهم251,000) 81 Miles From New – 1996 Mercedes-Benz SL500 that has covered just 81 miles since new to be auctioned by Coys of Kensington at their Spring Classics 2017 sale on 12th April with an estimate of £45,000 to £55,000 ($56,000 to $68,000, €53,000 to €64,000 or درهم205,000 to درهم251,000)

  • Living Eyre

    Living Eyre

    “Gentleman’s manor house” that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Thornfield Hall in ‘Jane Eyre’ available to rent for just £14,400 per year; alternatively you could take a tiny studio in SW3 for the same sum

     

    Described by Charlotte Brontë (1775 – 1817) as being “three storeys high; a gentleman’s manor house; battlements round the top gave it a picturesque look” in Jane Eyre, Thornfield Hall was where Jane Eyre became a governess and where she fell for Mr Rochester. The 16th century building that is said to have been Brontë’s primary inspiration, North Lees Hall, is now available to rent and is offered for the same sum as a poky 179 square foot studio in Chelsea Cloisters in London, SW3.

     

    Living Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sum
    North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR is owned by the Peak District National Park and available to let after the Vivat Trust, that managed it as a holiday rental from 1988, ceased trading in 2015
    Living Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sum
    A first floor studio – 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR – is available through JLL for the same sum but is hardly as imposing
    Living Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sum
    Ruth Wilson played Jane Eyre with Toby Stephens as Edward Rochester in the 2006 TV adaptation of Jane Eyre; part of the series was filmed at North Lees Hall

     

    Supposedly designed by Robert Smythson (1534 – 1614), the architect of Hardwick Hall, Grade II* listed North Lees Hall features a tower and turrets and comprises of 2 reception rooms, 3 double bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It also has a large breakfast kitchen and basement but the panoramic views from the castellated roof terrace are what will most likely impress potential tenants.

     

    North Lees Hall is available through Saxton Mee for £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month). Tenders to rent it on a furnished basis for a minimum of twelve months must be submitted by Friday 28th April.

     

    Living Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sumLiving Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sum Living Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sumLiving Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sumLiving Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sum Living Eyre – North Lees Hall, Birley Lane, Hathersage, Derbyshire, S32 1BR, United Kingdom – £1,200 per month ($1,484, €1,402 or درهم5,453 per month) or alternatively take 154 Chelsea Cloisters, Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London, SW3 3DR for the same sum

  • Overheard – 8th April

    Overheard – 8th April

    Clangers overheard and snippets spotted by readers of ‘The Steeple Times’

     

    Candy Knockers

    At Scalini in Knightsbridge, two brash housebuilders from Essex sat devouring veal chops. One referenced his idols and observed: “The Candy brothers have a brilliant setup. They are like the Peter Stringfellows of property”. The other looked puzzled but the first continued: “They’ve got properties that sell as well as Katie Price’s knockers. What assets! Value for money? I don’t know. But, impressive? Hell yeah!” Try telling that to Mark Holyoake.

     

    You’ve Got That Sinking Feeling

    The same duo moved on to talking about their respective staff. The louder of the two offered his thoughts: “I’m so proud of Ray. He’s like the Titanic. He’s like the best ship in the world. Not because it sank but because it was the best ship in the world”. The other opined: “It still f**king sank and Ray will still f**king sink too”. All that was needed next was for My Heart Will Go On to play.

     

    Housing the Godly

    Two priests were spotted drinking Bloody Marys at the bar at PJ’s on Fulham Road. The first remarked: “I never quite manage to get given houses”. The second answered: “Shocking, isn’t it? I look through Country Life each week and I think: ‘All I get given each week is Communion wine’”.

     

    Partying with a 4×4

    A group of ladies gathered in the garden at Chiltern Firehouse after a hard day’s shopping in Selfridges. As they discussed an impending party an absent ‘friend’ was due to host, one Pucci clad creature shared her thoughts. She commented: “It’s not a party. They’re telling porkie pies. They’re just having it to show off that new Range Rover they’ve just bought. I bet they’ll block the bloody drive with it”. Miaow!

     

    An Iggy Hangover

    “My worst hangover was when I drank three bottles of champagne” remarked a passenger on the 14 bus. “Why?” asked her friend. “Because I had to take three days off work and because I thought I was Iggy Pop for two of them”.

     

    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.

     

  • Dining without Toto

    Dining without Toto

    Former Toto’s site in Lennox Gardens Mews, Knightsbridge to become a “contemporary Japanese” restaurant named Dinings

     

    In April 2014, just off Walton Street in Knightsbridge’s Lennox Gardens Mews, Toto’s prepared to reopen after a £3 million makeover at the behest of a new Indian owner. In spite of serving the most delicious Italian food, its slightly off-piste location proved difficult and it again closed in early 2016. Now, after remaining empty for some time, this former artist’s studio is set to become a “contemporary Japanese restaurant”.

     

    First mentioned by the lifestyle app Urbanologie earlier this week, Dinings, the Japanese tapas and sushi restaurant that has taken the site, already has an outpost in Marylebone and describes its offering as “a new style of Izakaya; Japanese tapas which combines traditional Japanese with modern European cuisine”.

     

    The restaurant is due to open on 16th May and will feature two dining bars and a ten cover sushi counter. Its interior has been designed by David d’Almada of Sagrada – a man whose previous commissions include The Arts Club on Dover Street and Sartoria on Savile Row – and, in spite of many recent closures in the area due to soaring rates and rents, we wish the new operators all the best in their venture.

     

    Image depicts the restaurant and garden as it was in 2014.