Popping along the high street

Compton Miller5 April 2012
The Weekender

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Pop hearthrob Gareth Gates has settled into a fan-proof, one-bedroom ground-floor flat off Kensington High Street. His £600-a-week home, rented through Hamptons International, is in a purpose-built modern block with 24-hour security, underground parking, a gym and landscaped gardens. It?s a luxurious contrast to the cramped end-of-terrace Bradford house where the Pop Idol runner-up grew up. ?Gareth?s management company has rented the flat as he?s only 17 and therefore a minor,? says Hamptons International. Gareth?s first priority is to buy a new home for his devoted parents up North.

You may still feel the rock ?n? roll vibes in a five-bedroom, three-bathroom mock-Tudor house near Kew Green, for rent at £8,000 a week. It formerly belonged to the late Thin Lizzy star Phil Lynott. ?Phil built his own recording studio, where Bob Geldof used to perform,? say agents Featherstone-Leigh. The house, with its vast conservatory/family room, recently featured in a TV documentary about Lynott. It will also be seen in a forthcoming film, Flyfishing, which stars Helen Baxendale, Frances Barber and Ben Price.

Fancy renting TV satirist Sacha Baron-Cohen?s one-bedroom flat in Belsize Park? His third-floor property in a purpose-built Fifties block is perhaps better-known as ?da pad?, where his alter ego Ali G lived ?before I met me bitch Julie and we moved to Staines?. The hulking, Cambridgeeducated star wants £285 a week through Claridges Estates. ?Sacha lived there while appearing on The 11 O?Clock Show two years ago,? say the agents. ?He still owns it, but has now moved to somewhere a bit larger nearby.?

Notting Hill chef Antony Worrall Thompson?s dream of buying a £380,000 villa in Mijas near Malaga has ended in tears. ?I?ve just been gazumped,? he complains. ?It?s particularly galling as the vendor insisted that I put down a £10,000 security bond here to ensure I didn?t pull out!? But the star of the BBC?s Food and Drink show will continue to look for a holiday home around Mijas. ?It?s a great investment,? he says. ?If we join the euro we?ll have to devalue by 10 to 20 per cent, giving me a tidy profit if I ever sold.? He did, however, get his security bond back. Admiral Lord Nelson?s former Mayfair home is to become a contemporary art gallery. West End dealer Harry Blain has paid ?a substantial sixfigure premium? for the 10,000sq ft blue-plaqued Georgian house between New Bond Street and Haunch of Venison Yard. Blain says: ?The whole house has just been converted by architect Nick Malby, a pupil of Renzo Piano [who built the Pompidou Centre with Richard Rogers]. It?s got a vast ballroom with a 30ft ceiling that will be perfect for exhibiting large canvases.? Nelson may never have graced the elegant house with a picture of his mistress Lady Hamilton but he certainly used it as a backdrop for several portraits of himself.

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