Squatters Evicted from Clarges Mews

The group of squatters who were running the Temporary School of Thought from a £22m house in Clarges Mews have been evicted after a court judgement at the Central London County Court found against them.

The action was brought by Timekeeper Ltd who own the property, which has played host to workshops, lectures and art exhibitions since the group moved in following their removal from another squat in Upper Grosvenor Street.

So, as Alice Cooper might have put it, is School out forever, or will the new term begin in another vacant Mayfair mansion?

Squatters in Park Lane

There’s been squatters in Upper Grosvenor Street. Then they moved to Clarges Mews.

And now the media is reporting that more squatters have taken up residence in Park Lane, and are enjoying the use of two houses worth £15million a piece. The group, about 40 strong, are living at number 94 and 95 on Park Lane where they apparently have fantastic views of Hyde Park.

Sky News reports that they are “currently hosting a “night exhibition” at No 95, displaying the paintings, drawings and sculptures they have produced”.

Candlewick Inn?

A reader writes:

Could you please let me know if there ever was a Candlewick Inn in Mayfair, or even one mentioned in a film, play or book. I have an article with a brass plaque inscribed: made for
The Candlewick Inn
MAYFAIR
London
and would like to find out more information.

Do you know anything about the Candlewick Inn?

Recognition for Albemarle Restaurant

The Albemarle Restaurant at Brown’s Hotel has been recognised with the awarding of three AA rosettes. The accolade is awarded to “outstanding restaurants that demand recognition well beyond the local area”.

The Albemarle was previous known as The Grill and was re-launched in March 2008 with Mark Hix as Director of Food and Lee Streeton as Executive Chef.

Related Link: Mayfair Hotels

Virtual Mayfair on Second Life

Victor Keegan in the Guardian updates readers on the latest efforts to build online replicas of London so that users, shoppers, tourists, visitors etc can wander around with their “avatars” rather than be there in person. Keegan writes:

“In terms of being up and running, the London being recreated in Second Life, which is the only one to use an existing virtual world, by a team led by Debs Regent, is literally streets ahead of the others. It already offers shops and apartments for rent. Just type, say, “Mayfair” into SL’s search box after (free) registration. One person who had opened a clothing store in Mayfair last week said she had recouped the modest rent with her first sales (of clothes for avatars). Regent – her avatar’s name – says 40% of shops in Mayfair have been rented out, though mainly to Second Life residents, not to real-life shop owners, who are proving a hard nut to crack. Visitors can go clubbing at the Underground club or walking in Hyde Park and soon will be able to travel by (virtual) tube.”

I must admit, I have never seen Second Life and I’m not sure I really get the appeal. The best virtual replica I’ve seen of London was in the Playstation 2 videogame, The Getaway, which allowed you to drive around the West End committing various crimes. But with five separate online versions of a 3d London under construction, Mayfair is going to be well catered for online.

If you run a business or shop in Mayfair, would you rent a shop in the online version of Mayfair too? Do you think a presence in a virtual Mayfair could help your business in the real life Mayfair?

Mallett Antiques to Leave Bond Street

Mallet Antiques has announced to shareholders that it is to leave its current location in Bond Street.

The decision to leave 141 New Bond Street has been attributed to a “significant” rent increase from the landlord, and also the changing nature of New Bond Street which Mallet describes as now being “predominately a fashion street which has affected the footfall into our showroom”.

The company was formed in 1865, in Bath, and first opened a shop in New Bond Street in 1910.

Commercial Rents Collapse

Landlords in Mayfair and St James are feeling the pinch as commercial rents have fallen by 30%. That’s the finding of NB Real Estate in new research reported on by the Independent. It shows that average rents fell from £120/sq ft to just £85/sq ft across last year. The likely cause for this has been the impact of the global economic malaise on the hedge fund community, which is centered around Mayfair.

Armani bids for US Embassy?

Mayfair is no stranger to designer names, but could one fashion icon have designs on a whole side of Grosvenor Square?

The Mail on Sunday has speculated today that Giorgio Armani is in the bidding to buy up the leasehold to the US Embassy building in Mayfair. According to the newspaper he has an ambition to become an international hotellier and thinks the US Embassy building – with the Americans soon to decamp to Nine Elms – could be just what he’s after. One thing is certain: the famous designer will face stiff opposition for this prime piece of real estate.

Promote A Business in Mayfair

The publishers of About Mayfair, Uretopia Limited, are putting together the infrastructure for a series of local business directories to run across its network of sites, including this one, and Greenwich.co.uk, theCity.co.uk and NewMalden.co.uk.

The planned Mayfair Business Directory will help connect Mayfair businesses with Mayfair customers. It will be a useful place for Mayfair people to find local professionals and tradesmen, and it will be a place for Mayfair businesses to reach out to new clients.

Find out more about the Mayfair Business Directory, and how you can make sure your business is one of the first to be on there.

Squatters Move Up The Property Ladder

The recession may be starting to hit a lot of people, but there’s one group of people who seem blissfully unaffected by its impact, and have just moved from a £6 million town house into £22 million Mews house.

Who would make such an extravagant move up the property ladder in these times of economic hardship? Well, according to the Telegraph, the group of squatters that were occupying a property in Upper Grosvenor Street have now upsticks and taken over a seriously impressive property in Clarges Mews.

The owner of the property is claiming that the property hadn’t left abandoned but was unoccupied whilst planning permission for works was sought.