Streets of London : Blocks of decaying bullion

After our lovely Sunday roast in the Crabtree, beside the Thames, we decided to head up to Hampstead to walk it off, and as we have already walked in areas to the east, west and south, today we headed north, to walk The Bishop's Avenue: a long stretch with golf courses on two sides, and just a block away from the heath that ambles on forever. It is, quite likely, one of the most expensive streets in the world. It is far from being the most beautiful. Part of the reason is that a large number of the properties are under wraps. Black hoarding and spiked security fences dangling with chains and locks have been installed to secure what lies beyond. At times these have been removed, or punched through; broken, so you can see exactly what is there, and most times it is not pretty. There are yards overgrown with weeds and out of control plants. There are boarded up buildings, with paintwork peeling, woodwork rotting and bricks crumbling. Properties are disintegrating. One empty place advertises facilities available such as a pool complex and a ballroom. Just what one needs in a suburb.

Some, to be fair, have been, or are being, renovated. 'Fortress builders' proudly display their wares. Many of the places do look just like fortresses. The properties, we discover, talking to those out dog-walking today, are owned, in the main by the world's super-rich. Many around £25 million, and rising. The Bishop's Avenue used to be called Millionare's Row. These days it is better known as Billionaire's Row: which is the price that inflation adds to one's property portfolio. Most are absentee owners. They come from all parts of the world: Russia, the Middle East, China, and Europe. Some have bought homes here without even seeing the property. Some have owned here for decades and have never bothered to visit, let alone live in the place, as it was never bought as a home; purely as place to park their money. In a secure country. So that over time their investment would increase in value. Exploitative, one could say.

Others do live here, and find it not very companionable living in a street full of hoarding, with security dogs frequently barking from secure kennels, on properties patrolled by armed guards who have purpose-built guardhouses secured for their sins. It cannot be a whole lot of fun. Even as a 'trophy home' most are not that appealing. Not to mention the noise. Cars throttle up and down the road at killer pace: triple glazing would be lucky to muffle the sound.

Others live here permanently, very few: though some of the finished homes are quite beautiful. But some look more like warehouses, and are not. Many of the mansions have 'For Sale' signs on them. Signs suggesting that the existing palace-sized-homes will be torn down, and another glitzier one built in its stead. Plans approved, even. In places, these For Sale properties climb the street: in one instance one advertising sign covers four of them: one after the other all on the same side of the street. Assumably, with just one owner, willing to sell one, or all, for the right price.

Some owners have taken a more 'enlightened view' and have demolished the old home, or renovated it as headquarters and around the grounds built a complex of multi-million dollar apartments, themselves outlandishly priced. Though, who would want to live there, one seriously wonders. There appears to be zero community at all. It is pretty ugly, in truth. Its future pretty grim. Surprising, in fact, that the urban housing guerrillas, objecting to the cost of London housing and the shortage, have not moved in as they have elsewhere. But, maybe that is just a matter of time. Or, the guard dogs are off-putting. Or the street. This is hardly a happy street.