After a Year of the Rat that won’t exactly be fondly remembered, thankfully the lunar Year of the Ox begins on 12 February – representing hard work, strength and perseverance at a time when those qualities are in high demand.
To celebrate safely and support its tenants of London’s Chinatown, Shaftesbury has launched a digital campaign, #StrongAsAnOx, in lieu of traditional festivities – and it is partnering with the Chinatowns in San Francisco, Johannesburg and Melbourne to make it a truly global occasion. Shaftesbury explains that the #StrongAsAnOx campaign “aims to generate excitement about this important cultural festival, while reflecting lockdown restrictions”. Activities over coming weeks will focus on “engaging with the destination’s audiences, showing them how to bring a taste of Chinatown-style celebratory feasting to their table at home, while also reinforcing the sense of community that Chinatown London is famous for”. Count us in.
Love is… Slough Trading Estate
How to spoil your loved one on Valentine’s Day during lockdown? It’s a challenge. Perhaps you could treat them to the second episode of our new weekend podcast series, EG Like Sunday Morning. But that’s not available until 10am on the big day. If you want to get into the romantic mood ahead of time, it’s over to SEGRO’s Slough Trading Estate, which has devoted the latest edition of its Estate Life pod (one we have criminally overlooked before now) to a “Valentine’s Day Special!” And special is, indeed, the word, with the host promising to be an “oracle of love” on how to treat your significant other this 14 February – and boasting that the trading estate has “plenty to offer” in the romance department. Indeed, tenants featured produce skincare products, heart-shaped cakes and luxury hampers. If you want to know how to give your partner anti-ageing cream without causing offence, listen in at: https://soundcloud.com/user-696188142/ep-38-valentines-day
Pay the opposite of peanuts…
It’s not every day buyers get the chance to pick up a monkey forest and a fairy trail, but such is the unusual asset being offloaded by St Modwen Properties as part of a £200m disposal programme confirmed this week. Trentham Gardens in Staffordshire also includes a shopping village and garden centre, and accounts for about two-thirds of St Modwen’s non-core £86m retail and leisure portfolio, but new chief executive Sarwjit Sambhi is focused on “picking the right time” to launch a sale. “I’m very confident that we’ll get a buyer,” he says. “It’s a great asset, it’s just that we’re probably not the right owners.” The company says the site trades well and has an occupancy level of 96% – but didn’t confirm whether that figure included the monkeys.
We are all Jackie Weaver
Planners found more than 15 minutes of fame last week, when footage of Handforth Parish Council’s planning and environment committee went viral. An incident-packed, 18-minute edit of the chaotic meeting was watched by millions, spawning musical tributes, memes and multiple appearances across TV and radio for the breakout star, Jackie Weaver. As Twitter’s planners basked in reflected glory, one stood out. A special Diary award for opportunism goes to Royal Town Planning Institute chief exec Victoria Hills: “Who knew local #Governance #localgov was so cool! @RTPIPlanners is launching politicians in planning network this yr. You heard it here 1st.” Here’s hoping Hills has the authority to deliver – and that Weaver gets the gig of keeping the network in line.
Developer cameos
The third lockdown plus constant snow has given Diary a renewed love for bingeing TV – and we’re not the only ones turning to the Beeb in times of strife. Last week saw Hill Residential’s Oxford Mosaic scheme as the location for the first episode of season two of Interior Design Masters, hosted by Alan Carr on BBC Two. Given the noise that Hill has been making recently, we were surprised the developer didn’t jump on the PR opportunity as wannabe designers took to its £1m luxury homes. Perhaps they should take a leaf out Redrow’s book. Ahead of next week’s episode of Stacey Dooley’s The Nine to Five, it opted to press release the construction work at its Ebbsfleet Green site. A group of 15-18 year olds were “put to the test” with a bricklaying task to build their own home (one approach to overcoming the housing crisis for go-getting teens?). Ideal for home-schoolers, you can tune in to CBBC on 16 February at 1.20pm, or catch up on iPlayer. Who will we spot on screen next?
What the Dickens?
We have to admit that Charles Dickens’ birthday last weekend passed us by… but then, he never sends a card to Diary either. The folks at money.co.uk were on top of celebrations, however, seizing the chance to ask: how much would the properties that appear in his novels cost today? “Although famous for his incredible character writing and social commentary,” it reminds us, “Dickens is also well known for his unflinchingly accurate description of London in the 1800s. Throughout his work, several of his characters live or work in streets or squares that are still known to residents of the capital in 2021.” Top of the pile, quite rightly, is Ebenezer Scrooge’s home at 45 Lime Street, Central London, from A Christmas Carol, worth £9.8m – a sum that would make Scrooge wince, even after three spirits have visited. If you have great expectations of Great Expectations, you will not be disappointed – Miss Havisham’s house (Restoration House, in Rochester, Kent) is over £4.5m. Meanwhile, David Copperfield’s lodgings at 15 Buckingham Street would cost £2.5m, and the Workhouse from Oliver Twist – based on a Georgian building on Cleveland Street – would fetch up to £2.1m. Examples from The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby and The Old Curiosity Shop all make the list – and even the home of the poor Cratchit family – 16 Bayham Street, Camden – would now cost you a whopping £985,000. “God bless us,” as Tiny Tim might say.
