By now you need no reminder that Diary loves our many furry friends, and we’re happy to report that the feeling seems to be mutual.
David Lipfriend, owner of id estates, got in touch to let us know that his dog Pippa had beaten him to a recent copy of EG when it hit the doormat. “It’s the first time she’s helped with the mail,” he said. “Laundry, yes (socks in particular), and the dishwasher (loading, not unloading), but not mail. She grabbed it on her own and when I went to retrieve it she started up the stairs.”
Hope you wrestled it back eventually, David, but let us know if you need another copy sent in the post.
A beast of a buy
Up for sale, a 38-acre site in the Lake District. Tenants include various big cats, rhinos and penguins, as well as multiple monkeys. Savills has been tasked with selling the freehold of the South Lakes Safari Zoo in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, which pulls in an annual rent of £500,000. The landowner, South Lakes Safari Zoo Ltd, went into administration last year. Experience with animals isn’t a necessity – the zoo itself will continue to be run by Cumbria Zoo Company and will be unaffected by the sale. The zoo’s chief executive has taken to social media to reassure visitors that the attraction will remain open and that it is in fact extending its lease. No need to feel bearish about the outlook for rent collection, then.
Putting the mix into mixed-use
In what can only be described as an absolutely banging example of real estate supporting the arts, Hadley Property Group and Clarion Housing Group are giving young people the chance to take DJ classes. The companies have teamed up with music education provider FutureDJs, which will take space for a state-of-the-art digital music academy in the partnership’s recently acquired mixed-use development site on Goodmayes High Road in Ilford. Ahead of that, Hadley and Clarion have committed to helping FutureDJs find temporary studio space in the capital, and will subsidise lessons. FutureDJs has been working in UK schools since 2015, when DJing and music production was added to the music curriculum. The company’s industry ambassadors include Goldie (pictured) and the rapper Ghetts.
‘Kids, careful on that Grade II listed play structure’
A children’s slide in Notting Hill has landed the unusual distinction of Grade II listing status by Historic England. The “monumental” slide at the Brunel Estate in Westbourne Park was the “main attraction” that led to the estate’s landscaping being included on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, said Westminster City Council. The estate was designed by Michael Brown in 1970, and much of it has remained relatively unchanged since, including the play area for older children. The council has waxed lyrical about the slide, hailing it as a “rare surviving example of a play structure of this period and general type”. But surely the most important view isn’t from the council, or even Historic England, but from the kids themselves? Well, the Brunel Estate Sounding Board duly obliged, quoting an unnamed child on the estate who described it succinctly thus: “It’s brilliant!”
A matter of perspective
Hasn’t technology delivered so much to the real estate industry as it navigates the coronavirus pandemic? Still, there’s always room for improvement, as the estate agent shots below demonstrate. Posted on Twitter by writer Caitie Delaney (@caitiedelaney) – who said she was “losing my f*cking mind at these apartment listing photos” – the images look like the agent may have put them together in something of a panic using Photoshop, or even Microsoft Paint. Her post prompted property photographer Jim Wilson to recall a client in London who asked him to Photoshop her new DFS sofa into the living room as it was coming on Saturday: “She handed me the catalogue to scan.”
