Now as you know I make a lot of videos about how much I love living in London
and what's happened is this company called L&Q has asked me to make a video
about how much I love living in London
and the reason is L&Q are a housing association
and one of London's largest residential property developers
specialising in something called
shared ownership
and just by coincidence they're filming Paddington Bear in my street
which is another reason I love living in London because it's excellent
So I'm off to the station to pick up my friend who's just got a job in London
and i'm hoping to persuade him to move here by showing him some weird and wacky properties
here in the amazing capital
and also places where famous people lived as well talking to random people of course
Hello Julian
Welcome to London
For example down here is Woburn Walk
now this was the first pedestrianised shopping street in London
and it's right around the corner from Kings Cross
it looks very Dickensian; they've still got all the bow windows
and you'd expect to see some sort of quaint boutique and
this one's the Woburn Tandoori....excellent.
This shop was actually the cheese mongers
and further along was the tobacconist
and we make the assumption that charles dickens, who lived around the corner
used to come in and get his tobacco
This is William Butler Yeats lived
and he was famous for saying
Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; make it hot by striking
Christmas is coming up and I can't help thinking of Christmas without thinking of Scrooge and Christmas Carol
and Charles Dickens and that classic victorian Christmas we're all so familiar with
Oh by the way if you're wondering what L&Q do
They do these joint ownership schemes
which make it easier to get onto the property ladder
shared ownership doesn't mean sharing with another person
it just means you require a smaller deposit
so you get a mortgage on, say, between 25% and 75% of your home
and then you pay a subsidised rent on the rest
and eventually as your income goes up you can own more of your own house
and this is called staircasing
Now speaking of people who owned their own house
This is where Charles Dickens lived, one of the many places in London.
and I believe it was here that he wrote Bleak House and Hard Times
just ovelooking Tavistock Square where the London bombings took place
He didn't didn't live in this ugly building; it was beautiful houses back then
but the buildings oppositeare exactly the same as when he lived here
so he would have looked at that exact facade
I think stuff like that is brilliant about London
What a lovely square
right around the corner from the madness of Kings Cross
Do you work around here?
Yes I do. I work over here at the Royal African Society
We've got SOAS the school of oriental and African studies just over there
we've got the British museum that way, the British Library that way
we're surrounded by incredible exhibitions
festivals,and so much to do for free as well
That's why I still live in London, that's why I've chosen not to move out of the city
What building's that?
This was originally a bomb shelter
I think the built it too late so they never really used it as a proper bomb shelter
Look, it's called the Eisenhower Centre
Eisenhower, in the war, used it as his base for the D-day landings. I think he ws actually here on that day
They've got 8 of them. There's one at Belsize Park, Clapham South
because everyone was taking shelter in the tube stations
and they thought we need some decent bomb shelters
but by the time they had built them the blitz had ended
In 1948 the first west Indian immigrants were housed in a similar one in Clapham South
I think they were there for several weeks until they could house them properly
I want to show you another house. There's an excellent house which I think you should live in
102 Goldhawk Rd
The perfect house for you
One of London's skinniest homes
I'm just wondering about my snooker table
It's more suited for you really isn't it!
It's funny you should say that because
as if they knew we were coming, someone has hung my hat in the window
It's calling you
I think I've found my perfect house
Home sweet home
There's another place I'd like to show you
the seductive area of Bayswater
How about this one?
Looks a bit rough!
If I said to you that you could have this property for free would you take it?
Yeah
On closer inspection
number 23 and 24, look the windows are all blacked out
and that's not because it's a pimp ghetto
In 1868 when they were extending the Metropolitan line
they had to knock down a couple of houses because the trains needed a place to vent off
So instead of ruining the facade they decided to leave that front of the house and demolish the rest
Ready to take a look inside?
Cut to me falling to my death!
Over there. There's another one.
Here in Pall Mall, it's the only property on this street which isn't owned by the queen.
Nell Gwynn was the mistress on King Charles II
and she wanted a house near the palace so he gave her this one
but when she found out that she only owned a lease on it and didn't own the freehold she went mental!
and she said to the King that unless he gives her the freehold, all deals are off
which basically meant no nookie for the king
So the poor fellow had to pass an act of Parliament to sign it over to her
no shared ownership for her!
I daresay at some point it will come up for sale
Have I managed to convince you that London is a great place to live?
I'll have to think about it over a pint
On Thursday nights in Covent Garden in New Row at Mr Fogg's Tavern
is an excellent good old London cockney knees up
London's a great place to live; the energy of London, the history of London
the arts scene, theatre, music, a great energy that I thrive off living and working in London
a great city
I live in Brixton
I like the fact that you can walk into a place amd not know what you're going to find
and find things like this
and end up in situations you wouldn't usually be in
like a cabaret or a cockney sing along
Now, I don't mind begging.
So please, subscribe to my channel if you haven't already done so.
Hit the big red button under the video
and if you've got any ideas of other places you'd like me to make a video about
please make a comment
and if you're interested in buying a property in London
then take a look at the L&Q website. The details are in the text description below
it's a really great way of to make your first steps on the property ladder
Cheers!