With luxurious boutiques and fancy bakeries, this lesser-known village sitting between Elstree and St Albans is home to one of Britain’s most expensive streets. Loom Lane is a street hidden amongst the village of Radlett in Hertfordshire, where the wealthy have flocked within recent years, and booming small businesses have followed.
It features plenty of desirable newly built mansions that stick out like a sore thumb amongst the old-fashioned Victorian farmhouses surrounding it. According to The Times list of Britain’s most expensive streets, the village has undergone a transformation, and the atmosphere of the area has changed. It shared: “Parts of it have subsequently undergone a staggering chichi conversion to prime footballer belt.”
It’s rumoured that Hartlett is home to not one but two famous footballers and former Arsenal players Alex Song and Kolo Touré, while Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks also shared the same turf.
Not to mention, music industry icon Simon Cowell is believed to be an ex-resident, as well as pop star Cheryl Cole.
An example of one of the gate homes on the market with Hamptons is a £7.95 million house with an indoor pool, cinema room, gym, games room and even separate living areas for staff. Helping boost the house’s value is the fact that the village has a number of desirable private schools, such as Aldenham and Haberdashers.
Ratlett is known as the second most expensive town to buy a house outside of the capital, making it one of the wealthiest places in Britain.
Outside of the footballer mansions, there’s also a variety of other substantial houses with large outdoor spaces and charming Victorian-era terraced houses.
On the outside of London, this village is now entirely surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt, a system in place to restrict the urbanisation of areas outside of the city. However, it’s now thought to be subject to significant infill development, with pressures to loosen the restrictions.
A posh area that also made the hot list was Burley Lane in the upmarket village, Quarndon. Just outside of Derby, this sought-after spot is home to football legend Brian Clough and is an area where many Derby County players have flocked.
Greg Perrins, associate partner at Fine & Country in Derbyshire, told The Times: “Offering an abundance of properties ranging from individual architect-designed properties, boutique gated developments and period properties, Burley Lane has properties for all tastes and is a popular choice for those looking for a large exclusive home.
“Its popularity is also reflective of its ability to command high prices, with the price per sq ft achieving, in some cases, 50 per cent above the average price per sq ft in Derbyshire for similar properties.”
Interestingly, another rich village, eight miles from Newcastle’s city centre, is Ponteland. The area made The Sunday Times list as the supercar capital of the north, meaning an impressive ratio of 131 luxury cars for every 1,000 houses sold.