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P p.S ✨💕💛 THIS IS JUST A JOKE SO NOBODY GETS UPSET😮🥭 DO YOU KNOW WHY PEOPLE IN THAT AREA DON'T CARE ABOUT PARKING TICKETS? ❤BECAUSE THEY'LL HAVE THE POLITICIANS AND DIGNITARIES THEY'RE PAYING OFF TAKE CARE OF IT FOR THEM BECAUSE ALL THAT BRIBE MONEY HAS TO BE GOOD FOR SOMETHING RIGHT😂😂😂😂😂❤❤❤😢😢😢😂😂😂😅😅😅😂😂😂❤❤❤
@@alastairgreen6783 no. Oligarchy is when a small group of people rule a larger group. Billionaires of course donate & mingle all the time with politicians so they are usually by default oligarchs as they influence the government.
@@j134679 The exact word for billionaires would be "plutocrats", members of the "plutocracy" from the Greek "ploutos" (wealth) and "krátos" (power). They usually are the power behind the throne and the politicians are their lackeys. You are right in saying that the plutocrats rule by default because they do not want to be identified as those responsible for the people´s misery. That is why they finance and use the politicians, their obedient servants.
@@alastairgreen6783 Yes, I would say it is a polite word to describe crooks. In fact, an oligarch is just a member of a minority who rules a country (ALL so-called "democracies" are nothing but oligarchies) From the Greek "oligoi" (a few) and "arkhein" (rule) = oligarchy (rule of a few). Most Americans and Europeans stupidly believe they live in a democracy!
@@arslongavitabrevis5136 In a way politics don't really exist for the regular people; ever since corporations took control; its more about politics for rich people.. Instead they divide the regular people and poor with "petty" politics, as thats the easiest to divide them with and divide and conquer;
My uncle owns a townhome type residence here. 12 million quid, bought in 2018. He is a politician in one of the poorest states in India. The residence is occupied max 2 months in a year by his kids in summer. Trust in Cook Islands, banking in Jersey, assets in London. Thieves have a wonderful life.
A Welsh milkman called "Jones the milk" who delivered milk in London right through the Blitz bought several bombed out houses in Belgravia for £5 each just post war. He then thought he had done very well by selling them a couple of years later for £25 each.
I bought an ex gf 100 bitcoins for £200 told her to hang to them for the kid's' she forgot about them for a few years then when she checked they worth £2500' in total' She cashed them all out to go on holiday in Spain for week 🤡 now worth £500,000 +
It’s not so much that London’s richest billionaires have left Belgravia, so much as most don’t live in their houses to begin with. In fact, most of the houses aren’t directly owned by said billionaires. Most of Belgravia is owned by shell companies out of the Channel Islands.
@@Maitreya0208 Well it’s the same point … London property is merely a way of investing spare money, or worse laundering money… and that’s a disaster for the country
I've always thought its not the real world - all the decades I've been to London - you never see anyone coming in and out of those imposing doorways. Meanwhile REAL Londoners can't afford to live there !
Which is the proof that saying "if you raise the taxes for the rich they will leave" means very little, if they can't uproot their main assets and take them abroad. Raising taxes for the rich is the most viable way of returning the money that was given to them for free.
They haven’t deserted Belgravia, they have multiple houses around the world and those houses remain empty for the majority of the time. It has been this way for decades.
@@sarahwhyld5596 It's so bad in Manhattan w/all the billionaire-friendly skyscrapers which they can't stop building that mostly sit empty because the owners barely ever set foot in them that the city has started charging fees for absentee residents. These residences have become investments like buying fine art to the super wealthy.
They definitely HAVEN’T disappeared..!!! I work in 5 separate houses around there as security and the owners have multiple houses around the world. They literally fly into London, stop off in their houses for a night or two to break up the long flight, then head off to their destination in sunnier climes
@@SaulidSnake at a certain point Hotels are not an option any longer. And I guess its better to assume noone owning anything there is without taxfraud.
@@SaulidSnake ~ Possibly bought for investment purposes and another theory of mine is that these billionaires get advised that they *have* to spend so much every year so they buy up properties
I work in the area and the Russians have disappeared. Used to be full of them then as soon as the war started they ran off. We haven’t had any Russians as customers.
Been going that way for many years, I used to work around that area in peoples houses. Some days you’d barely see anyone, empty houses. It money laundering on a massive scale. Investing in a big house with money you shouldn’t have for 10 years and it’s gone up in value by 20 percent
I can't believe people still watch TV to begin with. It's a dead media. Nothing but intense and rampant propaganda now, absolutely everything has to have a "message".
The weather presenters are only as good as the meteorological information they are given. It's complex as a science. Why are you glamorising ignorance? It's annoying and nothing to celebrate.
Back in the 80’s when I was a teenager my dad was the Priest at St Augustines on Queens gate. I also had a job working at the fancy butchers behind South Ken tube station. We constantly had Landrovers with bird hanging racks in the back show up with quail, ducks etc for me to dress. Watching this takes me back to the times I used to go wandering. Back then a few of those parks didn’t have locks and I used to sit in them, feed the birds and read the paper! I live in Western Australia now so your channel is a great way for me to see my old stomping ground.
My old stomping ground too I used to live at 78 Queens Gate, used to hang out at the Texas Lone Star on Gloucester. Rd did you know it. Up until about 10 years ago I used to attend St Augustine until the Vicar and his wife moved to Norfolk to church plant. Spent many a happy evening in their residence at the back of the church. The house was entered through the kitchen, which I suppose would have been where your family lived.
Oh Han, this was glorious! Some dismiss it as boring but Belgravia is beyond any convention. Tranquil, magical, the streets adorned with historic townhouses that take your breath away. The shops, cafes and historic pubs are exquisite. The fact that it doesn't have a nightlife is a recommendation, not a deterrent. There are plenty of places to go in London for an edgy vibe and entertainment. Belgravia is on another level.
All of these expensive properties aren't owned by the people who live in them. They are leased, and you have to pay a lease payment every month. The company that owns most of the property in Belgravia is the Grosvenor Group, a family property company owned by the Duke of Westminster, also known as the Grosvenor Estate. You have to sign a 99 year lease on a flat. At the end of the lease term, the property, and any improvements you have made to it, revert back to the freeholder (the Grosvenor Group).
@@waleed8530 you can negotiate a new lease term. Same for most flats, you do not own the land. Proposals to change the system for houses, obviously Grosvenor opposes argue consistent historic estate, preservation listings etc
@@waleed8530 They will never sell any of these properties. They are collecting some of the highest rents in the world and the properties appreciate so fast! They would be crazy to sell a single property. The real estate that these flats are built upon has been in their family for hundreds of years. So have the buildings, some were built hundreds of years ago and a Grosvenor family member has owned them ever since.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 That's possible. If he owned the ground and the building he was a freeholder. I'm sure it is possible to buy a freehold, but I guarantee you they never hit the public market. All of the freeholders in London have a little clique and they horse trade among themselves. Never with the public. that is one way they maintain property values.
Awesome video!! We were just in Belgravia in July and hit up most of the streets and places you covered. Definitely London’s most architecturally beautiful neighborhood.
It’s always like this in the summer. I worked for these people for years and they all go abroad in the summer. They have homes all around the world..and by the way they don’t pay tax here either.
everyone pays some tax either way. Countries try to attract wealthy foreigners for their huge purchasing power which, even if they only stay briefly, could still be more than what a few thousand regular people spend in a lifetime.
We're gardeners in Belgravia so it was very interesting you walking around this neighbourhood Hannah, like you pointed out its very quiet although weekends I think you filmed on a Saturday its almost deserted , most people seem to go away for the weekend and August they all leave on holiday, thanks for this great show
I used to love wondering around Belgravia precisely because it’s so quiet, but these past few years I’ve found it super busy at weekends. I think there are some go-to places thanks to Instagram, TikTok etc.
My orchestra sometimes performs in the church that's next to the Berkeley hotel and the neighbourhood always feels so strange. There is no local community centre (other than the church) where we can promote the concert like in other neighbourhoods, and if we want a quick bite to eat before performing we have a choice between a fancy sit-down restaurant (with too slow service), a sandwich from Waitrose, or a bit of a jog all the way to that stretch of less fancy restaurants near Harrods.
I for one love Belgravia, it is beautiful. Fun little experience - I am a dancer and had arranged a dance photo shoot in the area (Eaton Square to be precise) The photographer and I spotted some gorgeous entrances/doors with fresh flower basket so decided to try and take some images and as soon as I started posing in my pointe shoes and tutu a security man started walking towards us… we were sure to be kicked off.. when to our surprise he smiled and said that the houses on the other side look exactly the same but actually have the sun on them right now so we might want to use the light and change over! He even pointed out the house that had similar flowers… we were bowled over by his friendly and kind manner. Then we had a situation where I had to change into a new outfit and didn’t know where to go, so asked in Peggy Porschen and not only did they welcome me in to use the ladies to get changed, they allowed us to take images in their entrance and at their outside tables! No snobbery at all in Belgravia - we only experienced lovely and kind people everywhere :)
I'm told that you get back from the world what is in your heart so that's a good reflection on yourselves. A bit worrying for me at the moment,with some tribulation but maybe it's "my turn"!
Talking about owning a chunk of london, my Great Grandfather owned the farmland that became the west end of Battersea park, his ancestor with the surname Weller married a woman named Ladbroke who turned out to be the last in line to the Ladbroke fortune when the lord died, he (Lord Ladbroke) had bought land to the west of Kensington to make a racecourse to rival Epsom, his untimely death without heir meant that my Weller ancestor inherited the land (on the condition he changed his name to Ladbroke). My ancestor didnt care for horse racing so he developed the land and gave one of his new roads the name Ladbroke Grove. Sadly the whole lot had been sold and spent by the time my grandmother got her small share of the inheritance and her husband gambled all that away before she was 20, so we all grew up poor and renting in Streatham.
This type of work would be great for my friend who absolutely can NOT stop talking, even when alone he never stops. I am sending him this video and say, this is what you should be doing.
This week I was trying to decide on my top 5 RUclips channels and this video has helped me decide that 'Hannah Ricketts" is my favourite channel. Good presentation, a good variety of topics, good filming and editing and about the right length . Congratulations. No gold medal but how many other people agree with me? . It is hard to decide with all the different topics covered.
Belgravia London is one of the most expensive but clean neighbourhoods here! I wish the housing was bloody affordable but expensive, unfortunately! Thanks for sharing this wonderful tour & have a beautiful weekend! ❤
It is a very clean area & super salubrious. But there was always a sinister energy I picked up in Belgravia & so even had my life taken a course to the highest means, I would never ever of lived there: not even for one night.
My friend is an antique restorer, and I have a van, he once asked me to take a small table from here in Derbyshire to Belgravia. I charged £500. The table was £4500. When I got there I was chatting to a builder doing some work, he told me the house had just been bought by a 22 year old for 11 million. (It was a terraced townhouse, not a country mansion 😂) I took the table inside, and a women told me to "put it over here" , she took a photo of it on her phone and said " ya, thank you, now get rid of it!" The whole thing was just a photo! They didn't even want the table. I took it back up north and sold it again! 😂
interesting “win win” but got some dubious business vibe there. But did your antique dealer friend get £4500 for hiring out his table for the photo? When I heard “22 year old” with that ridiculous amount of money and that you didn’t even know the table was only a prop for a photo shoot sounded like a chapter out of a Black Axe book of global scam operation 😂
Billionaires live everywhere, they're like nomads. The real problem is that young ambitious entrepreneurs are leaving. And they're not just leaving the UK, they are leaving continental Europe for places in Asia or the US where there is more opportunity, more capital, more talent. Europe is on a downward spiral and nothing is being done to solve it.
Are you really sure about this?don't get me wrong, as far as creative talented cool people leaving Britain or even feeling forced to due to rent & buy home prices & transport & gas prices: yeah sure for over 20 years I saw it happening with my own eyes, enmass in London. But is this really happening a lot in Europe too? & Why?
I so enjoy your mini tours. They are like little jewels. Your stream of consciousness narration is always spot on and always peppered with wonderful humor. Saying Belgravia is a rip off made me burst into laughter. No, I guess I would not live there. Also, I love the piano at the end of your videos. I look forward to hearing it and seeing one last comment from you. You are the best!
Its obvious all those properties in central london are never, ever lived in, but owned by the world's billionnaires elsewhere😢😢😢 Peasants,😂😂😂😂 a walk is OK...I guess??😂😂😂😢😢😢😢
London is a microcosm that shows how the world actually works. The rich live in their mansions out there in the countryside... or perhaps their fancy bomb proof shelters. When they need to come to town, they have their large and safe neighborhoods. Last time I was in London I walked through Belgravia. I love the contrasts. There are Bentleys and such cars parked in one street and Nissan Micras just two streets away - that´s where the servants live.
That is how it is to be a Billionaire. They have all the Gold. They have all the Silver. They are alone. The only 'Friends' they have are people they pay, or hangers on. They can not trust anyone. They are in an ivory tower of gilded wealth. It is a cage as much as a castle. They are prisoners to their wealth. At that point, the Gold owns them.
Most rich people in this area leave London for the summer generally spending time in the other home/ homes or on yachts lol. I love this channel and Hannah is always delightful Thank you for checking out the posh restaurants etc.
There is not much point in our online age in spending money on CR letter boxes and it would be criminal vandalism to change the existing ones. Maybe though,just a few in the new vast housing areas going up all over the country and the future projected ones. There is still a need to post an actual letter now and then but I usually pick a box outside a functioning post office or over the counter inside. Not in a remote isolated one that looks like birds might be nesting in it.
I visited London in 2015. Totally loved the city. Toured Buckingham palace and the British museum which were great. I stayed in a room which was only about 8 minutes away from the tube station Victoria. Love your 4k video.
It looks very nice now, but what is it like during the winter? Living in NY, I still don't like the winters. I'd much rather prefer the excessive heat of the summers over the bone chilling cold winters.
My best Experience Of Belgravia was at the peak of the lockdown going with a bunch of guys on Deliveroo ride with £4000 of food from Hakassan restaurant to deliver. Guy was late to collect (we got a timer for 7 minutes) so we left with a crazy good meal and you had 12 Deliveroo riders sharing the most amazing meal on Mayfair under a staircase 😂😂😂
Love Belgravia, along with Hampstead it's one of my favorite areas in London. The neighborhood clearing out during summer reminds of when I lived in NYC and those who live in the Upper East Side would be out at the summer home in the Hamptons or Cape Cod for the summer and then would jet off to "winter" in the Caribbean, Hawaii, California, The Maldives or wherever after Christmas until spring. What a life - goals indeed.
16,500 millionaires have left London over last 6 years due to political uncertainty and looking for lower taxes. I guess the rich like their money more than living in London 😢
Hi Hannah- I know Belgravia well having worked in Belgravia Square for 10 years. The area is generally always quiet and even more in the summer. I was fortunate enough to have a key accessing the gardens in Belgrave Square and it was a lovely oasis of calm with nice areas to sit and have lunch or play tennis if you were so inclined. There are a few pubs tucked away such as the Horse and Groom and the Grenadier. You wouldn’t have known it but the Royal College of Defence Studies is at 37 Belgrave Square and is at the corner with Upper Belgrave Street. It was established in 1927 and moved to its current location after the Second World War. Belgrave Square also has some South American connections with a number of sculptures including that of Simon Bolivar , Venezuelan military and political leader. I now live in Tunbridge Wells but I’m frequently in London so my connections there are still strong. Keep up the good work.
The problem with living in these areas is that they're never-ending construction sites - a mix of vanity projects and high end retail spaces changing hands. Imagine buying one of these homes to live in and then having to endure the relentless "music" coming from the dozens and dozens of sites in your neighbourhood at any one time.
You're absolutely right, I used to live in South Kensington so I was often around the Belgravia area and for around 6yrs, I can't recall a time when there was no construction going on. It's just constant.
@@staffordcrombie566 Yes😂ANYWHERE where the rich lives, construction is 24/7 365 for years and years. Not only inside London, outside London too like Virginia Water. It's never ending.
So many comments I need to make, I was chatting to you as you were walking around! 😂 Loved the tour of Belgravia! For older viewers who remember Upstairs Downstairs, it was set in Eaton Place, Belgravia in just one of those houses over a century ago in Edwardian London. The street was much busier then, and the owner was an MP married to an Aristocrat, the Bellamys. Fabulous series. Re the Post Boxes, they'll only be replaced as needed so as not to waste money. ER stands for Elizabeth Regina, Queen Elizabeth, CR for Charles Rex, King Charles in Latin. The building you showed which you said was post WW2 and you didn't like, looked 1930s Art Deco to me,with the curved corners and windows. A block of apartments for well off gentlemen when staying in London, who would leave their shoes and suit outside their room to be cleaned and pressed overnight. There are a few built in the same Modernist style, including a block in Hackney, but not as well maintained. I love to see them though. No, it's not Architecture in the Classical style, but still very attractive buildings to my eyes. But I'm a huge Deco fan. It's a mystery how those Embassies can still afford to be in Belgravia to be honest. The US Embassy moved across the River to a cheaper location and expanded. But must be a swish area to receive guests. Sadly not many Londoners can afford those prices. But interesting to see how the other half live. Cheers Hannah, have a fab weekend! 👍🫶💐🇬🇧
That "squashed church" is now the home of Mosimann's private dining club. Amazing value for money which membership not out of reach as some might think!
Hey Hannah, Happy Friday! I have to ask-who can’t love Hannah? We all adore you, not just for your amazing vlogs, but also because of your lovely personality and great sense of humor. I really appreciate your positive energy and passion. By the way, I totally agree with you on the car's color; I'm old school like you, and we're the same age! Wishing you a fantastic Friday night and a wonderful weekend. Cheers! 💐🇬🇧❤🇺🇸💐
That was an expensive iced coffee! Try the Party at Pavilion in Pavillion road (the sloane square end), a 10 Minute walk from Motcomb Street. Not been to Motcomb Street for almost 20 years, I used to park in the underground car park there back in the 90's. It has changed a bit since then.
Mews are rows of stables and coach houses with living quarters above them that were built in London in the 17th and 18th centuries. Mews are usually found in cobbled lanes behind large residential townhouses.
On the weekends London always went quiet. We lived in Westminster and come Saturday morning it was silent. The pubs also mainly closed. As a resident you would get 20% at local restaurants and your own table. The problem with the UK is it went to the wall post Brexit Vote. Most people I know became resident of a European country after Brexit as they knew what was happening. Now Labour are in, it will make it even more interesting for the UK Tax Payer and UK Business Owner. Give it 10 years, the UK housing market may reverse. Most of the wealthy are on the French Riveira, Italy etc for July & August. Most of Europe shuts down for August for the Holidays. I have been in England a few times this summer. Don’t miss the weather…
Now compare this to Seven Sisters and Canning Town. "A Tale of Two Cities" was comparing London to Paris, but perhaps it might be better to compare London to itself.
Yes - that gray color on cars - I live in San Diego - a very Navy town so I call that color "Battleship Gray" - and I hate it! Why so many people love that flat gray color is beyond me when there are so many other colors to choose from. Gray has become the world's favorite color - does that say something? Love the video - sad seeing that may empty homes...
It's the standard offering on many cars. My Audi RS5 Vorsprung coupe has paint which is a £675 option - the grey is £0. 'Lots of penny-pinchers out there...even amongst the relatively affluent.
This area would be deserted in August even when this area was first developed as the British aristocracy who lived here would have decamped to their country estates. People came back to town for sittings of parliament and the social season.
I worked as an Estate Agent in Mayfair, Belgravia, Knightsbridge etc. Very few properties are owner occupied, local shops have closed because there are no customers! Many properties have house sitters or care takers and they do not create a community. This video seems to have been produced to make people angry or envious about well maintained luxury property. For example just across the river Brixton was once one of the poshest areas in London( just look at the multiple floor houses) so who knows what the future holds.
@@madeinengland1212 gentrification is a slow avalanche sweeping out and away undesirable sections of a community.when people discover a cheaper area to start buying modding properties their numbers change things very quickly. you do not notice it until the noise in the late evening to early morning declines, because people have jobs and go to sleep early and get up early. the easy way to tell the culture of an area!
@@sirdabmustafa agents earn a living on commission rather than a salary no sales no income, they charge a percentage so on a typical 300,000 flat 1% is 3000 is that a lot on 300,000! you can avoid fees if you knock on doors asking if flats are for sale but it will take a long time and you will get lots of don't bother me now, get lost etc.
Dear Hannah, Your vids are re delightful, and you are a joy to watch ramble on. Please do some interior vids of tthese houses. A lot of them are in old Hollywood movies. Try and view the ones that aren’t ruined inside. Many of these houses have been gutted and all the ornamental plaster and chimney pieces are gone. Thank you for these wonderful tours.
People are leaving but prices aren't dropping? Same in NYC. I've heard the economics expression "sticky down" but this phenomenon lasts even longer in real estate than the asset value might predict (well, IMO anyway)
Thx Hannah for your very insightful tour of Belgravia on London! It is almost eery how there were relatively so few people out & about on a weekend afternoon! Hannah I always appreciate your tours of the different London areas, as your comments & opinions are so helpful! Thx again Hannah for all your time & effort to produce this vlog, & I hope you are enjoying your summer as well! Until next Friday, be safe Hannah!!!
London neighbourhoods were always quiet at the weekends. Offices and embassies closed,employees living out of town, the wealthy off to their country houses…
So thing I`ll noticed in the knightsbridge area, a lot of homes are up for sale, In Motcomb street it doesn`t seem the same any more, Most Billionaires don`t live in London on a week to week basis, But live around the world in there other properties. Might be many reasons why they have left.
In a lot of other countries UK people ie non native people are not allowed to buy property, full stop; only rent. Or they have strict immigration rules like Singapore has a 60% tax at purchase for foreigners and 65% for an entity or trust. This needs to be replicated in the UK now.
E II R on a postbox stands for Elizabeth III Regina, ie. Queen Elizabeh II, not ‘Royal’. Postboxes will not be replaced - there are still many with G VI R and even G V R, E VII R and even V R. Only new or repaired postboxes will bear the cypher C III R. ‘Wealthy’ is a synoym for ‘rich’ and vice versa. The Grosvenor Estate and associated names - Westminster, Eccleston, Chester, and Wilton - are all associated with the Grosvenor Family, which is of Norman origin, and the later enobled Dukes of Westminster, who are largely based in Cheshire. The land - ca. 300 acres of land, including ‘The Five Fields’ mentioned, came into the family’s possession via marriage in the 17th century. It was essentially farm land at the time and outside the boundaries of the city of London. With London’s growth and rapid expansion over successive centuries, especially during the Industrial Revolution, the Estate was well positioned and subsequently developed by the Grosvenor Family together with architects such as Robert Nash and Thomas Cubitt. The freehold is largely still owned by Grosvenor Estates and many of the buildings are simply leasehold. A great deal of the Chelsea and Belgravia area was bombed during the Second World War, given its proximity to the Houses of Parliament, hence why there is something of a ‘hotch potch’ of architectural styles, particularly from the mid-twentieth century onwards. Mews houses originally served as accommodation for carriages and livestock ie. horses, as well as the attending groomsmen. Domestic staff largely lived indoors on the upper floors of the great houses, as portrayed in television series such as ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ and ‘Downton Abbey’. Through the economic turmoil caused by the First World War and afterwards, many aristocratic families could either no longer afford to run such large residences or the heir and ‘the spare’ had often fallen in the Great War, or both, after which women, previously ‘in service’, and the evolution of unionised labour demanded a fair living wage as well as universal suffrage. Initially only women over 30 years of age and possessed of land were allowed to vote from 1918 onwards. The latter did not occur until 1930.
Hi Hannah I shared your Vlog with my son. My mother grew up in England and we can imagine from you how sweet London is. Your generosity and creativity is much appreciated. ❤My son loves all the cool cars 🚗.
Top tip. Dont feed Hydrageas commecial liquid plant food. Even diluted it tends to cause the leaves to burn. They are very sisitive to chemicals. They can recover though.
Very like Nash terraces . He made some crescent shaped rows of houses . There’s similar in Reading . It’s all solicitors there . Architects get copied and often new builds were made to look much earlier e.g mock Tudor houses
Just discovered your videos, my dear. My dear husband and I are binge watching all your videos presently. You are marvelous. The videos are brilliant. Thumbs up on all.
just found your vlogs scrolling on RUclips gone 1am! love that you tell us some history as you go along I'm from London but now live in Cornwall, cant wait to watch loads more x
Hi Hannah. In London now from Canada, partly inspired by your wonderful vlogs. So amazing to see many of the places in your videos in person. Please continue with them!
It's going to be a great Friday today with you on walking around Belgravia which is really a nice looking area of London and as always another awesome listening to your reactions on various things and going to the stores around the city have a beautiful weekend and thank you Lady Hannah.☕👋🇬🇧
Oh very nice tour… it make me feel young.. many years ago, in the middle of ‘80 I lived in Hampstead for ten years…..,it was a wonderful period of my life…..the last time I was in London in 2016 for my 60 birthday…..it’s the city of my heart
I walk through here most days on my way home from work and the streets are ALWAYS empty. I think most of these rich people are either sitting in front of their computers indoors or out at their other properties
Hi Hannah! Here in Ontario, Canada, that punishing grey paint on high end vehicles has extended to flat mid blue and even flatter army green. I am unsure as to what the statement is, but I guess it means that thieves won't have to use a coat of primer before they repaint that Hummer!
The best way to look at it, is you pronounce the "né" in Kitsuné the same way as you pronounce the "fé" in Café. They both have the accent thing on top of the e's, so would be pronounced the same way.
Ok they might be big but they look the same and are next to each other, they could cost a billion euros for all I care but I don’t find it luxurious at all, to me the definition of luxury is privacy, space, green areas, land, etc. to each their own I guess
Thank you, Hannah, for this stunning walkabout of Belgravia and area. Beautiful architecture, lovely shops. Henry Cavill or Theo James would make excellent Bond men. You are always a delight to watch Hannah 😊
Wonderful video. Muse houses were built to house the horses owned by the connecting large houses, and also the grooms and coachmen who looked after them. They then housed the cars and and chauffeurs, before finally becoming individual houses.
ev, or perhaps "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from "Mary Poppins." (JA did not appear in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." The part of Truly Scrumptious was played by Sally Ann Howes in the Chitty Chitty movie.) Cheers, mon amie!
Bond realistically will be Aaron Taylor-Johnson. They want someone in their early 30's and have the role for 10 years. Why most in the running, like James Norton will not get the role. As he will be 40/41by time shooting starts. Off to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub on Sunday. Having a thing visiting historic pubs at the moment 😊
I might have missed someone else saying but the ER II insignia isn’t Elizabeth Royal it stands for Elizabeth Regina and CRIII is Charles Rex they’re one of the few things that are still partially Latin
Plliar boxes keep the Royal Cypher from the time when they were made. You'll still see a lot of George VI boxes and there are still some Edwardian and Victorian ones.
I think most houses in Belgravia are part of investment portfolios or just used as holiday homes. My problem with that area is that all roads seem to lead to Eaton Square and no matter how far I walk in any direction away from it I always end up back there again.
Make sure to get 4 months extra on a 2 year plan with NordVPN: nordvpn.com/hannahricketts
✨💓💛thAnkS 4 the touR HANNAH,
✨💕 YOU SAID POSH SAUSAGE, I WAS LIKE DID SOMEBODY CALL MY NAME🤭😂😂😂😂😉😅😅😅👑
LOVE ❤ FROM BEAUTIFUL SANTA BARBARA CALIFORNIA 🩵🎈 🥳 PAK0DA 💛 NUMBER ONE LOUDEST ELECTRIC GUITARIST IN THE WORLD BABY! !!!
✨💕💕🌹🥇 I REALLY ENJOY YOUR VIDEOS THANK YOU SO MUCH
P s.✨💕💛🥭🏆 I GET WHAT YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY 7 QUId FOR GREEN MATCHA, 🍵 WHAT YOU REALLY SAYING AND TRUST ME I'VE BEEN THERE MY BOSS DOESN'T PAY ME ENOUGH🤭😂😂😂😂
P p.S ✨💕💛 THIS IS JUST A JOKE SO NOBODY GETS UPSET😮🥭 DO YOU KNOW WHY PEOPLE IN THAT AREA DON'T CARE ABOUT PARKING TICKETS? ❤BECAUSE THEY'LL HAVE THE POLITICIANS AND DIGNITARIES THEY'RE PAYING OFF TAKE CARE OF IT FOR THEM BECAUSE ALL THAT BRIBE MONEY HAS TO BE GOOD FOR SOMETHING RIGHT😂😂😂😂😂❤❤❤😢😢😢😂😂😂😅😅😅😂😂😂❤❤❤
NOT ONLY HAVE THE RICH LEFT LONDON, THEY HAVE LEFT THE KINGDOM OF UK FOR BETTER DIGS ELSEWHERE ON THIS PLANET. AHAHAHA AHAHAHA LOL
crime, high taxes, dirty and woke, bye LONDON
London’s richest billionaires have never lived there lol. Those are second or third homes and tax shelters for international oligarchs.
@@alastairgreen6783 no. Oligarchy is when a small group of people rule a larger group. Billionaires of course donate & mingle all the time with politicians so they are usually by default oligarchs as they influence the government.
@@alastairgreen6783tbf most billionaires are crooks.
@@j134679 The exact word for billionaires would be "plutocrats", members of the "plutocracy" from the Greek "ploutos" (wealth) and "krátos" (power). They usually are the power behind the throne and the politicians are their lackeys. You are right in saying that the plutocrats rule by default because they do not want to be identified as those responsible for the people´s misery. That is why they finance and use the politicians, their obedient servants.
@@alastairgreen6783 Yes, I would say it is a polite word to describe crooks. In fact, an oligarch is just a member of a minority who rules a country (ALL so-called "democracies" are nothing but oligarchies) From the Greek "oligoi" (a few) and "arkhein" (rule) = oligarchy (rule of a few). Most Americans and Europeans stupidly believe they live in a democracy!
@@arslongavitabrevis5136 In a way politics don't really exist for the regular people; ever since corporations took control; its more about politics for rich people.. Instead they divide the regular people and poor with "petty" politics, as thats the easiest to divide them with and divide and conquer;
My uncle owns a townhome type residence here. 12 million quid, bought in 2018. He is a politician in one of the poorest states in India. The residence is occupied max 2 months in a year by his kids in summer. Trust in Cook Islands, banking in Jersey, assets in London. Thieves have a wonderful life.
who is he
12 million for a townhouse, dosen't sound like Belgravia.
Corrupted politician much?
stop hating on your uncle
Why would he say?@@emilyjones4736
Fun fact: it’s summer. Billionaires are on yachts, south of France & Italy 🙏🏽
I was just going to say. It's the same in all the posh areas at the moment with middle class too
Yeah they come back for our notoriously warm winters.Why would they want to be here during summer.
@@JimJam-x6t Or London is going to the dogs and they don’t want their watches stolen. There’s that.
@@JimJam-x6tbecause its hotter abroad and kids are at school in the winter
Mountbatten"s not on his yatch ..beast!!
They haven't left Belgravia, it's just summertime and they're sitting in their villas on the Cote d'Azur and Marbella or Ibiza.
A Welsh milkman called "Jones the milk" who delivered milk in London right through the Blitz bought several bombed out houses in Belgravia for £5 each just post war. He then thought he had done very well by selling them a couple of years later for £25 each.
I bought an ex gf 100 bitcoins for £200 told her to hang to them for the kid's' she forgot about them for a few years then when she checked they worth £2500' in total'
She cashed them all out to go on holiday in Spain for week 🤡 now worth £500,000 +
Cheers hannah..love your coverage of what I call proper architecture 😊..hate modern stuff..gaz
@@Roy-jf3pv 100 bitcoins is nearly £5 million not half million.
It’s not so much that London’s richest billionaires have left Belgravia, so much as most don’t live in their houses to begin with. In fact, most of the houses aren’t directly owned by said billionaires. Most of Belgravia is owned by shell companies out of the Channel Islands.
@@Maitreya0208 Well it’s the same point … London property is merely a way of investing spare money, or worse laundering money… and that’s a disaster for the country
I've always thought its not the real world - all the decades I've been to London - you never see anyone coming in and out of those imposing doorways. Meanwhile REAL Londoners can't afford to live there !
Any fool who just bought his home outright would be made bankrupt.
So many "homeless" could live there. If only.
Which is the proof that saying "if you raise the taxes for the rich they will leave" means very little, if they can't uproot their main assets and take them abroad. Raising taxes for the rich is the most viable way of returning the money that was given to them for free.
They haven’t deserted Belgravia, they have multiple houses around the world and those houses remain empty for the majority of the time. It has been this way for decades.
100%
Yep Facts
Absolutely spot on.
@@sarahwhyld5596 It's so bad in Manhattan w/all the billionaire-friendly skyscrapers which they can't stop building that mostly sit empty because the owners barely ever set foot in them that the city has started charging fees for absentee residents.
These residences have become investments like buying fine art to the super wealthy.
@@isabellindlind be better if they kept their money in banks
They definitely HAVEN’T disappeared..!!!
I work in 5 separate houses around there as security and the owners have multiple houses around the world.
They literally fly into London, stop off in their houses for a night or two to break up the long flight, then head off to their destination in sunnier climes
Surely it would make more sense to stay in a nice hotel instead unless they're buying these houses to launder the money...
@@welshieworldwide no more non tax payers buying up our homes gutting communities …. let them use hotels
@@SaulidSnake at a certain point Hotels are not an option any longer. And I guess its better to assume noone owning anything there is without taxfraud.
@@SaulidSnake ~ Possibly bought for investment purposes and another theory of mine is that these billionaires get advised that they *have* to spend so much every year so they buy up properties
I work in the area and the Russians have disappeared. Used to be full of them then as soon as the war started they ran off. We haven’t had any Russians as customers.
Been going that way for many years, I used to work around that area in peoples houses. Some days you’d barely see anyone, empty houses. It money laundering on a massive scale. Investing in a big house with money you shouldn’t have for 10 years and it’s gone up in value by 20 percent
Love how you include maps and aerials in your videos to orient the viewers to where you are. So helpful!
Hannah, there are a number of presenters on TV that you could replace in an INSTANT! We love the videos thank you! 🙏🏻
AI is coming for all of them.
She is too good for TV. Anyway, TV is way overrated and has been for a long time!
I can't believe people still watch TV to begin with. It's a dead media. Nothing but intense and rampant propaganda now, absolutely everything has to have a "message".
Oh thank you! That’s so kind
The weather presenters are only as good as the meteorological information they are given. It's complex as a science. Why are you glamorising ignorance? It's annoying and nothing to celebrate.
Back in the 80’s when I was a teenager my dad was the Priest at St Augustines on Queens gate. I also had a job working at the fancy butchers behind South Ken tube station. We constantly had Landrovers with bird hanging racks in the back show up with quail, ducks etc for me to dress. Watching this takes me back to the times I used to go wandering. Back then a few of those parks didn’t have locks and I used to sit in them, feed the birds and read the paper! I live in Western Australia now so your channel is a great way for me to see my old stomping ground.
My old stomping ground too I used to live at 78 Queens Gate, used to hang out at the Texas Lone Star on Gloucester. Rd did you know it. Up until about 10 years ago I used to attend St Augustine until the Vicar and his wife moved to Norfolk to church plant. Spent many a happy evening in their residence at the back of the church. The house was entered through the kitchen, which I suppose would have been where your family lived.
What a lovely story.
I sang in that church most Sundays for a couple of years end of 90s, it was Fr Rob in those days who was one of those radio & TV vicars
I’ve lived around that area too but I’m not rich 😅
آمل يوما أن تكون غنيا😊@@potato1084
Oh Han, this was glorious! Some dismiss it as boring but Belgravia is beyond any convention. Tranquil, magical, the streets adorned with historic townhouses that take your breath away. The shops, cafes and historic pubs are exquisite. The fact that it doesn't have a nightlife is a recommendation, not a deterrent. There are plenty of places to go in London for an edgy vibe and entertainment. Belgravia is on another level.
Its a world away from Huddersfield, its like looking at a fairytale.
Thanks for watching along!
Plenty of more beautiful areas in London.
All of these expensive properties aren't owned by the people who live in them. They are leased, and you have to pay a lease payment every month. The company that owns most of the property in Belgravia is the Grosvenor Group, a family property company owned by the Duke of Westminster, also known as the Grosvenor Estate. You have to sign a 99 year lease on a flat. At the end of the lease term, the property, and any improvements you have made to it, revert back to the freeholder (the Grosvenor Group).
can you buy it off the group or not allowed?.
Not sure about that. Know a guy who owned his flat on Eaton Rise. Sold it privately for £2m more than 20 years ago.
@@waleed8530 you can negotiate a new lease term. Same for most flats, you do not own the land. Proposals to change the system for houses, obviously Grosvenor opposes argue consistent historic estate, preservation listings etc
@@waleed8530 They will never sell any of these properties. They are collecting some of the highest rents in the world and the properties appreciate so fast! They would be crazy to sell a single property. The real estate that these flats are built upon has been in their family for hundreds of years. So have the buildings, some were built hundreds of years ago and a Grosvenor family member has owned them ever since.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 That's possible. If he owned the ground and the building he was a freeholder. I'm sure it is possible to buy a freehold, but I guarantee you they never hit the public market. All of the freeholders in London have a little clique and they horse trade among themselves. Never with the public. that is one way they maintain property values.
Awesome video!! We were just in Belgravia in July and hit up most of the streets and places you covered. Definitely London’s most architecturally beautiful neighborhood.
It’s always like this in the summer. I worked for these people for years and they all go abroad in the summer. They have homes all around the world..and by the way they don’t pay tax here either.
Yes now the wealthy will have to start paying taxes whether english or from other countries the tax rules have changed..non Dom rules have changed.
What kind of people are they? I have walked through this area a couple of times and have always felt intimidated!
@@juliarobinson6700 apparently they are all leaving for countries where they will pay less tax. Should be interesting to see what happens.
everyone pays some tax either way.
Countries try to attract wealthy foreigners for their huge purchasing power which, even if they only stay briefly, could still be more than what a few thousand regular people spend in a lifetime.
@@j134679 Trickle down economics? 😅
We're gardeners in Belgravia so it was very interesting you walking around this neighbourhood Hannah, like you pointed out its very quiet although weekends I think you filmed on a Saturday its almost deserted , most people seem to go away for the weekend and August they all leave on holiday, thanks for this great show
😉Weekend
I used to love wondering around Belgravia precisely because it’s so quiet, but these past few years I’ve found it super busy at weekends. I think there are some go-to places thanks to Instagram, TikTok etc.
@@alnsubuga maybe on Ebury Street & Elizabeth street but if you wander around Chester or Eaton Square you'll be alone
I always park in Belgravia and then walk out. The place is always deserted and there's zero crime, I always find a space.
@@odoggow8157No, there are people but they are white.
@@WajuWaju-kg8cv They have more to lose than gain from simple theft. They steal 'in style'.
Zero crime is not to be taken for granted
@@WajuWaju-kg8cvwealthy**
Do you not get a ticket?
My orchestra sometimes performs in the church that's next to the Berkeley hotel and the neighbourhood always feels so strange. There is no local community centre (other than the church) where we can promote the concert like in other neighbourhoods, and if we want a quick bite to eat before performing we have a choice between a fancy sit-down restaurant (with too slow service), a sandwich from Waitrose, or a bit of a jog all the way to that stretch of less fancy restaurants near Harrods.
Left London over 5 years ago, it's fun to see my old stomping grounds. Thank you for this. Now in New York City which is quite different!
Why the move?
@@daveseville7394 One word... Brexit! Went to Portugal for 4 years and now studying in New York
Who New York is different then London? For me is the same shyt hole
So left one hell for a another
You're London's best tour guide Hannah!
I love how she gives in depth history of each area.
I’d pay for her to do a tour ❤
Id love Hannah's take on Paris
Her shoe advice goes for there too.
I for one love Belgravia, it is beautiful. Fun little experience - I am a dancer and had arranged a dance photo shoot in the area (Eaton Square to be precise) The photographer and I spotted some gorgeous entrances/doors with fresh flower basket so decided to try and take some images and as soon as I started posing in my pointe shoes and tutu a security man started walking towards us… we were sure to be kicked off.. when to our surprise he smiled and said that the houses on the other side look exactly the same but actually have the sun on them right now so we might want to use the light and change over! He even pointed out the house that had similar flowers… we were bowled over by his friendly and kind manner. Then we had a situation where I had to change into a new outfit and didn’t know where to go, so asked in Peggy Porschen and not only did they welcome me in to use the ladies to get changed, they allowed us to take images in their entrance and at their outside tables! No snobbery at all in Belgravia - we only experienced lovely and kind people everywhere :)
I'm told that you get back from the world what is in your heart so that's a good reflection on yourselves. A bit worrying for me at the moment,with some tribulation but maybe it's "my turn"!
Beautiful experience so happy for you.
Hannah ‘s a natural… love these links and her subtle humour🎉😊
They probably found it amusing to engage with some of the local peasantry.😆
I find the architecture on eaton square underwhelming. I much prefer the mansion blocks in other parts of the city
Please do more history lessons… it’s really interesting
Talking about owning a chunk of london, my Great Grandfather owned the farmland that became the west end of Battersea park, his ancestor with the surname Weller married a woman named Ladbroke who turned out to be the last in line to the Ladbroke fortune when the lord died, he (Lord Ladbroke) had bought land to the west of Kensington to make a racecourse to rival Epsom, his untimely death without heir meant that my Weller ancestor inherited the land (on the condition he changed his name to Ladbroke). My ancestor didnt care for horse racing so he developed the land and gave one of his new roads the name Ladbroke Grove.
Sadly the whole lot had been sold and spent by the time my grandmother got her small share of the inheritance and her husband gambled all that away before she was 20, so we all grew up poor and renting in Streatham.
This type of work would be great for my friend who absolutely can NOT stop talking, even when alone he never stops. I am sending him this video and say, this is what you should be doing.
It was delightful to walk with you through a classic London quartiere. Thanks lovely Hannah.
This week I was trying to decide on my top 5 RUclips channels and this video has helped me decide that 'Hannah Ricketts" is my favourite channel. Good presentation, a good variety of topics, good filming and editing and about the right length . Congratulations. No gold medal but how many other people agree with me? . It is hard to decide with all the different topics covered.
That’s super kind of you, thank you!
What are the other 4?
@@GloriaSlapJoolz Guides 😊
Agree.
@@Monika-es1tv that is in my top 5
Belgravia London is one of the most expensive but clean neighbourhoods here! I wish the housing was bloody affordable but expensive, unfortunately! Thanks for sharing this wonderful tour & have a beautiful weekend! ❤
I like it. But would need a country place also.These people can afford it.
It is a very clean area & super salubrious. But there was always a sinister energy I picked up in Belgravia & so even had my life taken a course to the highest means, I would never ever of lived there: not even for one night.
My friend is an antique restorer, and I have a van, he once asked me to take a small table from here in Derbyshire to Belgravia. I charged £500. The table was £4500. When I got there I was chatting to a builder doing some work, he told me the house had just been bought by a 22 year old for 11 million. (It was a terraced townhouse, not a country mansion 😂) I took the table inside, and a women told me to "put it over here" , she took a photo of it on her phone and said " ya, thank you, now get rid of it!" The whole thing was just a photo! They didn't even want the table. I took it back up north and sold it again! 😂
so what.
interesting “win win” but got some dubious business vibe there. But did your antique dealer friend get £4500 for hiring out his table for the photo? When I heard “22 year old” with that ridiculous amount of money and that you didn’t even know the table was only a prop for a photo shoot sounded like a chapter out of a Black Axe book of global scam operation 😂
What the?
Not kind @@staffordcrombie566
Billionaires live everywhere, they're like nomads. The real problem is that young ambitious entrepreneurs are leaving. And they're not just leaving the UK, they are leaving continental Europe for places in Asia or the US where there is more opportunity, more capital, more talent. Europe is on a downward spiral and nothing is being done to solve it.
Are you really sure about this?don't get me wrong, as far as creative talented cool people leaving Britain or even feeling forced to due to rent & buy home prices & transport & gas prices: yeah sure for over 20 years I saw it happening with my own eyes, enmass in London. But is this really happening a lot in Europe too? & Why?
I so enjoy your mini tours. They are like little jewels. Your stream of consciousness narration is always spot on and always peppered with wonderful humor. Saying Belgravia is a rip off made me burst into laughter. No, I guess I would not live there. Also, I love the piano at the end of your videos. I look forward to hearing it and seeing one last comment from you. You are the best!
lol…”For us peasants it costs nothing to walk around.” 0:45 😅
😂
poor peasant like me for 40 yrs I have always walked around there dreamed to own flat there.
Its obvious all those properties in central london are never, ever lived in, but owned by the world's billionnaires elsewhere😢😢😢
Peasants,😂😂😂😂 a walk is OK...I guess??😂😂😂😢😢😢😢
Happy to be a peasant rather than be a crook
Hannah, Hannah, Hannah! ER does not stand for Elizabeth Royal! It is correctly "Elizabeth Regina". CR is "Charles Rex". Thought you should know.😊
@@alastairgreen6783😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@alastairgreen6783 🤣🤣🤣
@@alastairgreen6783 ... and so was Mark Bolen!😂
@@Sirius-ly - Bolan !
@@NSW101 ta! Couldn't remember that far back!😉
London is a microcosm that shows how the world actually works. The rich live in their mansions out there in the countryside... or perhaps their fancy bomb proof shelters. When they need to come to town, they have their large and safe neighborhoods. Last time I was in London I walked through Belgravia. I love the contrasts. There are Bentleys and such cars parked in one street and Nissan Micras just two streets away - that´s where the servants live.
Beautiful homes but it's so eerie not to have anyone on the streets! 😶 I'm glad I live among the plebians. Empty streets would be lonely
That is how it is to be a Billionaire. They have all the Gold. They have all the Silver. They are alone. The only 'Friends' they have are people they pay, or hangers on. They can not trust anyone. They are in an ivory tower of gilded wealth. It is a cage as much as a castle. They are prisoners to their wealth. At that point, the Gold owns them.
Most rich people in this area leave London for the summer generally spending time in the other home/ homes or on yachts lol. I love this channel and Hannah is always delightful Thank you for checking out the posh restaurants etc.
On their Super Yachts in the Med. Oh dear.
I loved your spontaneous confession, "I am known to be world class at killing all my plants"!. You are an absolute riot, Hannah!
True. She is so natural.
Post boxes will apparently only be replaced when needed and not just because of the change of monarch.
Thank God! I mean what if a queen/king only reigns for a few years... Such a waste of mnoey
There is not much point in our online age in spending money on CR letter boxes and it would be criminal vandalism to change the existing ones. Maybe though,just a few in the new vast housing areas going up all over the country and the future projected ones. There is still a need to post an actual letter now and then but I usually pick a box outside a functioning post office or over the counter inside. Not in a remote isolated one that looks like birds might be nesting in it.
I visited London in 2015. Totally loved the city. Toured Buckingham palace and the British museum which were great. I stayed in a room which was only about 8 minutes away from the tube station Victoria. Love your 4k video.
It looks very nice now, but what is it like during the winter? Living in NY, I still don't like the winters. I'd much rather prefer the excessive heat of the summers over the bone chilling cold winters.
My best
Experience
Of Belgravia was at the peak of the lockdown going with a bunch of guys on Deliveroo ride with £4000 of food from Hakassan restaurant to deliver. Guy was late to collect (we got a timer for 7 minutes) so we left with a crazy good meal and you had 12 Deliveroo riders sharing the most amazing meal on Mayfair under a staircase 😂😂😂
Why do
You
Type your messages
Out like this?
@@Semtex_1992 when you riding a motorbike and typing as you can it can happen
Love Belgravia, along with Hampstead it's one of my favorite areas in London. The neighborhood clearing out during summer reminds of when I lived in NYC and those who live in the Upper East Side would be out at the summer home in the Hamptons or Cape Cod for the summer and then would jet off to "winter" in the Caribbean, Hawaii, California, The Maldives or wherever after Christmas until spring. What a life - goals indeed.
16,500 millionaires have left London over last 6 years due to political uncertainty and looking for lower taxes. I guess the rich like their money more than living in London 😢
I bet most of them aren't British
I'm sure the opulent stash their billions in the Cayman Islands or Dubai
Good riddance, I say. Most of them contribute nothing to the UK economy and pay virtually no tax.
Risk of being stabbed also doesn’t help
Has anyone noticed?
Former Belgravia resident here. It's summer. We tend to use this down time to get into some actual good weather
No bins in Belgravia and other areas for security reasons.
Hi Hannah- I know Belgravia well having worked in Belgravia Square for 10 years. The area is generally always quiet and even more in the summer. I was fortunate enough to have a key accessing the gardens in Belgrave Square and it was a lovely oasis of calm with nice areas to sit and have lunch or play tennis if you were so inclined. There are a few pubs tucked away such as the Horse and Groom and the Grenadier. You wouldn’t have known it but the Royal College of Defence Studies is at 37 Belgrave Square and is at the corner with Upper Belgrave Street. It was established in 1927 and moved to its current location after the Second World War. Belgrave Square also has some South American connections with a number of sculptures including that of Simon Bolivar , Venezuelan military and political leader. I now live in Tunbridge Wells but I’m frequently in London so my connections there are still strong. Keep up the good work.
The problem with living in these areas is that they're never-ending construction sites - a mix of vanity projects and high end retail spaces changing hands. Imagine buying one of these homes to live in and then having to endure the relentless "music" coming from the dozens and dozens of sites in your neighbourhood at any one time.
You're absolutely right, I used to live in South Kensington so I was often around the Belgravia area and for around 6yrs, I can't recall a time when there was no construction going on. It's just constant.
is it that different from any where else!
@@staffordcrombie566- It is. People with money will completely redo a luxury house just to suit their tastes.
@@staffordcrombie566 Yes😂ANYWHERE where the rich lives, construction is 24/7 365 for years and years. Not only inside London, outside London too like Virginia Water. It's never ending.
Yes!!! And the Victorian houses need so much maintenance and the area always smells like paint
So many comments I need to make, I was chatting to you as you were walking around! 😂 Loved the tour of Belgravia! For older viewers who remember Upstairs Downstairs, it was set in Eaton Place, Belgravia in just one of those houses over a century ago in Edwardian London. The street was much busier then, and the owner was an MP married to an Aristocrat, the Bellamys. Fabulous series. Re the Post Boxes, they'll only be replaced as needed so as not to waste money. ER stands for Elizabeth Regina, Queen Elizabeth, CR for Charles Rex, King Charles in Latin. The building you showed which you said was post WW2 and you didn't like, looked 1930s Art Deco to me,with the curved corners and windows. A block of apartments for well off gentlemen when staying in London, who would leave their shoes and suit outside their room to be cleaned and pressed overnight. There are a few built in the same Modernist style, including a block in Hackney, but not as well maintained. I love to see them though. No, it's not Architecture in the Classical style, but still very attractive buildings to my eyes. But I'm a huge Deco fan. It's a mystery how those Embassies can still afford to be in Belgravia to be honest. The US Embassy moved across the River to a cheaper location and expanded. But must be a swish area to receive guests. Sadly not many Londoners can afford those prices. But interesting to see how the other half live. Cheers Hannah, have a fab weekend! 👍🫶💐🇬🇧
They did actually call it "The House at Eaton Place" in German tv. Das Haus am Eaton Place.
Thanks for this! Thanks for watchingn
That "squashed church" is now the home of Mosimann's private dining club.
Amazing value for money which membership not out of reach as some might think!
Love the mini history lessons throughout. Fun and informative commentary! Subscribed 🔔
Left London decades ago. Thanks for bringing back some wonderful memories of when I ambled around the area.
And for all those millions you only receive a lease, not ownership! Thank you for the video!
Wow those are leaseholds?
What? You can get Freeholds lol 😂
Some have freehold. It was very cheap in 1950ies.
@@Monika-es1tv Not cheap anymore!
@@BoominGame That is what I have been told.
Hey Hannah, Happy Friday! I have to ask-who can’t love Hannah? We all adore you, not just for your amazing vlogs, but also because of your lovely personality and great sense of humor. I really appreciate your positive energy and passion. By the way, I totally agree with you on the car's color; I'm old school like you, and we're the same age! Wishing you a fantastic Friday night and a wonderful weekend. Cheers! 💐🇬🇧❤🇺🇸💐
My company has many clients in Belgravia, i've been to loads of houses so many times yet never met the owners, only their housekeepers.
That was an expensive iced coffee! Try the Party at Pavilion in Pavillion road (the sloane square end), a 10 Minute walk from Motcomb Street. Not been to Motcomb Street for almost 20 years, I used to park in the underground car park there back in the 90's. It has changed a bit since then.
Mews are rows of stables and coach houses with living quarters above them that were built in London in the 17th and 18th centuries. Mews are usually found in cobbled lanes behind large residential townhouses.
Housed coachmen, stable hands, gardeners. In 19th century chauffeur/mechanic.
On the weekends London always went quiet. We lived in Westminster and come Saturday morning it was silent. The pubs also mainly closed. As a resident you would get 20% at local restaurants and your own table.
The problem with the UK is it went to the wall post Brexit Vote. Most people I know became resident of a European country after Brexit as they knew what was happening.
Now Labour are in, it will make it even more interesting for the UK Tax Payer and UK Business Owner. Give it 10 years, the UK housing market may reverse.
Most of the wealthy are on the French Riveira, Italy etc for July & August. Most of Europe shuts down for August for the Holidays.
I have been in England a few times this summer. Don’t miss the weather…
Now compare this to Seven Sisters and Canning Town.
"A Tale of Two Cities" was comparing London to Paris, but perhaps it might be better to compare London to itself.
i allways think of london town and london city when i hear of "tale of two cities" and dont know why?
When I was 22 years old in 1964 I was quoted 28.000 pounds for a Mews House in Belgravia...it would go for around 2 million today.
£28,000 is equivalent to only £485,000 in 2024 using the BOE inflation calculator ! Looks like the area has gone up in the last 60 years.
Yes - that gray color on cars - I live in San Diego - a very Navy town so I call that color "Battleship Gray" - and I hate it! Why so many people love that flat gray color is beyond me when there are so many other colors to choose from. Gray has become the world's favorite color - does that say something? Love the video - sad seeing that may empty homes...
It's the standard offering on many cars. My Audi RS5 Vorsprung coupe has paint which is a £675 option - the grey is £0. 'Lots of penny-pinchers out there...even amongst the relatively affluent.
This area would be deserted in August even when this area was first developed as the British aristocracy who lived here would have decamped to their country estates. People came back to town for sittings of parliament and the social season.
Here meaning… you live there?
I worked as an Estate Agent in Mayfair, Belgravia, Knightsbridge etc. Very few properties are owner occupied, local shops have closed because there are no customers! Many properties have house sitters or care takers and they do not create a community. This video seems to have been produced to make people angry or envious about well maintained luxury property. For example just across the river Brixton was once one of the poshest areas in London( just look at the multiple floor houses) so who knows what the future holds.
Same architect as notting hill. Yes but they perhaps keep the stabbing rate up there to stop gentrification.
@@madeinengland1212
gentrification is a slow avalanche sweeping out and away undesirable sections of a community.when people discover a cheaper area to start buying modding properties their numbers change things very quickly. you do not notice it until the noise in the late evening to early morning declines, because people have jobs and go to sleep early and get up early.
the easy way to tell the culture of an area!
So you think you estate agents are reasonable charging 3k for a 1 bedroom flat 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@sirdabmustafa agents earn a living on commission rather than a salary no sales no income, they charge a percentage so on a typical 300,000 flat 1% is 3000 is that a lot on 300,000! you can avoid fees if you knock on doors asking if flats are for sale
but it will take a long time and you will get lots of don't bother me now, get lost etc.
Dear Hannah,
Your vids are re delightful, and you are a joy to watch ramble on. Please do some interior vids of tthese houses. A lot of them are in old Hollywood movies. Try and view the ones that aren’t ruined inside. Many of these houses have been gutted and all the ornamental plaster and chimney pieces are gone. Thank you for these wonderful tours.
People are leaving but prices aren't dropping? Same in NYC. I've heard the economics expression "sticky down" but this phenomenon lasts even longer in real estate than the asset value might predict (well, IMO anyway)
It is summertime. People with money rarely spend the summer in cities.
Thx Hannah for your very insightful tour of Belgravia on London! It is almost eery how there were relatively so few people out & about on a weekend afternoon! Hannah I always appreciate your tours of the different London areas, as your comments & opinions are so helpful! Thx again Hannah for all your time & effort to produce this vlog, & I hope you are enjoying your summer as well! Until next Friday, be safe Hannah!!!
London neighbourhoods were always quiet at the weekends. Offices and embassies closed,employees living out of town, the wealthy off to their country houses…
So thing I`ll noticed in the knightsbridge area, a lot of homes are up for sale, In Motcomb street it doesn`t seem the same any more, Most Billionaires don`t live in London on a week to week basis, But live around the world in there other properties.
Might be many reasons why they have left.
In a lot of other countries UK people ie non native people are not allowed to buy property, full stop; only rent. Or they have strict immigration rules like Singapore has a 60% tax at purchase for foreigners and 65% for an entity or trust. This needs to be replicated in the UK now.
E II R on a postbox stands for Elizabeth III Regina, ie. Queen Elizabeh II, not ‘Royal’. Postboxes will not be replaced - there are still many with G VI R and even G V R, E VII R and even V R. Only new or repaired postboxes will bear the cypher C III R.
‘Wealthy’ is a synoym for ‘rich’ and vice versa.
The Grosvenor Estate and associated names - Westminster, Eccleston, Chester, and Wilton - are all associated with the Grosvenor Family, which is of Norman origin, and the later enobled Dukes of Westminster, who are largely based in Cheshire. The land - ca. 300 acres of land, including ‘The Five Fields’ mentioned, came into the family’s possession via marriage in the 17th century. It was essentially farm land at the time and outside the boundaries of the city of London. With London’s growth and rapid expansion over successive centuries, especially during the Industrial Revolution, the Estate was well positioned and subsequently developed by the Grosvenor Family together with architects such as Robert Nash and Thomas Cubitt. The freehold is largely still owned by Grosvenor Estates and many of the buildings are simply leasehold.
A great deal of the Chelsea and Belgravia area was bombed during the Second World War, given its proximity to the Houses of Parliament, hence why there is something of a ‘hotch potch’ of architectural styles, particularly from the mid-twentieth century onwards.
Mews houses originally served as accommodation for carriages and livestock ie. horses, as well as the attending groomsmen. Domestic staff largely lived indoors on the upper floors of the great houses, as portrayed in television series such as ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ and ‘Downton Abbey’.
Through the economic turmoil caused by the First World War and afterwards, many aristocratic families could either no longer afford to run such large residences or the heir and ‘the spare’ had often fallen in the Great War, or both, after which women, previously ‘in service’, and the evolution of unionised labour demanded a fair living wage as well as universal suffrage. Initially only women over 30 years of age and possessed of land were allowed to vote from 1918 onwards. The latter did not occur until 1930.
Hi Hannah I shared your Vlog with my son. My mother grew up in England and we can imagine from you how sweet
London is. Your generosity and creativity is much appreciated. ❤My son loves all the cool cars 🚗.
Top tip. Dont feed Hydrageas commecial liquid plant food. Even diluted it tends to cause the leaves to burn. They are very sisitive to chemicals. They can recover though.
As an American I loved it when you said..."7 quid....unnn...bit much in it (isn't it?) Great tour. The crescent does remind me of Bath.
Very like Nash terraces . He made some crescent shaped rows of houses . There’s similar in Reading . It’s all solicitors there . Architects get copied and often new builds were made to look much earlier e.g mock Tudor houses
Just discovered your videos, my dear. My dear husband and I are binge watching all your videos presently. You are marvelous. The videos are brilliant. Thumbs up on all.
just found your vlogs scrolling on RUclips gone 1am! love that you tell us some history as you go along I'm from London but now live in Cornwall, cant wait to watch loads more x
Hi Hannah. In London now from Canada, partly inspired by your wonderful vlogs. So amazing to see many of the places in your videos in person. Please continue with them!
It's going to be a great Friday today with you on walking around Belgravia which is really a nice looking area of London and as always
another awesome listening to your reactions on various things and
going to the stores around the city have a beautiful weekend and thank you Lady Hannah.☕👋🇬🇧
Oh very nice tour… it make me feel young.. many years ago, in the middle of ‘80 I lived in Hampstead for ten years…..,it was a wonderful period of my life…..the last time I was in London in 2016 for my 60 birthday…..it’s the city of my heart
The floral shop was gorgeous 🌸 Thanks so much for the tour!
You reap what you sow. Humanity is shifting
I walk through here most days on my way home from work and the streets are ALWAYS empty. I think most of these rich people are either sitting in front of their computers indoors or out at their other properties
It's snoreville
They’re probably not even in the country.
More a case of the latter.
you think billionnaires are sitting in front of their computers in a dusty belgravia flat. speechless
Hi Hannah! Here in Ontario, Canada, that punishing grey paint on high end vehicles has extended to flat mid blue and even flatter army green. I am unsure as to what the statement is, but I guess it means that thieves won't have to use a coat of primer before they repaint that Hummer!
😂
The best way to look at it, is you pronounce the "né" in Kitsuné the same way as you pronounce the "fé" in Café. They both have the accent thing on top of the e's, so would be pronounced the same way.
I love the accent and the speech. I can listen to it for years. Sounds like ASMR to me. 💐
Ok they might be big but they look the same and are next to each other, they could cost a billion euros for all I care but I don’t find it luxurious at all, to me the definition of luxury is privacy, space, green areas, land, etc. to each their own I guess
Never mind billionaires row. Loving your Prada bag Hannah……x
and the miu miu sunnies!
5 quid for a plain croissant ? OUCH ! You can get change from 2 euro for the best croissant in Paris.
Where? Is there a Jay Swanson (aka King of Paris)vlog revealing where or is it your secret?
Stupid paying such inflated prices....... more money than sense !!
Thank you, Hannah, for this stunning walkabout of Belgravia and area. Beautiful architecture, lovely shops. Henry Cavill or Theo James would make excellent Bond men. You are always a delight to watch Hannah 😊
Wonderful video. Muse houses were built to house the horses owned by the connecting large houses, and also the grooms and coachmen who looked after them. They then housed the cars and and chauffeurs, before finally becoming individual houses.
I worked at Barclays Bank Lowndes Square branch, enjoyed lunching in Knightsbridge, shopping in Harrods back in 1973
The Non Doms are quitting London by the 1000s a estimated 10,000 this year.
Has the UK changed their tax rulings for non doms?
@@Bougie92 Yes.
Oh! What a shame !!! 🫠 boo hoo 😢😢😢 .
I could imagine Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews coming out of one of these houses at any moment singing Chitty Chitty bang bang
ev, or perhaps "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from "Mary Poppins." (JA did not appear in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." The part of Truly Scrumptious was played by Sally Ann Howes in the Chitty Chitty movie.) Cheers, mon amie!
@@WelshRabbit that's the one.
Bond realistically will be Aaron Taylor-Johnson. They want someone in their early 30's and have the role for 10 years. Why most in the running, like James Norton will not get the role. As he will be 40/41by time shooting starts.
Off to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese pub on Sunday. Having a thing visiting historic pubs at the moment 😊
I might have missed someone else saying but the ER II insignia isn’t Elizabeth Royal it stands for Elizabeth Regina and CRIII is Charles Rex they’re one of the few things that are still partially Latin
Hannah suggesting neighbours should have a chit chat or group chat about house colours😂😂. Made my day😊
Plliar boxes keep the Royal Cypher from the time when they were made. You'll still see a lot of George VI boxes and there are still some Edwardian and Victorian ones.
I love the red pillar boxes , buses and telephone boxes . Says , London to me
I think most houses in Belgravia are part of investment portfolios or just used as holiday homes. My problem with that area is that all roads seem to lead to Eaton Square and no matter how far I walk in any direction away from it I always end up back there again.
That's Hotel California.
I can't walk to well anymore so thank you for these videos it's like i am walking beside you .
You really represent and inform very well. Your style is extremely approachable and appealing
This is a real lesson in economics, not what you read in textbooks or in the papers.