How much do you reckon you’d pay for a shop in St John Street, Finsbury, a stone’s throw from London’s Barbican centre, the City and some of the highest-value real estate in the land? Okay, it was only a dry cleaning business, albeit one that brought 24 years of customer goodwill along with the deal. But it was the freehold that was up for sale, allowing you to do whatever you wanted with the property, subject to planning consent. And it is in one of the few parts of the country where property prices have still been rising despite the recent credit crunch.
How does £26,809 sound? Done!
The lucky buyer was the property investor Structadene, who snapped it up as part of a £69.5 million portfolio of 222 shops and other commercial premises sold off to the company by Islington Council. The council originally claimed to have sold it for £260,809 and it took campaigners and the local press a month to get it to admit to the real figure. It wasn’t a cover-up but a ‘clerical error’, according to the council – presumably by a council officer who couldn’t believe that the £26,809 figure could possibly be correct.
Saturday 5 July 2008
Central London shop for sale, under £27,000
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1 comment:
The council have been doing the same thing in next door Camden --selling off perfectly good houses to make money and sometimes evicting people who are actually living in them. Propertydevelopers move in and make a packet, sell off smart flats for the rich and then the council wring their hands because they haven't got anywhere to house people off the waiting list.
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