London's 'poshest neighbourhood' with £50m homes 'now ghost town' as billionaires quit UK

Belgravia resembles a shade municipality (Image: YouTube/HannahRicketts)

An exclusive cardinal London territory wherever houses tin merchantability for £50million is accelerated becoming a shade town, an explorer claims.

According to the New York Times, the Central London spot of Belgravia is simply a portion wherever “practically the lone radical who tin spend to unrecorded determination don’t really privation to”.

Podcaster Hannah Ricketts visited the ultra-posh enclave nestling betwixt Chelsea and Westminster to find retired wherefore 1 of the UK’s astir desirable districts is besides 1 of its astir empty.

She explains: “There's hardly anybody present … the bulk of radical who ain and unrecorded successful Belgravia, it's not their archetypal home. They person aggregate homes and they're international…”

Hannah toured the eerily-quiet country (Image: YouTube/HannahRicketts)

Belgravia has had a chequered history, Hannah explains, dating backmost to the Tudor era, erstwhile it was a notorious hunting-ground for bandits and highwaymen. It wasn’t until the aboriginal 19th Century, erstwhile Richard Grosvenor, past Marquess of Westminster, bought up astir of the onshore successful the country and laid retired a bid of elegant squares that the country became a sought-after neighbourhood.

Properties successful Belgravia are among the astir costly anyplace successful the world, according to astir caller figures. As prices person soared, each but the wealthiest Brits person been priced retired of the market, and galore of the residential properties successful the country person been brought up by Russian oligarchs and different overseas billionaires.

Well implicit a 3rd of each London wealthiest buyers spot their luxurious Belgravia townhouses arsenic investments, alternatively than homes, visiting for conscionable a mates of weeks a twelvemonth if astatine all.

Many of the expansive houses were converted into overseas embassies (Image: YouTube/HannahRicketts)

The fewer shops remaining successful the country look to beryllium catering mostly to billionaires’ wives. Hannah says they’re chiefly “posh footwear shops, posh hairdressers and everything in-between.”

Belgravia is location to apical peoples’ florist, Neill Strain,where a Christmas wreath for your doorway volition acceptable you backmost implicit £600. Hannah marvels astatine a bouquet of roses priced astatine £375, saying: “I'm telling you, Aldi and Lidl, they bash truly bully roses and they're astir 3 quid – granted they don't rather look arsenic bully arsenic that.”

Even the java shops are catering for a super-wealthy clientele, with a blistery cocoa apt to outgo you the amended portion of a tenner. “Ooh,” says Hannah, “Iced matcha with almond beverage £7.35. Welcome to Belgravia!”

Careful buyers could prime up a mews location for arsenic small arsenic £3,000,000 (Image: YouTube/HannahRicketts)

Prices successful the section cafés bespeak the residents' wealthiness (Image: YouTube/HannahRicketts)

The sky-high prices spell immoderate mode to explaining wherefore determination are ne'er queues successful Belgravia’ shops. The Lanesborough hotel’s restaurant, Celeste, became known arsenic “The Marie Celeste” due to the fact that of its deficiency of customers, and that nickname has dispersed to the remainder of the area, due to the fact that of its deserted streets.

The word is often utilized to notation to a spot wherever radical person mysteriously disappeared, referring to a US cargo vessel of the aforesaid sanction that was recovered abandoned successful 1872 a US cargo vessel that was recovered abandoned successful the North Atlantic successful 1872. The destiny of the 10 radical connected board, and the crushed for the abandonment, stay a mystery.

Except to the changeless sound of builders digging retired immense basement rooms beneath the rows of stucco townhouses, Belgravia is an eerily quiescent enclave successful the precise centre of London.

It volition beryllium a agelong time, if ever, earlier beingness returns to Belgravia, Hannah says: “Even if you triumph the lottery, guys I hatred to interruption it to you, but you mightiness not adjacent beryllium capable to spend to unrecorded here.”