RESIDENTS living in the UK’s ‘poshest’ place are mingling with celebrities and royalty – while the local corner shop sells more than £4,000 worth of wine.
On average, flats around Battersea Power Station, in south-west London, cost a staggering £1.2million – but those who can afford it could see TV adventurer Bear Grylls retreating on the roof.
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Olivia Frostwick, 21, with her dog Toby Credit: Peter Jordan
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Ukrainian models Marina Prykhodka, 27, and Anastasia Belgian, 33 Credit: Peter Jordan
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The price of an average flat in the Battersea Power Station complex is over £1.2m Credit: Peter Jordan
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Sun reporter Freya Parsons checks out a corner shop selling £4,250 bottles of wine Credit: Peter Jordan
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The Wild Weekends star has reportedly combined three properties into one to build a mega-apartment worth a whopping £20million.
And locals boast of spotting other famous faces – including singer Sting – every day following the area’s £9billion transformation.
A worker at the Kasea power plant told the Sun that she works for a number of the world’s richest people – but otherwise remained tight-lipped.
She said: “I can’t tell you who I work for but it’s someone quite famous, but there are a lot of famous people who live here, especially at the power station.
“I even see one of them every day. I also see Bear Grylls and Sting.
“I’m lucky to work with people who are really front pages, even the Queen’s family.”
Kasea described seeing Grylls, 50 – who lives with wife Knight and their three children – sweating above his luxury home.
She said, “Yesterday he was doing pull-ups on the roof, which I could see very clearly.”
Meanwhile, the appeal of the area means that even those who have since moved away keep coming back.
Amazing ‘4D’ light show at Battersea Power Station
One such fan is 21-year-old Olivia Frostwick, who lived in Battersea for six months while interning at brokerage Edmiston Super Yachts.
Since then, she’s been sticking to Chelsea, but returns to meet up with friends and take Toby the dog for a walk.
Olivia warned that the surrounding areas were a little less affluent than the remodeled place.
“I was on the other side of the park and I didn’t feel particularly safe where I was – near Clapham was the border,” she said.
CORNER SHOP WINE
The Battersea General Store takes full advantage of an affluent clientele, with MD Raj Bathia claiming to have served even world leaders.
The pride and joy of this 46-year-old is his selected wines, which shone in his eyes when he was asked about them.
And why not – some of them cost £4,250 a bottle.
Going into his expert story, Raj explained: “You have to spin it. Let it open, it was in the bottle. It was squeezed, it was tight inside.
“Give it a chance to at least breathe. Literally, let it breathe. Then spin it, enjoy it. Smell it. Give anything a little attention and you’ll start to see it in a beautiful way.”
He explained that he sees famous people “every day because a lot of them live here.”
“And then you have a lot of people who come and visit us specially,” he continued.
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Bear Grylls is one of the rich and famous who live in Battersea
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Singer Sting also lives in the areaCredit: Rex
“They heard about us. We saw them in the shop, we recently had the ruler of Dubai in the shop.”
Raj said they sell a £4,000 bottle of Petrus – kept locked in a temperature-controlled fridge – every few months to a wide range of people.
The high-end shop is decorated with solid oak, cracked tiles and green decorations.
All this has been in the making for years.
Other items include popcorn for £24.99 and a Kinder egg for £8.
Outside, we talked to another visitor, American Philippa Couvillion, 75.
She lived in Battersea in 1967 and said it had changed from when she was young.
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THOSE who live in “Britain’s Beverly Hills” have told how they socialize with Premier League footballers and Hollywood actors.
Just a stone’s throw from Chelsea Football Club’s training ground, homeowners in the sleepy villages of Oxshott and Cobham stargaze daily, surrounded by 24-hour security.
Peter Crouch, Jorginho and Raheem Sterling are just some of the players who call the Surrey area home, along with former Hollywood veterans Stanley Tucci and Antonio Banderas.
Tree-lined streets and security gates give privacy to the multi-million pound mansions.
Oxshott has just a handful of shops, including an upscale coffee shop and a posh butcher – and the owners spot blacked-out Bentleys and Jaguars driving past.
In nearby Cobham, the high street is full of Pilates studios and juice bars.
Read the whole story here
“It wasn’t a desirable area — I mean, there was nothing here,” she said.
Philippa couldn’t remember how much a bottle of wine would have cost at the time, but it must have been a far cry from today’s prices.
One local even described his favorite wine bar – a dispensary where you could insert a card and it was self-service by the glass.
He said: “Just help yourself, just push the button and put in your card and then the wine comes out – it’s great.”
Another local, whom we approached while lounging on a deckchair, when asked about the price of wine from a local store, replied: “Well, that’s London.”
Finally, there were digital marketer Marina Prykhodka, 27, and House DJ Anastasia Belgian, 33, who also work as models and briefly lived in the area.
The couple came all the way from Ukraine and posed for photos for their thousands of followers during our visit.
They said they miss their homeland, but if they were forced to choose any place to live in the UK, it would be at the location of the luxury station.
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Shop owner and wine connoisseur Raj BathiaCredits: Peter Jordan
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The luxury complex is home to a host of celebrities, including Bear Grylls and Sting Credit: Peter Jordan
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One Facebook user shared his disbelief at wine prices
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Visitors from the US Philippa Couvillion, 75, with husband Ken, 83, and son Jason, 51 Credit: Peter Jordan
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Former MP David Warburton, who works in the area Credit: Peter Jordan
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Popcorn costs £24.99 Credit: Peter Jordan
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The site has undergone a £9bn transformation in recent yearsCredit: Peter Jordan
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education