YOU can only wonder what Sir John Betjeman would make of Leamington Spa today. The poet, whose centenary is being celebrated, wrote Death in Leamington in 1930, a sad little poem about decay. The lines “Do you know that the stucco is peeling? Do you know that the heart will stop? From those yellow Italianate arches. Do you hear the plaster drop?” appealed to my nascent property obsession, as I studied it for English Lit.

Back then, Leamington Spa was sinking into the kind of faded glory that even Betjeman couldn’t have envisaged. Much of the peeling stucco of this former Regency playground had been turned over to bedsit-land.

“At one point in the early 1980s you could pick up a huge house in north Leamington — the most desirable part — for £9,000, the same price as new ones going up to the south of the town,” says James Oliver, of Knight Frank. “People didn’t want those big, old houses.” The same houses now, in desirable garden squares or crescents, mostly Grade II, fetch over £1 million.

There is obviously money — and taste — in Leamington Spa. Cool bars and restaurants and a shopping mall, the Royal Priors, which helped Warwick District Council’s planning and conservation department to win a Cabe (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) award this year for “thoughtful teamwork between conservation officers, planners and developers”. Or, as one Cabe insider puts it: “In Leamington Spa the planners have got control over the developers”.

Local agents agree that the transformation of Royal Leamington Spa into one of the hottest places to live in the West Midlands was spurred by the opening of the Innovation Centre at Warwick Technology Park 16 years ago. “This was the start, but in the past three years we have seen an enormous influx into Leamington,” says Sue Griffin of Fine & Country estate agency. “Seventy per cent are from out of the area. Many work in London and commute (Leamington Spa to Marylebone takes 1½ hours. At first it was value, but it’s certainly the style of the property that attracts them. What’s selling are either top-spec houses, or complete wrecks requiring total modernisation.” A terraced or semi-detached house costs from about £200,000, the average for a flat is £153,000. Flats, as the entry-level properties, are likely to rise in value over the next year at least. Warwick District Council, acting from a general desire to retain the character of the town, has introduced a moratorium on the building of further apartments, new-build and conversion, in the town centre, as it has in Warwick.

“Over the past few years we have seen more homes built than are required by government quotas. There was a problem: there were two flats for every one house being planned,” says Philip Clark, head of planning policy for Warwick District Council. “We will permit housing if it is 100 per cent affordable housing, or if part of a mixed-use scheme where not more than half of the floor area is residential.”

Among those town-centre apartment schemes that got in under the wire is Clarendon Court, the conversion of a former hotel. There are six apartments left, priced from £199,950 to £319,950. Offices above shops are becoming the Space Apartments, 38 modern two-bedroomed apartments and four penthouses, scheduled for completion by May 2008, priced between £225,000 and £397,000.

Restricted supply and continuing demand means good news for sellers. But prices could slump after being pushed artificially high, as they did in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge in Cheshire. So, if you’re planning to buy in Leamington Spa, it could pay to bide your time until prices settle. After all, as the late Sir John Betjeman might have been be pleased to hear, the old place looks as if it’s got plenty of life in it yet.

SPA QUALITY

Would I like it? Yes — if you’re a fan of grand Regency frontages, perambulating in the park and chi-chi shops.

So it’s got a past? Saline springs were found in 1784 and the rich, ill and idle flocked there. Princess Victoria visited in 1830, granting the “Royal” prefix.

Where are the cool hangouts now? The Leamington Bar and Grill on the Parade. Rhubarb is a funky restaurant, and the White Horse is a rambling old pub.

Any celebs? The EastEnders actor Adam Woodyatt lives in the village of Southam. and Gordon Strachan, former Coventry City manager, has been seen in Tesco.

Useful info: Clarendon Court agents, Knight Frank, 01789 269853, www.knightfrank.co.uk Space Apartments, 01926 881144, www.thespaceapartments.co.uk

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