Marylebone is perhaps the perfect London locale. Bang in the middle of town, smart, with period houses, a multitude of shops both chic and useful, Tubes, trains and parks at your fingertips, and yet neither flash nor toytown twee. It’s not cheap, of course, but it’s still shabby enough to be properly interesting.

Those who hanker after a cobbled mews street, but recoil from the pastel frippery of Notting Hill, might consider a new development in Chagford Street, a mews tucked behind Baker Street Tube station. Mews streets originally housed the horses of the wealthy, then their motor cars, and now the wealthy themselves. In 1919 W.O. Bentley built his first car in a garage on Chagford Street (now blue-plaqued), then called New Street Mews.

In 2003 the neighbouring garage was bought by Sean Quinn, of Q Developments, and turned into six modern five-bedroom townhouses called The Brooklands, after the racing track where Bentley first tested his cars. Five sold for between £2.2 million and £2.4 million last March, and Quinn has now put the final show house on the market for £2.5 million.

Chagford Street is cobbled and quiet, with a Lancia garage still operating at one end. Next to The Brooklands is a listed Georgian building, Chagford House, and on the corner a Victorian Gothic church, St Cyprian’s, opposite Frances Holland School for girls. The Brooklands is overlooked by the rear elevations of towering Victorian terraces, which contrast well with the sturdy concrete houses with their soaring glass roofs and pale grey walls patchworked with dark wood slats, so Q Developments worked hard to get as much light as possible into the houses.

Each has 3,000 sq ft of space spread over five levels, a garage and five outside terraces. Most rooms have french windows and the living room has a huge, double-height glass ceiling (the show house has a vast mirror that had to be lowered in by a crane). A dining area leads through to a high-quality kitchen kitted out with much inbuilt gadgetry. A separate living area floats above on a mezzanine near the glass ceiling, and the lower three floors are taken up by the five en-suite bedrooms and a home cinema.

Marylebone’s eclecticism is well represented by The Brooklands’ buyers, who are involved in finance, media and the arts. “People live here who want to escape Primrose Hill”, says Quinn. “It’s a bit more gritty.”



Q Developments: 020-7223 1200

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