Just Can't Get Enough?

Loyal readers of this blog, currently forced to wait up to three days between postings, will be relieved to learn that an additional source of erudite local comment is at last available, created by the team (uhmm) that brings you Trym Tales.

As guest writer for the local portal Guide2Bristol, I will be posting intellectually stimulating items of local interest every week on the site, which can be viewed here.

Recent pieces include a post about the current round of allocation of places for secondary schools in Bristol (with more than a passing glance at the new Oasis Academy Brightstowe) as well as an item on the pressure to build new houses in Bristol's greenbelt in the coming years.

Guide2Bristol contains a news section, an accommodation section, information on Bristol's diverse neighbourhoods, a jobs section and a free classified section. That's just part of it, of course, as it also includes its own blog written (as outlined above) by yours truly.

Thank you.

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Tall Pines - Now Available with Ferrari and Dubious Story Line

The six-bedroom house at the bottom of Henbury Road is now up for sale - with a "free" Ferrari thrown in for good measure.

The story, as reported in today's Evening Post, is that the six-bedroom executive home in Westbury on Trym "first went on the market two and a half months ago" but has been a little difficult to sell in the current financial climate. The Ferrari has therefore been included to encourage the buyer who is willing to pay the full asking price of £1.05 Million.

The reality, reported here on Trym Tales in March 2008, is that the house was originally put on the market that month at £995,000 via Savilles. After failing to sell, the property has more recently been advertised with local estate agents Andrews for £100,000 less than the original asking price. This development was also reported on this blog here in October.

Which means that, should anyone pay £1.05 Million to the owner - a Mr Duncan Jones of Wraxall - they will prove true the old maxim quoted in private by property developers, that "money tends to flow from unsophisticated to sophisticated people."

Shame that the Evening Post couldn't check its facts before falling for this piece of obvious PR spin.

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Westbury on Trym News

As the weekend approaches, a round up of some of the mundane but none the less mildly interesting events or developments in and around the village.

The large house at the bottom of Henbury Road remains unsold and the owners appear to have lost faith with estate agent Savills, the six-bedroom property now being marketed by Andrews. The asking price for the executive property has dropped in price by £100,000 over the last eight months.

I have never seen the sign at the entrance to Red Maids School looking quite so scrubbed and pristine. Could the school's open day have anything to do with this dramatic facelift?

Another brave entrepreneur has taken on the commercial property at the top of Westbury Hill, near its junction with Falcondale Road and Grange Court Road. This time, it has become a retail wine merchant. I wonder if this business will fare any better than the numerous car showrooms and other outlets that have occupied this oddly-sited commercial space over the last ten years.

The Westbury on Trym local food market takes place this Saturday morning for all things locally sourced.

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Haart Failure

The credit crunch bit into Westbury estate agent Haart this month as the local branch closed its doors and ceased trading, transferring its business to its Shirehampton branch.

Haart's parent company, Spicehaart, claims to represent the largest independent estate agency in Europe. In Westbury on Trym, however, the local branch has never really managed to break into the top end of the local housing market. It's windows, before they were whitewashed and a sign placed on the door, always tended to be full of properties for sale in Henbury and Brentry and could, therefore, as easily be marketed from Shirehampton.

I couldn't help noticing, meanwhile, that competitor Andrews, was boasting 15 house sales in its Westbury on Trym shop window this week. Which proves the point that there is always a buyer if the price is right.

I also notice that the large eco-house on Henbury Road remains unsold.

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Another House I Won't be Buying

On the market for a mere £2,000,000, the owners of this 5-bedroom 4-reception room house in Clifton are presumably not overly concerned by the change in the 10% basic rate of income tax.

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Crime Spree in Westbury on Trym

A spate of thefts has taken place in the Southdown and Hillsdon Road areas of Westbury on Trym in recent weeks.

Incidents have included:

• the theft of a motorcycle from the grounds of a house
• the theft of two bicycles
• the removal of a large quantity of wine from an outhouse
• damage to a parked car
• the theft of two cars
  

Avon and Somerset Police have recognised that after a period of years when domestic burglary has been steadily dropping, the number of such incidents in the area is on the increase and have launched a web site for residents detailing ways of protecting themselves from this trend. A copy of a video created by the force for the site is included below. Trym Tales can confirm that it is believed to be the first police video in the area to feature a carnivorous Christmas tree.

In a related incident, a youth recently knocked on the door of a house asking to use the toilet. On his admission, a group of five other youths entered the property and stayed for some minutes. Nothing was reported missing from the house on that occasion.

A group of youths matching the description of those above have been visiting the area and on one occasion were seen entering the side garden of a property before being disturbed. It appears they are not the brightest buttons that have ever graced the neighbourhood, so practical steps to secure one's property should have some effect - locking cars; keeping doors and windows closed; fitting shed alarms and security lights; and, of course, refusing admission to your house from anyone matching the description of the youths or anyone else who you are not expecting or whose identity you cannot verify.

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End of an Era? The Big New House on Henbury Road

It's finally up for sale.

I refer of course to the very large house at the bottom end of Henbury Road in Westbury on Trym.

The new-build house has gone on the market with Savills estate agent for a cool £995,000, a price which confirms my long-held view that the odd five thousand is neither here nor there .

The house, which is not yet finished, has been built on one of the last green field plots in the village of Westbury on Trym and, in that sense, represents a symbolic milestone in the history of the community. From now on, unless developers take over the hidden valley between Westbury C of E School and Southmead, new developments to the housing and infrastructure of the ancient village will be built on top of what was previously there.

Tall Pines, to give the 6-bedroomed house its official name, will be gated from the road and is built, according to the blurb, to an "eco-build" standard - a deliciously vague term which commits the builders to no particular level of environmental rigor while taking full advantage of a growing desire for environmentally friendly housing. Greenwashing, I believe, is the official term for this particular marketing strategy.

At 327 sq m (3523 sq ft), the new house has considerably more space than the average three-bed semi and, in the unlikely event that you are not invited to the house warming party, you can do the next best thing and take a look at the floor plan of Tall Pines by clicking here. All things considered, I think it is a rather fine looking property, in keeping with its surroundings on the main route in to the village.

Interestingly, despite a generally flat housing market, which has seen house prices in Bristol drop by up to 5% in recent months, houses at the very top end of the market are bucking the trend and selling for above the odds.

Residential property specialists Frank Knight describe a marked increase in demand for "super-prime" houses in recent months, with over 40% of such properties in the south east being purchased by foreign nationals, especially from Russia and Eastern Europe. More on all things property related here.

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What Are the Actual Sale Prices of Local Houses?

If you've ever wondered what the difference is between the advertised price of a property and its final sale price, the information you are after is now available free of charge at Our Property.

The web site allows users to find the final sale price of any property in the UK, the data being generated from the Land Registry on completion of the sale. You can search by address, postcode, street name, neighbourhood or town/city.

With schools being one of the driving factors in the Bristol property market, the site is particularly useful for local families considering moving houses to be near their school of choice. This continues to be a live issue in light of the Council's plans to re-draw the boundaries for the Redland Green School catchment area, a development commented on at Trym Tales here.

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