The Abandoned Mansions of London | Billionaires' Row Documentary
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- This short documentary investigates the decaying remnants of North London's Billionaires' Row mansions, worth around £350 million and hidden in plain sight. Architecturally stunning, controversial, and deteriorating by the day, the future of these expansive houses is uncertain, but it seems unlikely many will ever become a home...
We rarely explore alone but this documentary was filmed single-handedly, with a sharp ear, eye, a suppression of urgent tension, and a constant readiness to run! Hope you find it interesting.
View our photos and find out more here: beyondthepoint....
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Fantastic video but so sad when ya think about it to,on one hand you have places like tower Hamlets also the endless homeless people on the streets of London yet in the same city over 500 million pound worth of mansions just sit rotting ... It's a mad world...great video
Thank you Lewis! Yep it is a shame it’s not often we look at places with as much of a political controversy as this. Certainly captures the disparity of London
@@BeyondthePoint also down the road you have Ricky Gervais etc in the area I wonder how they feel about these properties empty nearby
Also in London is tax payer funded buckingham palace with rooms aplenty
@@pottersmiles7238 actually thats a common myth, the royal family gets it's money from the crown estate, which was handed over to the government. they only get a fraction of what the crown estate generates. the rest goes to the treasury. Plus they generate alot for the country.... like tourism etc. Get your fact right
@@charlesjay8818 pathetic little man aggravated due to no control over personal emotions. Maybe if you studied the history you will see how the royal family had royal ownership laws changed in their favour. If the royal family were the reason for tourism there would be a french king in versaille. The more you cry charlie boy the more I drink your tears
Good work guys. Well filmed and researched :)
Cheers much appreciated!
Such a shame, as the houses on that street are beautiful(the ones that have not been abandoned and left to rot, that is). It used to be a street where celebrities would live, as one of the advantages was that you own a vast amount of land for your house(unlike in central London) and it was still fairly close to the center of the city, for business and nightlife.
I got into a little crash on this very road last year, the speed limit is significantly higher for a residential road. To the security guard from one of the houses that helped me, you’re a top guy, if you ever see this, thank you again mate, much appreciated ❤️
Awesome, awesome job. Thanks for taking the risks to show us this! Appreciate it. Please stay safe!
Thank you!
Barons Court was always my favourite property by far on that road. I used to pass by there on the way to school and always loved that house. Always wanted to see the house properly so many thanks for the footage, very much appreciated.
It all about the land and it appreciating in value, what's on it they do not care about. Its a shame that they don't rent them out or use them for functions etc - but that tells me the owners do not want to be known and have zero traceability.
This is a dangerous road to drive down. Its very hard to keep your eyes on the road with such breathtaking works of architecture on both sides of the street. The run down looking ones look sooooo mysterious
Amazing professional documentary quality and good music as well. Thanks for sharing, really interesting
Thank you :)
Other than music was too loud in the first half where I had trouble hearing what he was saying
had a wicked squat party in one of these mansions, can't remember which one, had two wings.. early 2000s. Only realised where we were in the morning, to our surprise, before that I didn't know Bishops Avenue. Interestingly, noone called the police on us.
Well made guys. Well made. Dropped by it today hard to put the experience into words
Surprised to see these left to rot. They need to pass laws that prevent abandonment and blight and self-serving foreign investors from harming neighborhoods through vacancy and neglect.
Yes you are right about that
This makes me angry. When I think of all those families struggling to find a decent home and people living on the streets.. just disgusting. Do we live in the 21st Century, or are we back in Victorian times? Knock these monstrosities down and put up decent, social housing!
True. Its a greedy stinking shit hole. London is rife like this
Good to see some footage of Barons Court, its my favourite hang out, never see it on video as most don't know the access situation. Good video mate
Cheers! Yep amazing place that, first one I went to. At the time the grounds were wide open but many people have said its actively lived in or has security or squatters inside, honestly not sure what’s true!
Well It was also my favourite house but unfortunately it has been knocked down now! Big shame, must be some very greedy developer.
how did you not get caught im trying to go chill
@@dang7096 its all gone mate someone bought up all the land and got rid of most of the buildings
Have you got any footage of the interior of barons court?
When I was searching for what house I wanted to buy in UK, I went to look at some houses on this street and passed by some of the derelict mansions. One of my colleagues told me that these estates are used for money laundering. They’ll get a corrupt appraiser to say it’s worth a ton, then “sell” it to a criminal for millions but really it’s not worth much then the criminal will sell it back for just a bit. Not sure if it’s true but that’s what I was told
What a beautiful mansion it will crumble before anyone buys it an it's sad
Many may have been bought as "secret boltholes" with legal or illegally obtained funds. But the owners were caught up in regime change e.g Iraq, Iran, Libya, Saudi etc and never made it out.
As most are owned by companies registered in tax havens, we may never know who owns them and descendants of the buyers or the new regime may not even know of their existence. So they rot...such a shame, but most are 1970's gaudy homes albeit on very valuable plots.
That makes sense. I was wondering what the issue could be.
I have a question, would it be possible to buy one of the abandoned mansions?
@@Hejdrattta I very much doubt you could buy one of the abandoned mansions unless they come on the market. Current ownership is hard to find; it could be Saudi Royals or others who bought them with illegally obtained money from corruption - who knows? Many are owned by offshore companies so no-one knows who really owns them - maybe Glentree Estates in London would know if any could be bought, they are specialists for this road. Even as they stand rotting, the plots are worth millions to demolish and rebuild.
A bit short thought we were going to see inside in great detail?
Wow how sad this places are empty while so many families have being made homeless across the uk .. 😭
Absolutely fascinating! I've heard about these places but never looked into them too much.. A brilliantly put together documentary as usual.. Thanks for sharing it with us. ATB Em and Stu 😊
Thanks guys glad you found it interesting!
Bishops avenue, always full of mysteries and intrigue captured really well in this mini docu.
How das that nobody lifs there. It's so beautiful. Thanks for showing
The inside of some of these are insane! One has a giant swimming pool
RE 🇬🇧🤛🏻
Hi from New Zealand 🇳🇿Love that beautiful outdoor furniture!
Interesting and beautiful.....the volume of the score drowns out the information given
i went there on bike in july and man those houses were beatiful but how did you gain entry to the buildings?
Didn’t go inside any although at the time one was accessible. It was quite surprising how open these places’ grounds were though
Great video but makes me feel sick. The property situation is a joke - think how many people could live here? Even worse think about how the neighbours would kick off should you split/convert one of these into affordable flats?
I was there yesterday and the abandoned mansions are so sick
What a disgusting mess and colossal waste of money. If this is how foreign investors treat property in another country, why the hell doesn't the British government do something about it???
Mary why should they? Every time one of these changes hands, the government earns hundreds of thousands in stamp duty. They are not historic buildings or national treasures, they are modern pastiches- it doesn't matter if they rot. The owners will still be paying council tax etc but not making use of any local services, nobody looses out.
@@spencerwilton5831 No council tax is paid in unoccupied homes.
So sad to see these mansions in decay , I’ve been interested in the Barons Court one , it looked absolutely gorgeous on the Savills site when it was on sale . Can you do a documentary if you cand find some info , I’d love to see what happened to it 😄 Thank you ❤️
Unfortunately and very sadly Barons Court has just been demolished. To build an ugly and huge block of flats.
@@johnalex7078 it’s sad seeing gorgeous classical mansions go ... The beautiful pictures on the Savills site , the gardens were absolutely beautiful, just think how lucky to be to have that much land and a big mansion in London... Oh well , the pictures are the only thing that remain of a beautiful family home , that was preserved and loved for generations 🥺
Yep unfortunately a lot of the mansions in this film have since been knocked down
@@johnalex7078 that's a shame and it sounds like a lot of the greenery will vanish
I have loads of pictures and info on barons court if you are interested from when my family used to live there
Horrible sound mix on this...hard to hear the narration over the music.
Indeed it’s not the best, we’ve since improved on this
you can only live in one home at a time just like you can only eat one meal at a time
I worked on a couple of these houses in the early 90's. They could never be called homes. They are to big to be made 'homeley' and they are ugly, a blight on the local area. The two i worked on were vast inside, one house, about halfway up on the left as you go up the hill, was never lived in. Its huge inside. And inside they are the height of vulgar. If i remember correctly 11 of these houses are owned by the Saudi Royal family, a family so disgustingly rich, they probably don't even know they still own them, just numbers on a spreadsheet.
I explored one of these abandoned mansions a while back. Found a room full of massive boxes of bullet proof glass in one of them
how didnt you get caught
Hey I’m trying to find one of the houses do u know the post code ?
Nice video, but I think the music overlay ruins it.
Liking the bid bro, you just gained another subscriber
Thank you!
@@BeyondthePoint where u boyz from?
Essex
@@BeyondthePointwe're from Norfolk
What causes the abandonment of these mansions. It’d make great research project.
It's simple. They are bought buy wealthy foreign investors as 'investment'. Nowhere is as safe as the UK for ur legitimate or illegitimate finances. I believe much of the investment is plundered wealth and money from corruption, if the shit ever hits the fan where ever these investors are, they have a multi million pound investment that will never depreciate.
Sad to see this tho.
Having too much money!
Scroll back and read the threads because I don't have time to repeat but somebody did a good job explaining why some of them are abandoned
So this house has an indoor and outdoor pool and a pond? I'm sure the one with diving board looks like a pool
It's crazy, i still love the street so much , what a waste .
The council needs to assess these properties and determine the grade of protection if any. Then there's more likely to be a change. Unfortunately, many are owned by overseas investors, who need to be charged with non residential taxes and offers to rectify the visual aspect of the property. This will deter empty dilapidated properties and make London more reasonably priced. To much laundered money is allowed by the city of London to hide and invest.
I saw one of the houses going for just £30 million.
So yea, grab a bargain! 🤔
What is the location of this place ??
I struggled to hear over the back ground music 😫
Loved the video but the musics loud and Its covering your voice xx
They should fix them and give these homes to the homeless. Such a waste to be empty. Weirdest Street in London
Tracey Cracknell why would you give the homeless a multi million pound property? How is that fair on people who work hard to afford much more basic accommodation? What incentive is these for anyone to work if you hand out luxury homes for free? The homeless people given accommodation in one Cornish holiday park during lockdown have causes chaos and a mini crime wave. Police have attended dozens of times. Not everyone deserves or appreciates the help!
Disgusting billionaire wasters. Veterans who fought for freedom and their left to rot on the streets of London cold capital. Put the army in them and let them pay some kind of money towards the maintenance. God forgive me this is evil
Excellent video
Thank you!
lets face it if i had the money to live anywhere in the world london would be low on the list.
True I’d agree! Perhaps the wrong place and destined for decline all along.
I dunno... I'd put London pretty high on my list.
Then don't buy a place there, and then let it sit empty till it falls apart. It's pretty simple.
Top on the list?
London is the world centre for money laundering. And property is the preferred method.
So sad to see these beautiful mansions abandoned. We have put a foreign tax for people that live in them. It's definitely helping here.
Well done again i love ur videos
Thank you :)
Did anyone ever live here?
In another comment the guy that film this said that since then a number of these Mansions have been torn down
great documentarty
Me and my mate are going there is it hard to get into?
Sad really. I would the challenge of restoring it, but the price is half as much as what you would need to restore it. Most people don’t have a billion dollar to put in to it.
something doesnt add up, there is a reason they are derelict. Could have bodies in the ground, radioactive or unholy land. The patter doesnt add up at all!.
Someone in the thread explained how and why these probably became abandoned ...
first time i crossed Bishops Avenue, unaware where i was, i thought the enormous buildings were government buildings.
Some of them are huge, I’m not sure what all the active ones are used for but I’m pretty sure all the properties are just private homes, some might have rooms rented out
i ve been there a few times and i have to say i agree. The smell of millions of pounds is in the air there.
what camera are you using to film this?
Osmo Pocket - great camera
This is a good video, but it's like it's making one point that's dragged across 9 minutes...? It got monotonous fast.
Is this what King's Avenue in Only Fools and Horses was based on? Where Boycie lived.
Good work
Cheers!
It's a strangely soulless road. Not much sense of community.
Really they say Ricky Gervais has a house on that street
@@gardensofthegods I don't know who lives there but they would all be wealthy. Some houses are owned by foreigners who don't live there.
If you have a lot on money....probley dont want to live on 1 plot of land everyday....To much cleaning for me....
Crazy!
Are there dogs in use for guard?
I wonder if any of these properties are owned by shady Russian investors and now open to seizure as part of sanctions? But that would require someone to get serious about money laundering.
London has become a victim of it's own success.
Very sad indeed, unoccupied well. Insya Allah, someday i preserve these properties if i had got authority there. Very sad indeed... Why looks like this...? Scary but i don't believe evil can kill human, ask to be worse absolutely yes. 🌐🇬🇧❤️
Can you buy these abandoned properties?
They buy property but there are only few billionaires. Who is going to really buy these homes? They eventually end up in ruins and the nature takes over.
Did you come across a Mansion called the towers?
Just soo fucking sadd. for real damn wtf London
The city of London should siege these houses and put them up for auction-
That mansion at 7:22 is so lush man. Damn!!
Yes I feel the same way too I love Greenery and in one of the comments he says that since this was filmed a number of those places have been torn down
You asked what will happen to these houses?
Developers will move in and build a housing estate as London struggles to cope with it's immigration issues.
I've little doubt these are owned by Tory donors or arms dealers that benefitted from successive government contracts.
what a manshion!
Q maravilla como toda inglaterra
tried to have a look around today and got confronted by a german shepard and security guard had to run , would of loved to of seen the insides of the buildings , which property has the squatters in maybe they would let us take a look 😂👍
Qui est la grâce Gabriel et Corentin
Moi
O my God 😱👹this is the definitely ghost house now. 😃😀😄
Thw world’s most expensive slum.
They should have turn this into an affordable flat
In a comment here he says one of the buildings already has been torn down and they're building a big modern building of flats there ... doubtful it will be affordable housing .
He said since the filming of this a number of those houses have been torn down
Can i have the location ? 🙃
Just Google billionaires row bishops avenue full address and map is on Google it's a very popular and easy to find road
Beautiful h ouse i am not understand why everbody not stay here' ..emmmm...
Damn shame. Why not come up with some type of caretakers program??? Think about it.
Pink Floyd !!
Reverse gentrification
That’s a profound notion, your dead right, it is.
Are they really patrolled by security with dogs?
Yep you can hear the dogs barking from the hut
Beyond the Point re: squatters - Q.Is it the case in the UK that if a squatter brings furniture and other items into such homes they can't be evicted?
No idea, I know there was a law where squatters could not be forcefully removed from properties but I think that may have been counteracted since
Do u know the adress of this house ?
Tax havens
😢
With tacky names such as “ Barons Court’, they deserve to be left empty and then redeveloped.
Where is the location please and street adress
The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 0BA
3:22 Do you have any proof for your claim about "Thatcher" doing anything or stockbrokers, in the early 1980's please provide a reference.
You ought to also link the quotes and proof, with HOW IT AFFECTED these properties, for example what was on the various plots of land previously.
Also, show where in the world that the value of a house is worth more than the land ?
NOTE: from 3:33 and elsewhere there is so much music noise that some further claim you're making is inaudible, incoherent ! (FAIL) (the over all video is nice though, you've spent a lot of time on it, one can tell. Thanks for posting. Have A Nice Day.
7:50
The squatter law was changed in 2017 making squatting unlikely in any of these residential buildings.
There will be NONE squatted in, now-a-days. (Read the Act.)
8:42
Another nonsense claim, even with an "artistic license", shocking.
The desirability of the property you mention at 8.42, is not altered in fact it is MORE desirable that the present neighbours of the particular property you're "comparing", because you quote earlier the price values of the various plots / properties.
The desirability of these properties has not altered at all since (for example) the late 1970's, at no time have any properties become "less desirable".
The fact of the properties looking as they do, ONLY indicates that the various owners are real rich and can leave them in unkept condition; something that is only allowable in a free democracy.
Simply because the properties have not sold, is indication of the properties continued desirability.
I have a buddy with a house like this, he moved to his other house in 1997 and just left the former house, unkempt, even with a car in the garage.
His neighbours there, have his new phone number or the police can call him if needed.
All of these "home owners" will have been paying Government taxes and Council Taxes and Water rates and LAND TAX and also maintenance and Insurance and gardener -land clearing costs.
Probably those costs on the type of house you highlight would be ten-thousand pounds per week,
10,000.oo is plenty of money to pay towards the cost of providing homeless people's accommodation, at the same time as such a single house is left empty.
The economic system is already worked out and there is NO waste, here in Bishops Avenue.
Unfortunate that you needed to use the song "Money". Very rote, unimaginative and been done to death.
As with all classics they’ve been done to death. But it seemed a fitting choice; from a similar time to the construction of these houses, and the psychedelic element suited the surreal subject matter.
Can this voiceover only speak in trios of words? Also, the music is annoying. Let the buildings speak for themselves. And employ a proper voice over. 🙄
People generally prefer information about the places we show. We don’t do this as a service or as a job, we do it as a hobby. It’s our own creative work so we don’t employ anyone. The voice over is a bit hard to hear on some speakers but we’ve taken this on board and been making the music less loud in subsequent films.
That fing music is really awful.
Eat the rich
1:16 - Home of Barron TRUMP, when he turns 16 and can leave his father's house.
What a waste. Goes to show us money is greed.
Because of the homeless problem they should take these properties over for eminent domain and get them fixed up and let the homeless people live in them and take care of that but most likely the homeless people are alcoholics and drug addicts and mentally ill that's why they're homeless to begin with
the narration is so bad, it's painful
Why?
I don't think she likes your accent, Narration is fine.
@@exile2828 has nothing to do with the accent. It's the fact that he speaks so unnaturally slow and emphasises the weirdest parts of sentences. Try and speak more naturally and it would be fine.
We’re not professionals so for a scratch production it’s not going to be perfect. Voicing a documentary isn’t natural to us nor does it require natural speech, it’s a work in progress
@@BeyondthePoint learn to take criticism?