Tuckerman Residential are Westminster's oldest established
Estate Agents, RICS Regulated, and we pride ourselves on providing
efficient, accurate and professional advice, to best enhance
the value and returns from our client's property assets.
We are based in one of the few original houses remaining in
Great Smith Street and the area that we cover encompasses some of
the most historic buildings in London.
All our properties are promoted through a variety of websites
and property portals which include www.rightmove.co.uk , www.zoopla.co.uk , www.primelocation.com , www.findaproperty.co.uk , and www.lonres.com (a
site for accredited estate agents and relocation companies with
whom we work closely in the area).
We are advertisers in The House Magazine 'The
magazine seen as an indispensable guide and integral part of
Westminster life and independently identified as the most read
weekly publication within the Palace of Westminster'.
To follow is an overview of the area which we
cover:
Properties: much-prized are the lovely early
Georgian houses around Smith Square and in Queen Anne's Gate , and
the handsome, solid, red-brick mansion flats at the back of the
Roman Catholic cathedral in Victoria Street. Good buys are the
late-Victorian and early 20th-century council blocks, which now
have a high proportion of owner-occupiers, and the modern flats in
and around Vincent Square, Horseferry Road and Marsham Street.
The area attracts: mainly single professionals or couples
without children because the property stock is a combination of
period and modern flats. Staying power is good - many people,
especially overseas owners, hold on to their flats, keeping them as
their London base for many generations.
Postcodes: Westminster is in SW1, a postcode
which also includes the very attractive streets of Pimlico and
Belgravia.
Best streets: Smith Square is at the very heart
of the political establishment. Vincent Square is home to the
famous private Westminster School's playing field. The square
contains a few Georgian houses and some fine later Victorian
houses.
Up-and-coming areas: the Millbank estate behind
the Tate Gallery is an early example of social housing. The
architecture of these austere, red-brick blocks is Arts and
Crafts-influenced. Most of the flats are now owner-occupied rather
than rented.
Schools: Westminster School can trace its
history back to 1179 when the Benedictine monks at Westminster
Abbey set up a small charity school. The school is still
based in the precincts of the abbey, while the roll call of former
pupils includes prime ministers, musicians, actors, architects and
the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. The school takes boys
from age 13 and girls in the sixth form. There is a prep school in
Vincent Square where boys start at age seven. Both the cathedrals
have choir schools. Westminster Abbey has 30 boarding choristers,
while Westminster Cathedral also has 30, plus 100 day boys who
are educated up to Common Entrance at age 13.
Popular state primary schools are Burdett-Coutts in Rochester
Street which is judged "good" by Ofsted and St Peter's Eaton Square
which gets an "outstanding" rating. Greycoat Hospital, a successful
state girls' comprehensive in Horseferry Road, occupies a historic
building which has two little statues of pupils from times gone by
in niches above the entrance.
Shops and restaurants: there is a good spread
of activity, with the House Of Fraser department store - once known
as the Army & Navy - and a large Sainsbury's in Victoria
Street. The new Cardinal Walk development close to Victoria station
has a Topshop, Zara, Hobbs and other popular chain stores.
Tucked away in the back streets there are oddities such as J
Wippell & Co, an ecclesiastical supplier, and bookbinders
Shepherds. When it comes to restaurants MPs seem to love a good
curry.
The Cinnamon Club in Great Smith Street and Quilon in the St
James's Court Hotel both serve top-notch Indian food. Other
favourites with our political class are Shepherd's in Marsham
Street, part of the Langan's chain, and the restaurant in the
Goring Hotel in Beeston Place.
Leisure and the arts: St John's Smith Square,
in a fine Baroque church known as Queen Anne's footstool, is a
leading concert venue for classical music, while the theatres and
cinemas of the West End and the Southbank are a short walk away for
those seeking more modern culture.
Transport: Westminster is in Zone 1 and an
annual travel card covering Zones 1 and 2 costs £1,032; St James's,
Westminster and Victoria are all on the District and Circle lines;
in addition Westminster is on the Jubilee line and Victoria is on
the Victoria line.
Council: Westminster City Council is Tory and
Band D council tax for the 2010/2011 year is £687.62, one of the
lowest in the country.
Extracted from an article by Anthea Massey, published 9 June
2010, all details correct at time of publication.
As an RICS Regulated Firm we have a Complaints
Handling Procedure. If a complaint cannot be resolved in-house it
will be referred to The Property Ombudsman Scheme for
Residential Sales and Lettings which is regulated by the
Office of Fair Trading.
