IT’S a sure-fire way of beating Camden’s stringent parking rules – buying yourself a car park in the heart of the borough.
For anyone with a few bob to spare who wants a guaranteed space, a car park in Delancey Street, Camden Town, is up for auction by estate agents McHugh and Co.
The car park, at the Regent’s Park end of the residential road where poet Dylan Thomas once lived, has 11 spaces rented out to businesses.
And for a reserve price of £250,000, the patch of tarmac sandwiched between the Edinburgh Castle pub and the traffic lights by Parkway can be yours.
Agents at McHugh and Co, which specialises in auctions, say the sale has generated a lot of interest.
Auctioneer Christopher McHugh said: “It is rare to have a car park in Camden Town for sale – and it is hard to get private car parking anywhere in London, and especially this central.”
Currently, all but one plot is rented out, and, with the revenue from an estate agents’ advert which takes up one of the walls, the new owners can expect an income of nearly £23,000 a year.
Clients include £3,345-a-term public school Northbridge House, which is opposite the car park and takes up two plots, and estate agents Bairstow Eves.
Mr McHugh added: “This could be really attractive to a local business.
“It’s virtually impossible to park in Camden Town nowadays, because of residents’ parking zones and meters, and this is a good way of guaranteeing your staff a space and an income to pay for it.”
At the same auction at the Ramada Hotel in St John’s Wood on May 21, bids will be sought for Mustoe Bistro, the restaurant in Regent’s Park Road, Primrose Hill, that closed last year.
The property, which has a guide price of £675,000, has attracted a large number of viewers. It has a two-bed maisonette above the restaurant as well as a loft with windows for storage or possible conversion into another bedroom.