Flowers left for Mr Rogers

FLOWERS have been left on the doorstep of a man described as “the most famous man in West Hampstead” after he passed away last month.

Neighbours paid tribute to Peter Rogers, a former window cleaner of celebrities’ homes who was in his 80s and lived in Broomsleigh Street for many decades.

He could often be found “schlepping around the road in his dressing gown”, reading in his front garden with his dog and saying hello to everyone that passed.

Andrew Winton, who has lived in the area since 1989, told the New Journal: “It was very, very sad to lose him. He was definitely one of the characters of the area. To say he was always around to have a chat would be an understatement.”

When residents hadn’t seen Mr Rogers for a few days they alerted the emergency services. He was found dead in his home around April 22. Bouquets of flowers and cards have been left outside his home. The street gathered outside his gate and raised a glass in his honour last Sunday.

Mr Winton said: “When I first met him he was doing his window cleaning business. He’d tell me about how he’d been over to Kentish Town or somewhere and cleaned Michael Palin’s windows.”

Neighbours met in Broomsleigh Street to remember Peter Rogers

Neighbour Jo Mayne said: “He used to name-drop loads. He said he’s cleaned Sting’s windows, Johnny Depp’s in Hampstead. There was a time when he would be able to afford to go on several holidays a year. He had a camper van, a really posh one that was parked out there.”

She added: “He was sort of a bygone age in some ways. The whole street was an extension of his house, which you don’t get now. When he first lived here it wasn’t such an upmarket area. He bought his house for a snip – he used to love telling me about that. I think it was something like £25,000.

“He was totally relaxed, schlepping around in his dressing gown or a string vest or topless. He was totally comfortable in the street and that was reassuring.”

Mr Rogers loved animals and kept cats and dogs, and a tortoise with a white stripe down the middle when his two children were growing up.

His first dog was a Jack Russell called Duffy. When Duffy died he was replaced with “Duffy the Second” who had a a “squeaky bark”.

He was a brownish poodle mix that Mr Rogers liked to groom in his porch. His brother has now taken Duffy.

“He had two cats and he probably fed them better than he fed himself, fine bits of meat and stuff like that,” Leila Butt, another neighbour, said.

She added: “He loved reading late into the night and he only bought hardback books, never paperbacks because he started his collection on hardbacks.  “Without fail he would be out there sunning himself. You felt the street was in good hands when Peter was around.”

Mr Rogers “would always know if anything was amiss” on the road and operated as an unofficial neighbourhood watch. Mr Winton recalled when Mr Rogers chased away some thieves who were scaling the scaffolding to try to get into his house while he was out.

Jasper Dade, 57, of Gondar Gardens stopped by the house in the hope to find Susan and Paul, Mr Rogers’ two children who he lost touch with. Mr Dade went to Hampstead School with Paul when they were young.

Mr Dade said: “They were a lovely family. Really lovely and welcoming. Back then when we were kids, this was an amazing area. And you walked in and out of everyone’s house that’s how it was.

“It was so safe to play here and you could just do as you wanted.

“He was a big man. His son was a window cleaner with him when he was about 14. They cleaned all the windows around here, right down to Maida Vale.”

Mr Dade added: “He was always here, always at the gate.“It was a nod and he knew me and I knew him and that was enough, you know, and that went on for years. And then he wasn’t here and then I saw the flowers.”