Snow-decked Keystone Crescent

IT WOULDN’T be Christmas without a story about Keystone Crescent, whose historic cobbled arc in King’s Cross has been covered in fake snow for such festive classics as A Boy Called Christmas and Marks and Spencer’s 2024 advert starring Dawn French.

This year the news is a little less festive, as Islington Council butted heads with musical theatre royalty Sir Cameron Mackintosh over his plans to renovate two of the street’s Grade II-listed houses.

Known for producing shows including Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Oliver! and Hamilton, as well as owning several major London theatres, Sir Cameron, 79, first sought permission to renovate the houses Keystone Crescent in November 2024.

His plan was to build a basement extension and rear dormer extension on both properties, as well as restore their traditional railings, windows and brickwork.

Both houses had been empty for up to five years, and were bought for around £1million each in 2022 and 2023. As many as 17 people would have occupied each house in the mid-19th century, when a total of 76 families lived in the street’s 22 homes; one of the houses still has a toilet in the garden from the days without internal plumbing.

In May, the council refused to grant planning permission, saying the rear dormers would be “dominant and discordant” additions and “cause harm” to the street’s heritage.

Iceni Projects Limited, on behalf of Sir Cameron, challenged the council’s verdict, arguing the dormers would not be visible from the cobbled crescent street and citing five similar dormer extensions on neighbouring houses.

In a Christmas miracle for the theatre mogul, a planning inspector agreed, and last month gave Sir Cameron the green light to fix up the historic homes.

The Tribune contacted Sir Cameron Macintosh’s representatives and was told he was unavailable for comment.