Vocal Voices

Is this the way things will be going?

JL is about to start offering studios and flats in its existing property portfolio. It sounds as though it will be converting unused office, shop and storage spaces into living accommodation. And why not?

With more people working from home and shopping online there will loads of these spaces up and down the country. So long as they are converted to a decent standard for living in and are offered at reasonable rents they could help solve a few problems. Moving people in to live will help keep towns and cities alive, day and night, as is the case in much of Europe. They will cut down on the need to dig up thousands of hectares of arable land to build shoe boxes on. And with most things being on their doorsteps they might, just might, persuade their tenants that owning a car is not the be all and end all for transport.

It is far better for these unused spaces to have a useful purpose. The empty Debenhams building in Glos city centre is apparently going to be repurposed for the university, possibly classrooms although accommodation would also work well.

When I worked in Temple, London, I rented a bedsit in Brent. It was ex office space on a trading estate but 100m from the local tube station.

It was fairly OK, decent kitchen and reasonable space. The rent, however, was £1,300 per month.

We live in a converted shop, and when I see so many empty shops in towns and villages, I wish authorities would encourage people to make homes out of them. There will be plenty of office space available with changes in work practices due to Covid and it would be great to see it used for housing.

This is a great idea. I hope these homes will be affordable for young people and it should revitalise the cities centres.

Osc, we used to own a shop in a parade of four. They are now all homes and I know for sure that once the old shop and store rooms and integral garage are taken into consideration they will be huge living spaces.

I think John Lewis is onto something if the plans are done properly.

medsec222 wrote:This is a great idea. I hope these homes will be affordable for young people and it should revitalise the cities centres.

Absolutely, well done John Lewis - but as Suff alluded above, they have got to be priced right.

Now here's an interesting fact - this won't be John Lewis's first venture into the property market.

Did you know that they already own most of the village of Leckford in Hampshire?
Apparently, it's every property with a green front door .......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leckford
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.13680 ... 312!8i6656
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.13740 ... 312!8i6656

A bit personal though.

In 1945 Spedan Lewis bought Longstock house on the Leckford estate.

John Spedan Lewis took over the John Lewis store in London from his father and later formed the John Lewis partnership.

From his wiki page.

In retirement, Spedan Lewis lived at Longstock Park, near the village of Longstock in Hampshire