In the last two columns, my colleague Siobhain Egan has introduced you to our company, what we do – and offered a few tips on getting on the ladder with shared ownership and buying at auction.
This month it’s my turn to tell you about myself – and how I ended up working as a residential and commercial property solicitor at Lewis Nedas Law.
My love affair with the area started back in the 1990s, when I was a sixth form student at JFS (Jews Free School) on Camden Road.
A short bus ride from Camden Town Station on the 29 or the 253 bus, the school had been established there since 1958, when it relocated from the East End. It operated from those premises until 2002 when it moved again to Kenton, its grounds since replaced with a mixture of flats and housing which cover the entire former site and the accompanying playgrounds.
From my early days there pre-sixth form, groups of us in blue blazers would pass through Camden Market, and on the way home I’d use the British Rail connection at Kentish Town.
This would involve a walk via Oseney Crescent and Islip Street, part of what was built in the mid 19th century as New Kentish Town.
Leaving the school gates, there was no shortage of local features to grab the eye: the imposing structure of St Luke’s Church, rows of Victorian terraced housing, blocks of council flats like the striking Forties building, a stretch of businesses and The Oxford pub (or Jolene Celeste as it was known then) at the bottom. Indeed, some of that area was even immortalised in music videos for the band Madness. And it was this fledgling interest in what surrounded me that formed the genesis of what I now do for a living.
Perhaps my favourite school days were strolling down the Highgate Road past the Forum and onto Parliament Hill where the annual Camden Athletics for secondary schools took place and our own school’s sports day. I still recall the baton relay races managed by my charismatic P.E teacher (Mr Newman I salute you!), and somehow getting into the final of the under-15s 200 metres.
Looking back, I was blissfully unaware how the whole area would take shape as a place for serious property values – but it certainly makes sense in retrospect, given its local character, proximity to Central London and the vibrancy it shares with Camden.
At Lewis Nedas, we’re also positioned very conveniently for our property clients just across the road from Mornington Street Station and a few doors away from the world famous music venue KOKO.
Part of the fun of working here is the close connections we enjoy with the local area through our work on a range of property matters, including advice on the sale and purchase of flats, houses and commercial buildings. So if you’d like to have an initial free consultation basis, please call me on the number below.