Stonebridge & Us
HOMESTEAD INTERIORS ARTICLE - STEP INTO THEIR OFFICE
Meet the estate agents with a twist bringing style to Highgate Village - and your home
A high street estate agents is not the first place you’d think to go to find interiors inspiration, but the newly revamped Stonebridge & Co. Part concept store, part integrated lifestyle service provider, and of course part agency, Peter Jam
es and Claire Beauchamp-Ward are shaking up the north London property scene. “After working so long for some very well established and respected agents Claire and I felt the time was right to branch out,” explains Peter. When the opportunity to buy up Stonebridge & Co. came up, neither felt they could pass on it. Leaving their jobs as branch managers, they set out to develop a holistic agency that could deliver so much more than the hard sell. The first test was working a bit of makeover magic on their new office space. “Underneath the dust and 1980s window display units was the bones of a really beautiful space crying out to be loved again,” says Claire. There’s nary a wall map or a bank of computers in sight; instead it’s all dark wood paneling, mossy velvet and gleaming brass, exposed bulbs and bell jars. Claire and Peter namecheck Rockett St George and Abigail Aherne as their favourite interiors brands and it shows in the quirky touches and signature Aherne “bottom of the lake” colour palette. The office at 49 Highgate West Hill doubles as a showroom, a place where clients can relax and observe first hand how a well put together room can make all the difference. And that’s not just when it comes to putting your home on the market. “We can help our clients even when they don’t want to move,” explains Claire. “The simple fact is that we are in uncertain times at the moment both politically and economically,” she adds. “For example, in Highgate Village you would generally expect to see in the region of 1000 transactions per year. In the past 12 months there have been only 200.”If a client decides they’d rather sit tight than try their luck on the market, the Stonebridge & Co. can offer a range of services to help them get more from current property. “We feel that for far too long the different elements of the home buying and owning process have been separated,” says Peter. “For us it just doesn’t add up.” Their one-stop-shop approach also integrates the kind of lifestyle concierge services you’d have traditionally only been able to find in areas such as Knightsbridge or Belgravia. Even if the London property market is going through a rough patch, a north London postcode is always desirable. you can make your home even more covetable, whether you plan to sell on or stay put.
