The best and worst celebrity neighbours

Robert Powell reveals which celebs you would and wouldn't like to find living next door...

Who would you really not want to bump into if you popped next door for some sugar, or a pint of milk?

An ex-partner maybe? Or your boss? Or even an old school teacher you really didn’t like...?

But what if the door opened and a famous face was staring out at you? Which celeb would you really not want to share a street with?

Well that’s exactly what property site Zoopla asked 4,107 home owners recently, as well as which celebrity they would most like to live next to. And to be honest, the results aren’t that surprising!

Let’s take a look...

The best!

Man of the moment, Colin Firth, topped the poll for the best celeb neighbour – receiving 15% of the vote. X-Factor’s Cheryl Cole was close behind with 9% and TV duo Ant and Dec came third.

6% of the survey panel are crossing their fingers hoping that Wills and Kate opt to take up residence in their street, following next month’s Royal wedding, while 5% would like to find the PM, David Cameron living next door.

Here’s a table running down the top 10 most-wanted celebrity neighbours:

Source: Zoopla.co.uk

But anyone hoping to make their famous neighbour hopes a reality will need to have deep pockets. Both Colin Firth and Ant and Dec live in Chiswick, West London, where the average property currently costs £647,988. While Jeremy Clarkson lives in the pricey Oxfordshire village of Chipping Norton, sharing a postcode with David Cameron and PR millionaire Matthew Freud.

The worst!

At the other end of the spectrum, glamour model Katie Price (aka. Jordan) tops the list of worst celeb neighbours, with just under one in three of the survey panel naming her as the famous person they would least want to end up living next to.

Irish pop duo Jedward came second with 12.6% of the vote, followed by excrement examiner and reality TV star Gillian McKeith. Home owners seem to have been divided on David Cameron and Jeremy Clarkson as they turn up in the least desirable list as well as the most desirable!

David and Victoria Beckham are also on the list in 7th place, with 4.5% of people naming them as the worst celeb neighbours. Just don’t tell lovemoney.com’s Client Director, Scott Parker, who lives around the corner from Posh and Becks’ Hertfordshire mansion!

Here’s the full list of the least-desirable celebrity neighbours:

Source: Zoopa.co.uk

Those living on Katie Price’s road may soon be cheering as her Surrey house is currently up for sale! The eight bedroom property in Woldingham comes complete with a cinema, orangery and gym and is on the market at a cool £2.75m.

Postcode prestige

Whether it’s a hated or loved celebrity, many people derive a certain sense of prestige from sharing their postcode with a famous face. Yes, it’s a vicarious thing to say – but even someone as cynical as I am can’t help but feel a tiny tingle of excitement if I run into a celeb on my doorstep!

Not that it happens that often. After all, the great and the good now all seem to flock together in the prestigious areas of London, way out of the reach of us ‘normal folk’!

Here’s a few of these exclusive London enclaves:

Kensington and Chelsea

As we reported in The street where homes cost £7m the centre of pricey property in this country is the prestigious West London borough of Kensington and Chelsea. These plush postcodes have played home to everyone from Sean Connery to Benny Hill and Bono to Hugh Grant.

Often cited as “Billionaires Row” the plush heart of this Royal Borough is arguably Kensington Palace Gardens where average property costs a whopping £18m! But nowadays this gated, guarded street is mainly home to embassies, ambassadors and a couple of hedge-fund managers!

The Borough of Kensington and Chelsea also covers the fashionable district of Notting Hill, former home to David Cameron before he became Prime Minister and moved East to Number 10. Chancellor George Osborne, along with Schools Secretary Michael Gove, and a handful of other prominent Conservatives also live in the area and form the so-called ‘Notting Hill’ set. A term coined in 2004 by traditionalist Tory MP Derek Conway.

Hampstead

On the other side of the political spectrum, several of the leading figures in the Labour party, as well as many other lefties and arty types, now huddle around the pricey and picturesque North London suburbs of Hampstead Heath. Labour leader Ed Miliband lives in a £1.6m townhouse in Dartmouth Park – a stone's throw away from his childhood home and his brother David’s current property.

Former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell is also in the area, along with current Labour comms chief Tom Baldwin and former Labour leader Lord Kinnock.

Former residents of the area include Michael Foot, Charles Dickens, George Orwell and T.S. Elliot, along with the authors of the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Cheyne Walk

In the South of Chelsea, this historic street runs along the embankment of the Thames and has played home to several writers, musicians and politicians over the years.

Both Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones have owned houses on Cheyne Walk, along with legendary footballer George Best, former PM Lloyd George and actor and director Lawrence Olivier.

Albany

The famous mansion block, Albany, in Piccadilly was converted into 69 bachelor apartments in 1802 which were allocated out to eligible, single men according to their social connections.

Former occupants include the poet Lord Byron, writer Aldous Huxley, novelist J.B. Priestly, actor Sebastian Shaw and PM William Gladstone. There’s been debate for years over the proper name of this prestigious mansion block with many arguing that it should never been referred to with the prefix ‘the’!

Your thoughts

Which celebrity would you hate to find next door? Or do you have a famous neighbour?

Let us know using the comment box below.

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