How a boiler installation in Bloomsbury exposed extreme London property prices

We love what we do. We’re constantly busy taking calls, tinkering with a boiler installation in Bloomsbury, a replacement in Bow and a repair in Bromley, but one recent story in the press has made us realise that we *might* be in the wrong job.

On a lot of the jobs we do in London, we spend hours in small annexes, otherwise known as boiler rooms. These are mainly found in the cellars of older buildings, and they’re normally dark, musty and not very inviting. But it’s where the boiler is kept and as long as we have some light and a cup of tea, we’ll happily get the job done.

However, we choked on our morning cuppa when we read that one of these boxy rooms is selling for more than £250,000!

The “property” is 550 sq ft, consists of two rooms and is in the basement of a large block of flats in the centre of Bloomsbury. The area has an average property price of £768,669 - so we reckon the price tag on the boiler room will look like a bargain to some potential buyers.

Because the size of modern boilers are a fraction of what they used to be, new systems are more likely to be found within the layout of the home. This means that more and more old Victorian boiler rooms are lying empty. With landlords and developers looking to make a fast buck, we’ll be seeing a lot more of these on the property pages soon.

I mean Bloomsbury is nice, but two-small-rooms-for-a-quarter-of-a-million-quid nice? But this is London and however much it is, it will get sold. And whoever is selling it will be laughing all the way to the bank - and good for them