There is some TV series where millionaires live like hard up people to experience how the other half live. Franco should do something similar to see how a spoilt £350K a year housing association chief copes in one of his rathole properties.
A CEO AND HIS HELLS ANGEL GEAR!….’authentic and all’
This is what this poor lady had to endure…
“You can hear them squealing, you can hear them running, you can hear them scratching, she lamented. “When they run across the ceiling, it sounds like there are 10 of them – not just one solo rat.
The rats have taken over the whole building. When I first reported it, they were only in one wall – the external wall on the left – but because the issue went untreated, they’ve scratched their way through and they’re now in every single wall and ceiling.
“I’ve said to Notting Hill Genesis: ’This should be our home and our sanctuary. If this was a restaurant and there was like one rat, it would be closed down’… and this is how we’re expected to live.”
“I read that Patrick Franco ran Foxtons and then I read all the terrible coverage about that firm and wondered what was going on”. He should resign.
There are multiple other examples of NHG properties infested by rats. Children are actually living in these slums risking Weill’s Disease.
The Dame has a very clever follower who she has always suspected of being socialist but, in fury, he has sent this to her, which rather puts her in her place…
My Dear Overprivileged Dame
Let me tell it like it is…
Socialists do not want the working classes to enjoy a different way of life.
These middle class socialists, who write articles for the Dame, think they know what the working classes need.
The mere fact that socialists write for the Hornet makes them middle class. For these socialists, social mobility for the working classes is a no, no. What would a socialist do without any workers to patronise?
Socialists need the working classes to know their place and remain working class forever. In short, the working class are part of the ‘socialist empire’- street markets with all the trappings of what middle-class socialists think it means to be working class. Socialists forget that the trappings of high-end restaurants will employ some local workers in the service sector.
The wealthy diners might leave some tips which would definitely help some workers.
The working classes can appreciate the luxury of a nice meal too in one of these high-end restaurants, even if they cannot afford it as often as they would like. The working classes are not homogeneous; they have differentiated culinary tastes too. The working classes have moved on from the days of the cloth cap and whippets with sausage, egg, chips and baked beans thrown in, even if the Marxists who root for them would prefer it if they were the same as they were in the fifties.
Franco loves to showcase his orderly Soho life — the chic flat, his partner and their towering Newfoundland dog. It’s a picture of calm, wealth, and control.
But while Franco enjoys his curated comfort, residents in one of his housing association’s properties are living in fear and filth.
For years, NHG has known that a Notting Hill Genesis flat in Phillbeach Gardens had become a local menace — a hub for drugs, violence and criminal activity. Police officers have confirmed that when they’re searching for wanted men the flat is their first stop. They’ve also admitted that stronger enforcement has been less than easy — not by criminals, but by NHG itself.
Joe Powell has been asked to help without success. ( Come on Joe!)
Residents have found their flats blighted and unsaleable. The Dame has not looked up Franco’s cv but understands that he had never worked in the housing association sector.
Apart from the raunchy Foxtons he worked for Global Heritage Fund- sounds fun with lots of travel.
Here’s what’s been happening behind those taxpayer-funded walls:
Open drug dealing, including Class A substances like crystal meth;
Wanted criminals sheltered and protected;
Frequent violence, vandalism and anti-social behaviour;
Scenes of public indecency, unconscious individuals, and weapons incidents;
Multiple police visits — including one involving eight officers — all leading nowhere.
For nearby residents, the toll is unbearable:
Fear for their safety and their families;
Plummeting property values;
Constant noise, sleepless nights, and emotional exhaustion;
Streets reeking of urine, stolen post, and addicts slumped in doorways.
Londoners know the city can feel lawless. But when a powerful housing association allows a crime hub to operate in plain sight — year after year — you have to ask: does Notting Hill Genesis actually care?
Maybe Mr. Franco should take one of his leisurely evening walks not through Soho, but through Phillbeach Gardens…..but don’t linger outside this property…it’s a clear and present danger.
Various companies owned by Andrew Moffat – who is the ultimate owner of the marina at CHELSEA REACH – have been put into administration, The Citizen can reveal.
This is a developing story
m/f…
Statement from Administrators appointed to Thames River Investments, Thames River Moorings, Shuttlewood Marine, and TRM Marine
Ian Corfield and Anthony Simmons of FRP Advisory have been appointed as Joint Administrators of Thames River Investments, Thames River Moorings Limited, Shuttlewood Marine Limited, and TRM Marine Limited on 3rd November 2025. Thames River Investments and Thames River Moorings are non-trading holding companies and parents to a number of subsidiaries which continue to trade as normal and are not in Administration. The administration appointments relate only to non-trading companies. The Joint Administrators are currently assessing the Group’s affairs and will be working closely with management to ensure continuity of operations across the Group’s trading entities. Ian Corfield, Joint Administrator and Partner at FRP, said: “The appointments concern the Group’s non-trading companies only and do not impact the day-to-day operations of the underlying trading businesses, which continue to run as normal.”
The Dame’s supporters have followed this story for years. Particularly in the north of the borough, RBKC has long proved itself incapable of noticing a publicly owned asset, without trying to steal it – for the benefit of private interests. There’s a pattern:
*Years ago, RBKC sold off the Colville School Laundry building plus half their playground, to the owner of a private French nursery. He’d evicted his own business from his property. Parents were not told. The Chair of parent/teachers was married to an RBKC councillor.
*Then RBKC planned to demolish the Portobello Ct. council flats; to build shops & luxury flats. In 1948 the Grosvenor Estate donated the land for public housing. The Estate demanded the return of the land. RBKC’s plan was abandoned.
*Morley College, an institution that’s provided further education for thousands of local people, was sold off to “private educational” interests/flat builders. Hundreds of locals protested. The sale was reversed.
*The N. Kensington public library was declared unsafe for children. RBKC immediately sold it to a local private school. Locals were furious. This ’sale’ was also reversed.
*Twenty years ago RBKC failed to notice that it charged the market £800,000 a year for rubbish. One Saturday 25 metric tonnes of market waste was created. That’s 25,000 kilos a day! £5million was stolen. Residents paid £1 million for the refund. RBKC claimed there had been a “mistake!”
*RBKC apparently also failed to notice that selling off most of the traders’ storage units would eventually damage the market.
*Major local property owners met regularly, to hatch plans.
*’RBKC’s old markets are legally protected and ring-fenced under Parliamentary Legislation. Licensed street traders have lifelong tenure plus inheritance rights. So RBKC refuses to grant new licences. Only casual traders, with no rights. get a stall.
*Pre-Covid, an estate agent exited the Market Bar. He told the street trader outside that RBKC had done a deal to replace traders with tables & chairs. The licensed trader refused to accept expulsion. The agent disappeared.
*During lockdown, RBKC allowed a single, illegal, oversized gazebo in the market. There are now 100. They cause as much obstruction as possible. Other changes negatively affect market traders and local residents.
*Multiple street table & chairs licence applications mysteriously appeared. They even included one for the street immediately outside Tesco!
*A new RBKC market councillor published a detailed report: “Live, Work, Learn – “RBKC’s Local Economy.” It claimed that Portobello Market has 12 million visitors a year; double the decades-long accepted, Met police figure of 6 million. No research or public consultation was undertaken. After a brief career insulting local flood victims, the councillor responsible for the report disappeared.
*More recently, RBKC has further mismanaged the market. Only tourist tat traders are welcome. Regulations to encourage good order and freedom of movement are ignored.
*Meanwhile, waste piled up. Officers studiously ignored every breach of regulation. Chaos had become policy.
*Another market public consultation was announced; the 3rd or 4th in 50 years. Consultants were engaged. Despite all their hard work; they failed to persuade local residents to demand the closure of the now shambolic market.
*Yet another market councillor announced he used to run private markets. RBKC promptly began unpicking Portobello market; including offering a “BIDS” scheme. So only businesses & landlords would control the market. The street traders declined the offer.
*After 70 years without horses & carts, a chorus of shopkeepers suddenly objected to market vans parked outside their premises.
*Market parking is needed due to the loss of storage. Without vans, each trader works 2 extra hours a day. They refused; so RBKC demanded higher rents. NB Market legal protection excludes parking, because there was once plenty of storage.
*During the latest, £500,000 consultation, one Saturday locals walked the length of the market. It was noted that, for that day alone, no oversized gazebos were evident. They all returned the following week.
*The result of the public consultation was published. The public had overwhelmingly demanded that RBKC must protect the market. RBKC ignored this finding. Each response had cost £75. RBKC’s new plans will destroy the market.
*A new Chair of the traders had a list of 6 qualified, new food sellers to enliven the market. They wished to be licensed traders. The market office failed to grant a single licence.
*Unlawfully, RBKC began misusing traders’ funds to pay invisible additional market staff.
*The alleged results of the latest consultation have just been published. The public insists that the market refreshed. RBKC ignores this. Rather than offer alternatives, the consultants offer one plan; a streetscape designed to destroy the market. Doubtless by coincidence, the new design is ideal for hundreds of street tables & chairs!
*The councillor currently responsible for the market and the consultation, was to retire at the end of 2025. But events have not yet gone according to plan. So he will stay on to see it through.
*The project is to “secretly” replace a 160 year old street market and its hundreds of workers with 30+ third-rate, overpriced restaurants & scores of bars trading late into the night in a long and narrow, highly residential street. Tables & chairs will spread across pavements and road in the summer; while local residents are trapped in their homes for the sake of a makeshift “security” system.
*A 20m block of Kensington Park Rd. is shut for 6 to 7 months to lay fancy new granite setts. RBKC’s also plans to lay them along Portobello Rd. The block between Westbourne Grove & Elgin Crescent Is 250m long. So that block will be shut for 5 years! Residents will be trapped. The market and every businesses will disappear; but RBKC apparently believes it’s a price worth (citizens) paying!
*Meanwhile there’s no evidence that without the market, the millions of visitors a year needed to fill all the new restaurants & bars, will leave the West End just to visit other restaurants & bars! Property owners won’t worry; they will already have the businesses tied into hugely overpriced leases; based on RBKC’s, published, faked up visitor numbers. Etc.
We are told that electric vehicles are the answer to urban pollution, yet when non-residents use car charging points nothing on the signs tells them that the charging points are for the use of RBK&C residents only
In fact, the sign seems an open invitation to all EV users….so non-residents, misled by the sign, end up facing removal and massive penalties.
Has not one council officer thought it might be intelligent to add to the upper sign RBK&C PERMIT HOLDERS ONLY
Peter Kyle’s business credentials are light…in fact, non-existent.
3 goes to get into an obscure uni studying for an equally obscure degree and then nothing but politics and voluntary work.
In a speech to US tech luminaries, he had the brass neck to accuse British students of having no ‘drive’ compared to US counterparts….a crude attempt to grease up
Starmer’s Business Secretary choice is a man who is clueless about business. A ‘driven’ and creative British undergraduate with ‘drive’ would use that drive to get out of this failing, third-world country at speed. In fact, most of our entrepreneurs are shipping out to business-friendly countries.
The only creative aspect of this government is finding every way to tax people to death….and even in death trying to steal from the families.
No bright young graduate or young entrepreneur with an eye to the future should make a life here whilst Starmer and crew are piloting the country into the rocks.
The only reason to stay is if you are one of the millions on undeserved benefits.
It has been known for decades that Mandelson is not choosy about his friends.
He loves the rich and powerful. Before Epstein, there was the sanctioned oligarch, Oleg Deripaska.
The guns need to be turned on Starmer. Behind him are the full investigative resources of the state. He chose not to deploy them to check out his friend….. or did and ignored the results.
Choosing someone with such flawed judgement for this hugely important role should be a sackable offence.
Some of the hardest working Council employees are the men in orange. Whatever the weather they beat our streets shifting the tons of rubbish dumped on our streets weekly.
We don’t make their lives easy. Every day we litter our streets. Sometimes through carelessness, but mainly because there are no longer street bins. This was a Milord Moylan initiative!
Westminster City Council has a solution which may not be attractive, but does address the problem Suez street teams have to deal with daily.
Come on RBKC….we need a solution. A bag like this is a lot more attractive than filth on our streets. It can be improved upon with some ingenuity.
Go into any of our 6 public libraries and you will little evidence of avid readers: users are found slumped in chairs, gently dozing or gazing vacantly into the distance.
Deplorable is the rubbish on the shelves… long lines of Danielle Steel, Wilbur Smith, and other pulp fiction makers. Oh, and masses of obscure writers opining on ‘diversity’ and other modish subjects.
The few great classical writers on our library shelves rub shoulders with dreadful pot boilers. When suggested to one bored staff member that serious writers be given a section of their own, the reply was, ‘we do it alphabetically’. This is why you will find Stendhal and Steel sitting together!
Brompton Library bucks the mediocrity of others: it has an attempt at a ‘classics section’ and seems heavily used by young families.
The Dame has no idea what our libraries cost taxpayers, but we are getting lousy value. Running them alongside Westminster means we have Westminster Council tastes imposed upon us.
Rayner really is a piece of work. If any ‘hard working people’ were as non compliant in their tax affairs the Revenue would be down on them like a ton of brick.
She is rich enough to use expensive Shoosmith’s so she was either miss-advised or correctly advised yet decided she knew best. Now she is blaming the poor old cheap conveyancing firm.
We can be certain she won’t resign. Democracy suggests she should, but being protected by the big unions, we can be sure that she is as safe as her multiple houses.
Rayner let all the limos, meeting with kings, etc go to her head. She really did think she was special….The expression ‘can’t take oats’ comes to mind.
Chelsea lettings expert, Patrick Bullick of Stanley Property, has alerted the Dame to a serious flaw in this inept government’s non-thinking.
Keen to garner the student vote, it decided students could leave their rentals after just two months. In effect, should they decide to go backpacking on the spur of the moment, they could up sticks, giving the poor landlord just two months’ notice and leaving him with a huge loss of planned rental income.
You might suggest the landlord take the rent up front for twelve months. That won’t help; the student will take the landlord to court.
Patrick points out that many of his clients are now refusing to take student tenants, preferring the guaranteed rental stream of the traditional tenant.
With so many central London universities desperate for student accommodation, this ill-thought through measure will further strangle supply.
Another disastrous effect will be that foreign students choose to attend US and possibly European universities, which will mean the UK will lose out on the goodwill and future trade with the countries of those students.
The bad councillors show up at election times and then disappear whilst collecting chunky allowances.
Some wards are lucky supporting the adage…”If you want something done, give it to a busy person”
The other day, an RBKC leaseholder messaged the Dame with news about a leaseholder meeting.
“Dear Dame,
I thought you might be interested in this. A few weeks ago, I went to a meeting over RBKC service charges in Notting Hill. It was actually helpful in terms of clarity. The local councillor (who arrived on a bicycle) and was in charge of housing. She kept all on track and focused. This was a darn refreshing experience.”
This leaseholder was referring to Cllr Sof McVeigh. Some will say this blog is constant in support of McVeigh. They will be right and for a very good reason. Sof McVeigh takes her role very seriously.
Besides running one of the most onerous of briefs-housing, she is also the much lauded councillor for Brompton and Hans Town Ward.
The broad opinion is that she carries the role single-handedly.
Her fellow councillors, Weale and Idris are invisible to residents.
It really does beg the question as to whether we should cut back on work-shy councillors and use the allowance savings to fund a part-time assistant for just one proactive councillor.
We have too many cooks doing far too little in the kitchen…. a little like the House of Lords.
Joe is no fool. He knows very well that the issue of illegal immigration is now at the forefront of voters’ minds-including those in his constituency.
Those who migrated to this country legally a decade or two ago are just as angry as those who have lived here for decades. They came by following rules.
For Joe to ignore in his report this ‘elephant in the room’ is a source of surprise.
Despite this story being a little gloomy there is hope. One if the most effective and efficient councillors is Sof McVeigh. Those who have had dealings with her applaud her commitment and hard work in trying to bring about change in the way the Council manages housing. She is a force of nature and if anyone can bring about change it will be Sof….let’s hope one day she leads our council.
RBKC’s 2023 action plan may say that their residents want them to be ‘the best council we can’ but it seems there has been a return to the good old days of council engagement on Lancaster West.
At Thursday’s Residents Association meeting with the government and council the council deployed bouncers on the door with a list of approved residents who could come in. The security even tried to physically drag one unfortunate resident and RA member away whilst the chair shouted ‘Get out! Get out! You’re not residents!’. This was all in front of horrified residents and civil servants.
Fortunately, all the banned non-resident residents were able to get into the meeting and ask questions. Maybe less so for the neighbourhood director whose proud boast that one block had been completely fitted with a new door entry system was somewhat let down when it seems he didn’t know how many doors the block actually had. A resident had to point out that they hadn’t bothered to fit the system on the back door to one section which was still wide open.
Joe Powell has written to Sadiq Khan, asking him not to close the 24/7 counter at Kensington Police Station. Joe then politicises things by blaming 14 years of Conservative police funding cuts. Both Conservative and Labour governments are to blame for the mess we are in.
What residents really care about is not whether a police counter is open 24/7 but when we will see police on our streets. We have the police numbers but we don’t see them unless flashing past in vans.
The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, Sir Stephen Watson, has dramatically improved policing on his patch by demanding high standards and high visibility on our streets. Sir Stephen is a natural-born leader and that is what we are crying out for in London: practical, down-to-earth policing led from the front.
If Labour and Conservative are to catch up with Reform, they need to sense the anger felt by ordinary people.
“I fully recognise the financial and operational pressures the Metropolitan Police has faced over the past fourteen years, with more than £1bn of cuts under the previous government. I’m glad that the Met is receiving a historic £1.16bn in funding for 2025/26 and has secured a real terms increase in funding over the course of the Spending Review for the following three years. I know this does not immediately solve the financial pressures, but it indicates this government is backing our police. As you and I have previously discussed in meetings about policing priorities in London – and I discuss regularly with the Met’s local leadership – it is vital that the Metropolitan Police are visible and accessible to residents through well-functioning and staffed neighbourhood teams, and a physical presence across London. I’m glad that you have committed to Kensington Police Station continuing to operate, but I’m concerned that after the loss of the Royal Parks Police this year.”
Those attending Mass at Brompton Oratory last Sunday received a sharp reminder about what it means to be a Catholic. Fr Julian praised Fr Ian Vane, the subject of much unwarranted vitriol from Chris Coghlan MP.
Coghlan, a professing Roman Catholic, voted in favour of assisted dying and late-stage abortion. Odd for an Irish ‘cradle Catholic’ to be unaware of his Church’s teaching on these fundamental matters!
Fr Julian also referenced the 12 other Catholic MPs whose support of the legislation defied Church teaching on assisted dying and the aborting of babies up until birth or indeed abortion at any stage.
From his sermon….
The Very Reverend Julian Large has pleaded, in fraternal charity, with MPs who voted in favour of either abortion up until birth or assisted suicide not to present themselves to receive Holy Communion.
According to a source close to the Herald, during his Sunday homily, he reflected on the recent example of an MP who had voted in favour of both abortion up until birth and assisted suicide, and who was told by his parish priest that he must not receive Communion unless he had repented.
He was referring to Chris Coghlan, the Liberal Democrat MP for Dorking and Horley in Surrey, who backed a Crime and Policing Bill amendment on June 17 that decriminalised abortion up until birth, and the Terminally Ill Adults Bill, which seeks to roll out assisted suicide across England and Wales.
Mr Coghlan said Father Ian Vane, the priest at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Dorking, wrote to him before the votes and then, last week, told people attending Mass that he would be refusing him Communion.
Fr Large commended the priest for his courage and charity in calling the MP to repentance.
We have seen the speed with which wealth leaves this increasingly endangered country. London has borne the brunt of the non-dom exodus with every economic sector hard hit.
Now the failed windbag Lord Kinnock want to put a wealth tax on those idiotic enough wishing to stay. Love or loathe the rich they create dynamic economies.
This is why cities like Milan, Madrid and Lisbon are luring our rich entrepreneurs
A wealth tax won’t hurt the windbag. He has never had a proper job and garners a pension and income of over £140,000 a year: a good chunk of which is tax-free
This sort of freeloading runs in the family. Stephen Kinnock and his wife also live off the poor bloody taxpayer
When local councils try to ‘improve’ an area, you can be certain disaster will follow. And when they try to force these ‘improvements’ through during peak holiday times, you can be sure they are trampling over transparancy.
This council has some serious issues to address and should not be tampering with Portobello Market. The market has been a successful magnet for decades and should be protected as a community asset.
Dear All
Summer has arrived. Many neighbours have left London. As happens every summer, RBKC’s plan to destroy Portobello Market returns. While we’re engrossed in Wimbledon, RBKC has resurrected its master plan to “accidentally” destroy the Market – by banning, or hugely reducing, parking.
This issue has a considerable history. There are no prizes for guessing exactly who is currently behind this; nor why. Cllr Taylor Smith has told us he used to run ‘commercial’ markets. A few years ago an estate agent told a street trader that the traders would soon be gone, because RBKC had done a deal with the gin palace and local property owners, to replace the market stalls with restaurant tables & chairs. No one had considered the traders’ legal status. Suffice it to say that: the law protects them. So RBKC yet again intends to destroy Market parking by lying about:
a) Shopkeepers’ ‘sightlines’ b) Tourist overcrowding c) Multiple “public consultations” d) Now, an 80+% chance: security.
This is RBKC’s position. As ever; get rid of the parking; get rid of the Market. Job done. Then RBKC can follow through with it’s long established plan to replace Market with restaurant/pub/cafe/bar tables and chairs in the street a la Covent Garden. Except Portobello Road is not in the West End. It’s an ugly little back street off Ladbroke Grove. It’s famous only because the Market has made it famous. Without the Market; it’s just a back street.
a) Market shops have always been blocked by stalls to the east and parking to the west. RBKC has systematically sold off 80% of traders’ stores. Street traders can no longer afford to live nearby. Those wanting perfect sight lines can go to All Saints Rd. It’s beautiful and rents much lower – because there’s no footfall.
b) Despite protests, for the last 10+ years, the Market Office has promoted Portobello Market as a major tourist attraction – not a place to buy staples. We understood the Met police annual footfall figure of 3 million. Yet in 2023, RBKC/Cllr Faulks published a report “Live, Work Learn” claiming a 6 million footfall per annum. RBKC took no measurements. It has never published a report on the financial value of the Market to the area. On the back of Cllr Faulks’ report; property owners and estate agents colluded to sell leases to a score of new restaurants, bars, cafes etc. with the promise of endless outdoor seating for their customers – in the area formerly used by the Market. At no time did RBKC consult the Borough Solicitor. The street traders advised Cllr Taylor Smith on the law.
c) There is no need to plough through the saga of RBKC’s multiple public consultations on Portobello, over the years. They focused on persuading residents/shopkeepers/visitors to condemn the Market to the dustbin of history. They all failed. This last exercise has cost £100,000 and elicited the same response: “Leave Portobello Market Alone!” Nothing more has been heard for months.
d) RBKC is now rushing to obey 20 years’ overdue “new” security requirements regarding the Market and its visitors. Meanwhile, the identical risks to RBKC’s hundreds of roadway diners, are ignored.
Please note: RBKC managed to get its dangerously low ’security’ blocks of something other than concrete, installed without serious trouble. Now RBKC is ready to rid Portobello of Market parking. No parking; no Market – because over the last 20 years RBKC has sold off 80 – 90% of the Market stores. Five hundred street traders will lose their livelihoods. All this; so a few councillors; multiple property owners plus estate agents can make more money! The restaurants/pubs//bars/cafes will continue to mostly lose money; because rents etc are huge and tourists mostly young, with little to spend. > > > This is urgent. This is serious. Please fully engage with the issues. >
……so what has Andrew Foster got against him and why are the good people of Pembroke Ward being deprived of his services?
The Dame has never met this councillor but she has heard only good things about him. There was a particular and totally untruthful comment which the Dame did not take seriously.
There seems a singular lack of transparency at the local party organisation level. Residents are entitled to know why good councillors are replaced at the whim of some party apparatchik.
