the premium of glamorous infamy and secret tranquillity

Beginning life in the shadow of London’s grandest houses, mews properties are a peculiarly British phenomenon. Tucked away, these cobbled streets of low-slung terraces continue to offer up surprises. 

As stabling for the upper classes, the modest buildings were designed for discreet access. In time, they became the haunts of the nefarious rather than the equestrian — and gained a whiff of notoriety that they haven’t completely shaken. 

Fictional depictions of mews trade heavily on their air of secrecy. They are particularly associated with crime thrillers, from the foggy pursuits of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson across the cobbles of Marylebone to Agatha Christie’s 1937 story “Murder in the Mews”. 

With Wimpole Mews making headlines for its role in the Profumo affair in the 1960s, mews became associated with secret agents. In the same decade, Mayfair’s Upper Berkeley Mews (a fictional conflation of two real addresses) was a natural fit for the debonair vigilante character of Simon Templar of the TV series The Saint, who lived in an “ingeniously comfortable fortress” of converted garages. Fifty years later mews’ association with well-heeled mavericks continued with Colin Firth’s character in Kingsman: The Secret Service. 

Perhaps it’s this slightly glamorous sense of infamy that has long attracted musicians and actors, from Madonna to Michael Caine. “They’ve always attracted the creative and the unconventional,” says Edward Thomson of estate agent Strutt & Parker. “It’s hard to believe how private and peaceful a mews can be, amid the hustle and bustle of London.”

For Istanbul-born Damla Tuncel and her husband Alexander, a New Yorker, this sense of tranquillity was a key factor in their decision to buy a mews house. The couple spent two years looking for the perfect one, which they found in South Kensington’s Princes Gate Mews last summer. 

“We wanted something [that felt] more like a house than our Earl’s Court flat,” says Damla, a portfolio manager at Wellington Management. “At the viewing, residents were watering each other’s flower pots, children playing on the cobbled street; we glimpsed a camaraderie that we’d never had in London.” The sociability of such narrow streets, often cul-de-sacs, is a major attraction for some buyers, concurs Peggy Lurot, of specialist mews estate agents Lurot Brand.

Residents were watering each other’s flower pots, children playing on the cobbled street; we glimpsed a camaraderie that we’d never had in London

Although they tend to lack private gardens, many mews buildings have verdant pockets outside their front door, adding to their cottage-like ambience. This, along with their sociability, means mews command a premium, says Lurot. Over the past decade, mews have retained more of their value than other types of property in prime central London — all of which have fallen, according to Savills Research.

The average selling price of a mews property in prime London in the fourth quarter of 2024 was £2.89mn, according to Savills — when priced per square foot, that’s £1,570; lower than houses (£1,830) and flats (£1,760). Maida Vale and neighbouring W2 (including Paddington and Bayswater) are good places to find homes in a lower price bracket: £1mn-£1.5mn, according to Lurot Brand.

Elegant arches bookend many mews streets, heightening the sense of entry into an exclusive domain. The best-preserved mews are protected by Conservation Area status, and some are listed. Martyn John Brown, a chartered surveyor who runs the Everchanging Mews website, picks out South Kensington’s Kynance Mews — often pictured with its Virginia creeper-clad arch and tumbling wisteria — and Holland Park Mews as being two of the best examples. 

The relative functionality of mews makes them attractive to wealthy downsizers. Caroline, who preferred not to disclose her full name, and her husband recently bought a three-bedroom property in Petersham Place, SW7, for this reason: “After our three children moved out of our town house in Westminster, we wanted lower maintenance and fewer stairs. We spend a lot of time abroad and having a garage spares us resident parking issues.”

Previously burnt by quadrupling service charges on a flat, the couple also liked the property’s freehold status — a common sentiment, says Thomson, who cites increasing annual charges and a wariness around leasehold ownership as reasons why buyers like mews.

Their original garaging function also remains a strong draw, as Caroline suggests. Perhaps that’s why they’ve been home to many auto-obsessives, such as Formula One drivers James Hunt and Stirling Moss. A home for his beloved car drew Tony and his wife Soo Ying to purchase a property with an integral garage in Pindock Mews in Maida Vale — a street once the home to the Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious. 

A corner mews, it has been remodelled completely into a 2,500 sq ft two-bedroom house on three floors, with a floating glass staircase to help light filter through. “We knocked down walls to turn lots of small rooms into larger, more practical spaces,” says Tony, who works in shipping and preferred not to disclose his full name. “Not having a garden is a compromise, but it suited us.” The property is for sale at £3.5mn through Arlington Residential. 

Despite its modest front door, the house, like many other mews, is deceptively large. Because planning rules typically require that the front facade with the carriage or garage door must usually stay as is, there’s often little hint of the radical interpretation within.

Built with typically 7ft ceiling heights and no windows at the rear, many unmodified mews have a somewhat dingy feel, although the ground floor was built at around 10ft to accommodate horses. Changing ceiling heights and moving walls are typical renovations, according to Andy Willis of RBD Architecture & Interiors. Roof or mansard extensions — sometimes with the addition of a roof terrace — are also popular, but can cause issues with the property behind. 

“I love mews properties as they are super tricky — you need to puzzle hard for clever solutions to get the light in from the front or above,” Willis says. To maximise light he employs glass floor panels for landings, as well as back-lit coffered ceilings to give the illusion of natural light. Layered lighting and very tall doors give a greater feeling of space.

In the past, basement extensions were a popular way to add another floor (or two) but are now limited to a single storey, if permitted at all. And while there was once a vogue for combining adjoining mews houses to create a single larger dwelling — such as the four-storey, seven-bedroom Reeves Mews in Mayfair, which, at £22.5mn, set the record for the most expensive mews house ever sold in 2015 — such amalgamations are now generally rejected by planning, says Willis.  

Outside London, it’s possible to live in a mews for a lower price point. “They offer an accessible way for buyers to own a house, rather than a flat, in some excellent central locations,” says Ben Ginn of Savills Edinburgh, where prices start around £400,000.  “so generally sell quickly.”

When the mews strikes, you could say.

On the market

Inverleith, Edinburgh, £775,000

An end-of-terrace house overlooking the Royal Botanical Gardens, about a mile and a half north of Edinburgh city centre. Its 1,672 sq ft of living space include four bedrooms and two bathrooms; there is also full planning permission to add a roof terrace. Listed with Savills.

Ennismore Gardens Mews, London, £3.85mn

A three-bedroom, three-bathroom house on a cobbled street in Knightsbridge, between the Brompton Road and Hyde Park. It has 1,971 sq ft of living space across three storeys, including an open-plan kitchen/living area that fills the ground floor. For sale through Knight Frank.

Clabon Mews, London, £4.95mn

A three-bedroom, four-bathroom remodelled house with 2,661 sq ft of internal space just a few minutes’ walk north of Sloane Square. Its four storeys are topped by a reception room with vaulted ceiling that leads to a part-glazed roof terrace. Available through Strutt & Parker.

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