Clapham, South London: My flat is too posh to push

By Mark Anstead
Posted: 2010/06/30

Lyndy Redding who has been having trouble finding a buyer for her London flat. The message is simple: think twice before making lavish improvements as you may not get your investment back

TOP CATERER Lyndy Redding may know how to serve up the finest food at lavish outdoor events organised for celebrities such as David and Victoria Beckham and Gordon Ramsay but she admits she has come unstuck trying to sell her flat in Clapham, South London.

The 41-year-old managing director of catering business Absolute Taste put her swanky two-bedroomed flat up for sale last October. However, despite all the experience that makes her first choice to cater at events such as John Terry's wedding and Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, Lyndy found she had no takers.

Now she and her husband David, a 44-year-old team manager at Formula One's McLaren, have moved out and have signed a year's contract to let the flat for £700 per week. The couple are renting a five-bedroomed house in nearby Wandsworth for £150 more each week and hope to buy again in the future.

"I did wonder whether our asking price was too high but now I think the reason we couldn't sell it is because w e need a particular kind of buyer, " says Lyndy, who comes across as the manic multi-tasker you would expect of a woman who persuaded Gordon Ramsay to let her use his menus at her events.

Lyndy and David bought the 2,000-square-foot flat in a converted V ictorian school when they moved from a four-bedroomed house in Fulham, West London. They snapped it up in 2007 for £765,000 then spent £150,000 on refurbishment, putting in Lutron lights, a Poliform kitchen, Miele appliances, designer bathrooms and new floors.

However, last year Lyndy decided she wanted children and having now given birth to Joshua she has concluded that their open-plan living and galleried mezzanine landing w on't be safe enough for a baby.

"When I lived in Fulham, with a house and garden, I felt out of place living in a family home but when I turned 40 a year ago I decided I couldn't wait for children any longer, " she says. "I bought a dog and that convinced me we need a family house like the one we used to have.

"We put our flat on the market for £975,000 and with the quirky design and layout we expected a wealthy American relocating to London to snap it up, or some bright City Boy with some spare bonus money, but the recession hit both those markets."

Raised in Scarborough, Lyndy came to London to study at the Tante Marie cookery school when she was 21 and spent the next seven years as a freelance caterer. By 1997 she was working for Marlboro, sponsors of McLaren, but after Marlboro pulled out the racing team's executive chairman Ron Dennis suggested Lyndy start up her own catering business with his backing.

Lyndy's passion for serving excellent food made such an impression at the Grand Prix events she attended that she was increasingly asked to cater at other events all over the world.

She hired premises in Wandsworth, south west London, and began establishing a reputation as the capital's premiere outdoor caterer, growing her business year after year.

She now employs 240 staff and her company, Absolute Taste, turns over £15million annually. In 2003 she branched out into providing in-flight meals for private jet passengers and added four London cafés into the business.

This included one that she has just opened in department store Harvey Nichols, and in 2006 she started a joint venture with Gordon Ramsay.

"My friends tell me that I try to do too much, " beams Lyndy, bouncing around her flat as we talk, "but I can never sit still and leave things as they are. Formula One events have slowed slightly in the recession and so have corporate bookings, which is why we opened the cafés.

"In the past two years we have taken on 50 per cent more staff. You have to be aggressive and make changes in your business to suit changing times."
However savvy Lyndy is when it comes to her business, local estate agents disagree with her analysis about why her flat didn't sell.

Russell Smith, assistant manager at Featherstone Leigh, says there have been plenty of sales in South London this year and prices have now crept back up to 2007 pre-crash levels thanks to high demand and a shortage of supply.

"School conversions are always popular with young professionals and all the flats in this particular development are designed to a high standard, " says Russell.

"However, in today's environment you can't even be five per cent out on the price. Buyers are active but price sensitive.

"The problem is it's easy for anyone to discover what she paid in early 2007 near the height of the market. Lyndy has spent a lot of money on the flat since then but today you have to think you would be lucky to get your money back on improvements."

MORE INFORMATION:
Lyndy's flat is still available for sale (with sitting tenants) through Foxtons, Battersea.

Call 020 7801 1111 or visit foxtons.co.uk