If proximity to the capital's very epicentre is anything to go by, these flats are located in Warsaw's Mayfair.
Below: block of flats on ul. Marszałkowska, less than one tram-stop from Centrum.
Below: in a similar architectural vein - block of flats on ul. Krucza, one tram-stop from Centrum.
Right now, you can find a 40-50 square metre flat here for around £100,000 (500,000 zlotys). Or one-third of the price of a grotty terraced house in Greenford, Middlesex, 12 miles (20km) from the centre of London.
Below: in a similar architectural vein - block of flats on ul. Krucza, one tram-stop from Centrum.
Right now, you can find a 40-50 square metre flat here for around £100,000 (500,000 zlotys). Or one-third of the price of a grotty terraced house in Greenford, Middlesex, 12 miles (20km) from the centre of London.
There are now almost as many Poles living in Greenford as in a medium-sized Polish county town. On my last visit I counted no less than 6 (yes SIX) Polish delis in a town that has no more than 60 or 70 shops in total.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that the Poles have also bought with them to Greenford their smile-free, expressionless faces and scrupulous avoidance of eye-contact.
As a result, the place now feels almost more of a mortuary than a decade ago, when it was merely a dull suburb of Ealing, full of (mostly) brain-dead lower-middle/working class caucasian Brits.
Poland has been free of communism for more than 22 years. How long before the Poles learn that it's again safe to smile?
Just for the record, I'd much prefer a grotty terraced house in Greenford than three flats in that particular Warsaw block.
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ReplyDeleteDespite both being in the London Borough of Ealing, Ealing proper and West Ealing both have a London postcode (W5 and W13) whilst Greenford has a Middlesex postocode (Middlesex ceased being a county years ago when the Greater London Council was set up however the postal district remianed as well as the Middlesex County Cricket Club whose home pitch is of course the famous home of cricket - Lords). I wonder how many of the sour faced denizens of Greenford have even noticed their postal code?
ReplyDeleteWhich brings me on to the Polish post codes. Like bank accounts the post codes studiously avoid using letters of the alphabet thus making then a) difficult to remember and b) restricting the number of locations which can be identified by a single digit from 46 to just 10 numbers. So British postcodes having typically 5 or 6 digits identify down to a small number of houses on a particular street whilst the Polish 5 digit code covers whole towns. Not sure how that helps mechanise the sorting process at the local sorting office!
pracowałem kiedyś na greenford w red lion pub. Teraz to polska dzielnica.
ReplyDelete