Awards and citations:


1997: Le Prix du Champagne Lanson Noble Cuvée Award for investigations into Champagne for the Millennium investment scams

2001: Le Prix Champagne Lanson Ivory Award for investdrinks.org

2011: Vindic d'Or MMXI – 'Meilleur blog anti-1855'

2011: Robert M. Parker, Jnr: ‘This blogger...’:

2012: Born Digital Wine Awards: No Pay No Jay – best investigative wine story

2012: International Wine Challenge – Personality of the Year Award




Tuesday 14 November 2017

Wells Park Place, Sydenham SE26 – What if? !!!



 What if .... you could wake up to breathtaking 
London sky views every morning?
(above and below)


What if .... you could wake up to breathtaking London 
sky views every morning?
I guess by definition developers have to be optimists? Financing, building houses and flats in the hope that people are going to want to buy indicates the need to think positively and probably creatively. 

Wells Park Place is a new development by Crest Nicholson along Sydenham Hill close to the Dulwich Wood House pub. Adverts on the hoardings surrounding the development ask: What if .... you could wake up to breathtaking London sky views every morning? 

The view shown stretches from the west of the Shard eastwards to the O2 venue. Although it is true that this part of South London does enjoy some remarkable views of the centre of London and beyond, it is highly unlikely that any of the prospective purchasers at Wells Park Place will ever wake up to the 'breathtaking' view promised. Some will wake up to a doubtless attractive view over South East London but not, I think, the view shown on the hoardings. They might well if the Wells Park Place included a skyscraper but it doesn't  

Wells Park Place is on the south side of Sydenham Hill, so its views will likely be southwards and south-east over these parts of London and Kent. 

It is very likely that the 'breathtaking view' shown on the hoardings were taken from the air. One big giveaway is the view of the O2 venue, which shows much of the stadium. Yet from along Sydenham Hill most of O2 cannot be seen as it is behind Honor Oak Hill. Even from a flat a good half mile further eastwards along the ridge, only the cocktails sticks of O2 can be glimpsed. 

It is interesting that the Crest Nicholson site does not repeat the picture on the hoarding instead shows a view looking out southwards.   

       


O2 as apparently viewed from Wells Park Place 
(apologies for the rather fuzzy pic)  

Detail of part of the 'breathtaking London sky views'
again includes the O2 stadium 

O2 stadium cannot be seen fully from Sydenham Hill

Image from the Crest Nicholson website 
– showing a view over South East London


The Advertising Standards Authority 
latest poster campaign

What if ..... you could leave your London office and be home in under 23 minutes?
As Wells Park Place is in London this is a totally meaningless claim. If your office happened to be in the nearby Dulwich Wood House pub you could leave your 'office' and be home in around three minutes max. Unless, of course, you had overdone the pints of Youngs' Special; in which case the return home might take a little longer. 

However, the photo on the hoarding suggests that tour office is somewhere in the centre or at Canary Wharf, for example. If this is the case 23 minutes is a much tougher proposition. Crest Nicholson allow eight minutes to walk from Wells Park Place to Sydenham Hill Station, which has services into Victoria. This is reasonable going down to Sydenham Hill but the return from 'your office' may well take longer as it is a very steady climb up from the station to Sydenham Hill.     



What if ..... you could leave your London office 
and be home in under 23 minutes?


25 Eccleston Street to Dulwich Wood House: 
37 minutes according to Transport for London

The speediest journey into the centre of London from Wells Park Place is to Victoria with the train journey taking 14/15 minutes. Assuming that your office is at Victoria Station itself and that you can time your arrival on the platform just before the train leaves a journey from Victoria to Wells Park Place in under 23 minutes is just about possible. 

If, however, your office is in Eccelston Street, Victoria then 23 minutes is not possible. 

Other journeys:

 Canary Wharf to Wells Park Place by public transport: 45 minutes 

     London Bridge to Wells Park Place: 47 minutes Transport for London

London Bridge to Wells Park Place: 43 minutes by bike – Transport for London


Very relevant Press Release today (20th December 2017) from the Advertising Standards Authority:

Advertising regulator issues enforcement notice in relation to estate agents advertising
The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP), the body that writes the advertising rules, is today (Wednesday December 20th) publishing an enforcement notice issued following problems with some advertising in the property sector.  The effect of the notice is to advise providers in the sector to take immediate action to ensure their ads comply with the relevant standards. 
 
The notice covers a range of areas where CAP and the ASA have seen misleading claims, including: qualifications or exclusions to advertised fees, presentation of VAT on fees, ‘fact-stretching’ on property descriptions, accuracy of comparative savings claims, and reliability of claims about local expertise.
 
The notice makes clear that the regulator will take targeted enforcement action in 2018 if there are further problems in these area, up to and including referral to our legal backstop Trading Standards.
 
For more information please contact the number below.
 
Craig Jones
Director of Communications
 
Direct line 020 7492 2246
 
Advertising Standards Authority
Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn
London WC1V 6QT
Telephone 020 7492 2222
 

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