Yahoo News Madness frontman Suggs’ former Camden home for sale after epic project to add gold-gilded underground bar
A pretty mews house in Camden that was home to Madness frontman Suggs in the 1980s has gone on sale for £1.95 million.
The gregarious Sussex-born ska singer bought the property in 1981 just before he released the single Our House – the band’s only big hit in the US.
In his autobiography he wrote: “Finally we arrived in my newly purchased house in Camden. It had been part of the stables of the bigger house at the back…furniture at this point consisted of one juke box with one record, Cry me a river. Which did make our house warming somewhat limited, as did the fact that my mate who’d been in charge of the bar got fed up halfway through the proceedings and locked all the booze in the bathroom, taking the key with him!”
The song Our House was about Suggs’s family home. He sang about a cramped terraced house full of bustle and noise. It was a comment on the tough economy in Britain in the 1980s with grown-up children often still living at home.
It was a far cry from the Camden mews house today which has been combined with two neighbouring properties, making it one of the largest homes on the street.
Suggs and his wife singer Bette Bright, with their two young daughters Scarlett and Viva, moved out in 1985 and sold it to buyers who then owned it for 32 years. It was redeveloped in 2017 and in 2019 a new owner bought it for £1,450,000 according to Rightmove and gave it another make-over during the lockdown.
The warehouse style building, made of warm-coloured brick, has deep crittal-style windows and now covers 2,171.2 sq ft over three floors.
The three-bedroom, three-bathroom house has a large reception room at the front which flows into a dining room and then the kitchen. Its semi-open plan layout gives it a sense of space while zoning the different rooms.
There’s an Art Deco theme running through with wooden parquet flooring, interrupted by slab sections of tiling typical of the 1920s. This motif is then seen in the tiling in the bathroom and the carpet of the underground bar.
This speakeasy style, low slung space is a new addition and features a six-seater, gold gilded bar with panelled walls and sheets of marble lights. Apparently it was inspired by the hotel lounge in the horror movie The Shining – a good talking point for a house warming that should hopefully be more successful than the one Suggs writes about.
Other luxurious features include a wine vault hidden behind heavy-set stone double doors and two secondary bedrooms that open onto a private terrace.
Lovely period touches remain such as the whitewashed exposed brickwork in the kitchen and the wrought-iron stair bannister which has been painted in a faded green.
Camden Mews is just off Camden Square with Camden Town and Kentish Town stations (Northern Line) and Caledonia Road (Piccadilly Line) all close by. The house is also in the catchment area for Camden School for Girls.
“Camden is such as vibrant and artistic area. You can find everything here from organic food stores to bars, restaurants and performance venues all in NW1. This mews house is a testament to the unique Camden scene,” says Oliver Sharpstone of Dexters.
The property is on the market with Dexters for £1,950,000.
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