Most Britons dream of seeing out their days in a village cottage, a seaside bungalow, a flat in Spain — or in the family house. Few aspire to live in a retirement home: the common British model, sheltered housing, involves flats with a communal lounge, a day manager and not much else. Only 0.5% of Britons live in retirement villages, the self-contained, country-club-style enclaves beloved of Americans, South Africans and antipodeans: 5% of Kiwis live in such schemes.
Now a New Zealand firm is aiming to shake up the retirement sector here. Lifecare Residences is swapping the institutional decor, gloomy lounges and nowheresville settings for hotel-style perks, 24-hour staff and medical care. Battersea Place, the first luxury retirement home in London, opened last week, and it’s creating quite a buzz: 83 of its 108 flats have sold, and agents are describing it as “One Hyde Park for the over-80s”. In fact, it caters for the over-65s, but it lives up to its swanky nickname.
The £2.4m, 2,000 sq ft penthouses are on two storeys, with views of Battersea Park from the balconies, and have internal lifts and wine fridges. The Silver Fern restaurant is run by a chef who trained at a Michelin-starred establishment. There’s a chauffeur service, a pool of Audis and BMWs to borrow, and a minibus running on a loop to Sloane Square.
Other treats include a 15-metre indoor pool, a spa bath, a gym, a plush cinema, a hair salon and a billiards room to retire to after you’ve dined on coq au vin (no rubber chicken and soggy boiled sprouts here). The flats have ensuite wetrooms with rain showers, and a daily maid service is available.
It’s more like One Aldwych than Shady Pines. That’s because residents don’t want to feel they’re in an old folks’ home, according to Craig Percy, the chief operating officer of Lifecare Residences, which saw a gap in the British market for retirement villages. Grab rails and shower chairs are conspicuous by their absence (but are available for those who need them). Instead of panic cords, sensor technology can be installed, so if a resident falls, staff will be alerted.
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The lobby sets the glamorous tone, with a concierge, an avant-garde chandelier and funky tree-trunk coffee tables adorned with The World of Interiors, rather than Reader’s Digest. It flows into a stylish lounge adjoining a courtyard garden and is artfully lit, with coffered ceilings and designer lamps. It’s furnished with grey-green sofas and silk cushions; the bookshelves are stocked with Man Booker contenders (and a few Maeve Binchys). The piped-in music is an upbeat Girl from Ipanema soundtrack — and Lifecare Residences, which also runs homes in Hampshire and Dorset, promises amusements galore, from happy hour to Spanish lessons to bridge clubs. It’s like moving onto to a cruise ship.
Even the nursing wing sounds fun. Known as “the Albert Suites”, it has 30 beds, should owners need to go into care. “The nursing residents get their food from the restaurant, they can have wine with dinner,” Percy says. “Here, you do what you want — it’s about choice.”
The nursing option lured Christopher Buckmaster, 77, a former mayor of Kensington and Chelsea. He has swapped his three-bedroom house in the borough for a three-bedroom penthouse here. “I had a steep spiral staircase, and I had torn a muscle skiing,” he says. “I was tempted by Battersea Place because, if I ever need help, it has nursing. I’ve met quite a few of the residents, and they’re the sort of people I like.”
A third are downsizers from Chelsea and Kensington, 95% are Londoners — and all are well off. One-bedroom flats start at £535,000, two-bedders at £750,000; there are two penthouses left. Admittedly, that’s not in the same stratosphere as One Hyde Park (where a flat reportedly sold for £140m in 2014), but the service charge is £990-£1,160 a month and some perks are extra. A hefty exit fee kicks in when the flat is sold, too: if you’re there for three years, it’s 20% of the purchase price plus half of any capital gains, or 30% of the resale price. LifeCare says this allows it to freeze service charges from the year residents move in.
It seems British retirement homes are entering a new golden era — for those who can afford them.
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020 7205 4643, lifecareresidences.comhttp://www.lifecareresidences.com/uk/
Golden oldie spots
You don’t have to buy into the government’s 10 “healthy new towns” or move to a purpose-built retirement village. Britain is full of locations that combine thriving communities, active retirees, low crime, good medical facilities, easy transport and practical advantages such as plenty of flat ground, rather than steep hills. Here are five of the best.
North Norfolk A staggering 29% of the population here is retired, according to the Office for National Statistics. Wells-next-the-Sea is a favourite, but Cromer, Walsingham and Sheringham are less crowded. North Norfolk is good value, too, because it’s outside the commuter belt. A two-bedroom cottage in Wells-next-the-Sea would set you back £235,000, while in Cromer, McCarthy & Stone is selling two-bedders from £242,000.
Tavistock If the Devon coastline is a bit clichéd, try this market town on the edge of Dartmoor. It has a vast old-school pannier market, cafes by the latte load, real-ale pubs and a high street with shops selling useful things such as hardware, newspapers and jam. Three-bedroom bungalows typically sell for £275,000. Tavistock has bus services, but no train station, so a car would be useful.
Chichester West Sussex is our sunniest county, according to the Met Office, with no shortage of activities: sailing off West Wittering, walks on the South Downs Way, trips to Goodwood. Stay-in-towners have the Festival Theatre, the Pallant House Gallery and a plethora of Georgian buildings to admire. Living in this well-preserved city comes at a cost: four-bedroom cottages go for £500,000, though retirement flats start at £150,000.
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Sherborne Families come to this Dorset town for the schools and buy in outlying villages, leaving retiring downsizers to the centre. Period three-bedroom semis cost £400,000, two-bedroom bungalows £300,000. The A303 is close by; trains to London Waterloo take 2hr 14min.
Harrogate Some retirees prefer Knaresborough, Ilkley or Ripon, but Harrogate has a cafe society, Bettys tearooms, parks and conservation areas. It’s not cheap, though: large houses run from £450,000 to £1m and retirement flats, which are often in converted period hotels, cost £140,000-£275,000.
Graham Norwood