hsc-online

These are desperate times for anyone with a property to sell. As the market continues inexorably downward, the number of buyers is drying up

"I bought an East End sweatshop," says Eelke Bles, owner of a bespoke flooring company whose surfaces have been trodden by the feet of the Blairs, Madonna and Rupert Everett, among others. He bought what is now a stunning apartment in Spitalfields eight years ago.

"There were no windows at the front whatsoever and the ones at the back had been breeze-blocked up," he says. "It was very dark and piled high with boxes. Originally I bought it as a place to store ...