Annie Thomas has one of those smiles that could power an electricity plant. No wonder David Mitchell felt the spark when he walked into the hotel reception where she was working in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
David, 30, was booking in for a six-week stay while working on a project for EDF Energy. One year later, this seriously in-love couple bought their first home together, a super-smart, two-bedroom apartment at The Venue in Hayes, west London.
WHERE HITS WERE MADE
With luxurious one, two and three-bedroom homes surrounding a central private podium garden, The Venue by Weston Homes is part of The Old Vinyl Factory, an 18-acre repurposing of a site once owned by music company EMI, which pressed hit discs for household names including the Beatles, Cliff Richard, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones. Annie, 24, loves this aspect of The Old Vinyl Factory complex, with rejuvenated signature buildings commemorating a precious slice of contemporary musical history. “I tell everyone who comes to visit us,” she enthuses.
Annie and David were both living with their parents when they met – respectively in Woking, Surrey and in Hertfordshire. When they decided it was time to search for their first home together, they set their ideal location between their families and within the M25; if they commute into London within the Orbital motorway, they both get a London allowance.
SUPER-CONNECTED IN WEST LONDON
The town of Hayes, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, shone out to them like a beacon. And with their superbly connected new home at The Venue only a six-minute walk from Hayes & Harlington station, the 17-minute Elizabeth line commute into the city means Annie, who travels in three days a week to work at a law company near St Paul’s, has a door-to-door journey of less than 45 minutes. ”
Annie’s life has gone into overdrive over the last 12 months, moving with David into a home of their own while studying hard at work, applying for a trainee contract and hoping to become a lawyer. With David the main breadwinner for now – “until I am a big, fancy lawyer,” smiles Annie – she took on the home search and all the admin. She never wanted an old house to do up: “Fresh, clean and new, that’s me. David works hard all week and neither of us needed the hassle.” Nor did they want a garden. “This scheme has so much green space. We are planning a summer party with all our new friends in the podium gardens.”
Annie recalls the hunt for their perfect first home: “Weston Homes came up on my website search and I instantly fell in love with the big, light space, two big bedrooms and two balconies!
“The spec included everything – a large fitted kitchen, branded white goods, little things like a hidden soap dispenser, under-cupboard lighting, a boiling water tap, tech water-saving taps, extras in every room, the fabulous bathrooms and big wardrobe with mirror doors, and carpet in our bedroom. This was in a package we never found anywhere else.”
SAVINGS WORTH HAVING
The couple qualified for Discount Market Sale, saving them 20 per cent of the market value of their home, while their purchase came in below the first-time buyer stamp duty threshold. Life was looking good: by January they were perched on bean bags in their new apartment.
Although it was their first move away from their families, there were plenty of new friendships to be made. Annie immediately got the QR code to join the community WhatsApp group. “It is so good,” she says. “If you want a radiator key, you just ask someone. And I know if I came home late and couldn’t get into our underground car park at night, I could call someone and they would come down.” However, that won’t be an issue for much longer. The Venue is less than a mile from Hayes town centre’s vibrant cafes, bars and restaurants, so she’s selling her car: “I’m so near everything, I don’t use it.”
She adds: “We are organising our summer party through our community group. We are people from all over the place, we are all new and we are getting to know each other.” Her family has five cats, “so I am talking to cat people on our group chat.”
THE MODERN LIFESTYLE CHOICE
They have decided on pastel colours for curtains and big items, including a sofa in a soft grey-blue. Their walls will be hung with art, which is David’s territory, and Annie wants to pepper the soft furnishings with lively colours.
Both families have been visiting, intrigued by the new lifestyle their children have chosen. “They come from traditional homes. None of them have lived in apartments,” says Annie. “My Dad said, ‘It is right for you but not for us,’ and it is true. So much has changed. We live at a faster pace.” For instance, she orders boxed, plastic-free, portion-controlled fresh food to be delivered weekly to their door. “We do things differently. This apartment is built for our generation.”
Photography by Juliet Murphy
