Man who pays £1,400 a month to live in one of London's smallest flat in millionaire neighbourhood reveals what the one problem is - and it's NOT the size
Cesar Mendez, 47, lives in a 11.7 square-metre former janitor's cupboard, yet despite its tiny size, its lavish Kensington location means its worth around £250,000.
The lodger says his miniscule flat warrants splashing out £1,400 a month due to its close locale to the Natural History Museum and regular sightings of the Royal Family.
And although the 'amazing' flat offers little to no room, the Tenerife native is adamant that it is the perfect size for him, but there is one issue.
Revealing the true problem with his humble abode, Mr Cesar shared that it becomes difficult to keep tidy, and a lack of washing machine also proves to be a challenge.
Boasting of the pros, he said: 'The location is incredible - but there are pros and cons - there's no washing machine so I have to take my clothes to get washed.
'For me it's fine. I'm not very tall, so it's OK. The only problem is you have to keep it clean all the time. If it's not tidy, there's no space and you go crazy.'
He quipped: 'Have you seen any other flat under 12 square metres? If I had a girlfriend, we would fight all the time because it's such a small place.'
Despite the downside, Mr Mendez shared there are several advantages that outweigh his cleaning difficulties.
The avid runner, who has participated in 100 marathons across seven continents for Water Aid, said his flat's proximity to Hyde Park was a major plus.
He added that, due to its centrality in the capital, he regularly sees members of the Royal Family driving past, escorted by police motorcades.
'Having Hyde Park five minutes away from the flat is amazing,' Mr Mendez continued. 'I work in Mayfair, too, and it takes me 10 to 15 minutes to cycle to work.
'I have seen King Charles, Prince William and Queen Camilla around the area.. Police stop the cars for them to go through.
'I see them a lot - maybe once every two weeks.
'My neighbours are really nice; some of them are Chinese and some other neighbours are Italian - I think there's eight flats in the whole building.'
The flat was recently put up for sale with a guide price of £230,000, due to its desirable location, and is now under offer from a prospective buyer.
He also revealed, due to its centrality in the capital, he regularly sees members of the Royal Family driving past, escorted by police motorcades
Even though it is due to be sold in the coming weeks by estate agents Purplebricks, Mr Mendez hopes to continue living in the beloved flat.
Nick Minns, who is selling the flat that used to belong to his mother, harbours fond memories of the flat himself from when he lived in the tiny space for six months.
He said he once even had a party - but held the main festivities in the hallway and used the property as a 'booze cupboard'.
On another occasion he had a tall friend stay over and says he had a limb 'in every part of the flat'.
'We had a party on the stairwell once,' Mr Minns explained. 'The flat was just the booze cupboard.
'We had a friend stay over and he had a different body part in every room.'
Nick Gaunt, a Local Property Partner at Purplebricks, admitted it was 'unusual' to have a property at a guide price of £230,000 in the area.
'To find any property, however small, with such a prestigious postcode and at this price is very unusual,' he said.
'As such, we're not surprised that it has got snapped up very quickly, especially given its location, investors are likely to see beyond its square meterage and to the fact it makes a smart investment for any buyer.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Love Island's Laura Anderson reveals she loves being a WAG as she gushes over her 'very sexy' footballer boyfriend Clark Robertson
has revealed she loves being a WAG as she gushed that she finds watching her footballer boyfriend 'very sexy'. The former Love Islander star, 36, admitted she used to 'hate' watching the sport before finding love with Dundee defender Clark Robertson, 31. Laura, who found fame on the ITV2 dating show in 2018, previously dated Another Level's Dane Bowers, 45, and Hollyoaks actor Gary Lucy - with whom she shares daughter Bonnie with - before meeting Clark. The TV personality revealed she is now learning the rules of football so she can enjoy watching him, fully embracing her duties as a WAG. She told The Sun: 'I guess I'm a WAG now, I actually really like football, I didn't really like it before. 'To be honest, it just reminded me of my dad hogging the remote when we were young and I never got to watch what I wanted to watch. 'But now I like going to the games - I think he looks very sexy actually because he's quite bossy on the pitch and he's not like that day-to-day, he's such a relaxed, chilled out guy, so on the pitch he's always pointing and I'm like ''what the hell what's going on?'' Single mother Laura, who split from Gary during her pregnancy, also opened up about her daughter Bonnie's first day at nursery as she admitted she 'cried her eyes out' after dropping her off. Laura, who quit her radio presenting gig on Capital Scotland's Breakfast Show in February after less than a year, added that she has 'no regrets' choosing her daughter over work opportunities as she suffered burnout juggling the early mornings. Laura recently hit back at trolls after suffering backlash for holidaying in the Maldives without her 21-month-old daughter. The reality star jetted off with her boyfriend Clark and shared a series of sun-soaked snaps from her romantic getaway. While many gushed over the stunning snaps, one follower accused the reality star of abandoning her toddler. They wrote: 'Poor Bonnie ditched again… I just wouldn't choose to leave my child over and over again thousands of miles away. A wee night away though absolutely!' But Laura wasted no time to hit back and replied: 'Over and over please explain,' with many of her fans rushing to defend her. They branded the critic a 'mum-shamer' as they praised Laura for taking some well deserved time for herself. Firing back once more, Laura commented: 'No one shames the dads.' However, the original commenter doubled down, saying: 'I will if it's a dad doing it. 'Shame on Bonnie's dad, shame on my dad, shame on any dad that treats their kids the way some do. Shame on any sex. 'And I didn't say shame on you. Just said you'd ditched the wee babe again. 'I ain't ringing the bells like a town crier, just saying bairns been left to someone else to look after while you jet off again!' Laura later clarified to fans that she had only been away for just four days and had many video calls with her daughter. The reality star went Instagram official with boyfriend Clark in October last year, sharing an array of loved-up snaps together. Laura hit back in the comments after being accused of 'ditching' her daughter for the holiday Laura later clarified to fans that she had only been away for just four days and had many video calls with her daughter Laura previously detailed the challenges she's faced raising Bonnie as a single parent after she and Gary split before she was born. The pair met during Celebs Go Dating in 2022, however, they split shortly before she announced her pregnancy in February 2023. She told The Mirror: 'I think it was hard to get my head around initially, it wasn't what I expected. But that's the cards I was dealt in the end. Of course, I'm going to make it work for my child, even more so. I feel like I'm a really good mum, to be honest.' Offering advice to other parents facing the same challenges, she added: 'Prioritise what you need to do, it's just me. I have to make it work. I am tired but of course, I'm going to be tired. I'm bringing up a human soul, that's what I signed up for. '[Bonnie's] great, your social life does take a little bit of a backseat but most people, your good friends understand that.'
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Isla Fisher beams as she steps out in a busty floral dress at Wimbledon - weeks after finalising her divorce from Sacha Baron Cohen
Isla Fisher was the picture of happiness as she stepped out looking glamorous in a busty floral dress for day one of the Wimbledon Championships 2025. The Australian actress, 49, couldn't wipe the smile off her face, looking radiant in a Monique Lhuillier lemon-printed corseted dress worth $4,703. She teamed up the look with an Aspinal of London mini leather Paris bag and a pair of aviator sunglasses. Isla kept her accessories and makeup to a minimum, adding a warm pink lipstick as a focal point. The Confessions of a Shopaholic star finished her chic look wearing a pair of Jimmy Choo leather wedge sandals. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Isla and her ex-husband Sacha announced they had finalised their £120million (approx. AU$250,600) divorce on June 14, two weeks prior to her appearance at the party of the summer. In a message posted simultaneously on both their Instagram sites, the pair said: 'Our divorce has now been finalised. 'We are proud of all we've achieved together and, continuing our great respect for each other, we remain friends and committed to co-parenting our wonderful children. We ask for the media to continue to respect our children's privacy.' Baron Cohen, 53, and Fisher first met in 2001 and married in 2010. They were believed to have one of the strongest marriages in showbusiness – before quietly separating in 2023. They then publicly announced their break-up in April 2024, and it now appears they have amicably resolved any differences. A source said: 'It's all sorted. Now Sacha and Isla both just want to get on with the rest of their lives – and focus on their family's well-being.' The couple - who have three children together - first met at a party in Sydney, Australia, in 2001. Speaking of their first encounter, Baron Cohen recalled quickly noticing that Fisher was 'hilarious'. Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla (pictured in 2017) have finalised their £120million divorce He remembered: 'We were at a very pretentious party, and me and her bonded over taking the mick out of the other people at the party. I knew instantly. I don't know if she did.' The pair announced their separation last year with a picture of themselves wearing tennis whites. They confirmed in an accompanying message: 'After a long tennis match lasting over 20 years, we are finally putting our racquets down.' Speaking earlier this year of their break-up, Fisher said: 'It's the most difficult thing that I've been through and I've learnt so much about myself in the process. 'I never imagined my family being separated but we are committed and loving parents.'
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Jack Draper enters the Wimbledon meat grinder as Britain's Big Thing
As Jack Draper arched his back to serve, a set and a break up on Court No 1, a well-groomed man in thick silver sunglasses stood up in his seat and posed for a photo in front of the action, chewing theatrically on the handle of his lustrously finished handbag, thereby conveying to his social media feed that he was (a) present, vital, right here in the moment; and (b) not very interested in tennis. Nobody seemed to mind. In fairness Wimbledon's big Tuesday best-of-British event did feel a bit like this. Less an act of white-hot sporting drama, more just, like, a really cool thing happening. An hour and 13 minutes into this first-round match Sebastián Báez would retire with a knee injury at 6-2, 6-2, 2-1 down. There will be far tougher opponents than the world No 38 who barely left an imprint on the Wimbledon turf, and whose only obvious victory plan was to keep bunting the ball back until one of you dies of heat exhaustion. There was no chance of that on the Wimbledon grass. Instead this was the tennis equivalent of watching a man being run over by a truck, albeit a very elegant, high-end, luxury-spec truck. And so Draper has now progressed to the second round, and also taken a step along another significant pathway. For Draper this Wimbledon is a kind of coming out event, a society debut. Not in any sport-related sense. He's No 4 in the world. He has already vaulted through every level placed in front of him, from the nepo-baby jibes of the junior tennis circuit, a place that makes even the drowned world of kids cricket seem insufficiently neurotic, to proving himself as a genuine elite presence on tour. But this is also Draper's first post-Murray summer, his first as the Big Thing, the key domestic TV event at this arena of swoons, flushes and also hunger. It would emerge later that the handbag-biting man was in fact part of a team of influencers sent by Draper's fashion sponsor to create their own sub-spectacle, amplify the brand, influence. The All England Club can hardly complain. Wimbledon and Draper is also essentially a brand partnership. British star power has been vital to this place's transformation into a hugely potent financial engine, spawned out of the appearance of sporting mania as a feature in public life in the mid-90s. Wimbledon entwined itself around this, the corporate hospitality dollar, the pink trouser pound. The industry is real. It needs meat. So Draper must head into the grinder, a deeply mannered kind of grinder, but a grinder nonetheless. Court No 1 was viciously hot and humid in late afternoon, the kind of heat that sits on every surface like heavy gravity. There was a slow wave of whoops and whistles as the players walked out, Draper picturesquely vast next to Báez. There are still questions to be answered here. What are the shapes, the sounds, the iconography of the Draper fandom? Henman Energy was fevered and oddly sexless, with a vague sense of cheering for a minor royal cousin. The Murray years were more nuanced, a deeper bond, a higher ceiling, a sense of greatness to be touched. Draper is something else, a product off the high-end factory line, a machine made to hit and stretch and win. You can see why elite players consider him elite. There are no weaknesses in his physical toolbox. Tall but good feet. Power but still whippy and light in his shoulders. And yes we will objectify him, because this is tennis, a relentless elite sport, but also basically a country-house flirtation that got out of hand. The jaw, the shoulders, the sculpted lines. This thing is rangy, classical, elite-athlete handsome. We have one of these now. How is it going to feel? 'Come on Drapes' lone voices shouted in the crowd, trying it out, as he hit long in the opening game, searching for timing in that full-rotation forehand. But with 20 minutes gone it was already 5-1. The second set was if anything even easier. And outside on the big-screen slope beyond Court No 1 the vibe was equally comfortable. There are issues to be settled here. What will we call this space now, given it seems to need to be called something? Henman Hill always sounded like a bottle of bad English wine. Does it have to be a hill? Jackatoa? The Jackerhorn? Jackstock? Is there a Jackstonbury angle? All of this fluff has a hard commercial edge. Sport must be sold to people who don't like sport. Eyeballs must be harvested. But it is a shame, because Draper is interesting in his own right. He has taken time to find his best self, struggled with nerves, and spoken recently about the influence of his breathing coach, which is very Big Sport kind of thing, a place where often the real interest is the challenge of simply surviving in this world, existing on that lighted stage. Draper has spent a lot of time working out how to be alone, waiting better, being in hotels better, remembering to breathe, learning to win, as here, without taking a bite out of himself. On this evidence it might just be an unusually comfortable reboot.
