Noel Gallagher's former London home

While in London I walked up from the centre to the Little Venice neighbourhood (so called due to its concentration of canals) to find Noel Gallagher’s former home. He bought this is in 2010 for £8 million and has struggled to sell it despite reducing the price from £11.5 to £8.95 million. I read in the papers that a nearby stabbing prompted the move. Noel has lived here with his wife Sarah (who he met in a nightclub in Ibiza) and their two children.

The front looks onto a quiet road and the pretty Regent’s canal but the back facade is prettier. As usual when I see rock star's homes I think it looks far too big:- what do they do with all these bedroom rooms? Why do they need a kitchen the size of a school hall? Do they need six bathrooms?

I read ex-actress Davinia Taylor (who dad is a toilet-roll millionaire) is now renting the place. She’s following the Gallagher's around as she previously bought Noel’s “Supernova Heights” house in Hampstead for £3.25 million. He's done well, moving to London in 1994 and three years later he drove to a party of 10, Drowning Street in a Rolls Royce.

The family has moved to a country mansion in the Hampshire countryside (see photo) but somehow I can't see Noel settling happily in a rural idyll. In his refreshingly-honest interviews I can see a potty-mouthed, blunt, rough-n-ready lad with attitude from a council estate in Burnage. Unfortunately once musicians become rich, contented and settled their music turns dull. Who wants to be settled - that's what you do before you die.

The house from across the canal...