Financial Times FT.com

Requiem for a dream home

By Jonathan Ford. Pictures by Charlie Bibby

Published: October 3 2008 22:06 | Last updated: October 3 2008 22:06

The doorway looks like the entrance to a prison cell: an unpainted steel hatch with a giant padlock hanging from it. The estate agent unlocks it and heaves the cover open, revealing a normal front door behind. “You need it in these flats to stop people just breaking in and smashing the whole place up,” she says.

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