By News Reporters
From the kissing couple outside the cafe at the start, to the violinist in the window near the end we were curious as to where these scenes from the short film being used to promote Fitzrovia and Fitzroy Place were actually shot. It seems that property developer Exemplar has been using a little bit of artistic licence in their advertising film called An Introduction to Fitzrovia.
The picture of the woman playing the violin above is a still taken from the film currently being used to sell both Fitzrovia and the yet-to-be-built flats on the former Middlesex Hospital site called Fitzroy Place. The second picture was taken by our photographer this morning and looks remarkably similar to the one above. That’s because right down to the missing flakes of paint on the window sill it’s the same building.
The scene in the film is supposed to be in Fitzrovia, but it’s actually taken at The Shipton Street Gallery in Shipton Street, Bethnal Green. While Fitzroy Place is in W1 in the City of Westminster, the Shipton Gallery is in E2 in Tower Hamlets, several miles away.
One of our sharp-eyed editors was curious about the provenance of some of the scenes in the film. Was that taken in Fitzrovia? He didn’t think so. And if you are as sharp-eyed as he is you’ll figure out how he knew and was able to direct our photographer to the exact building in the exact street in London’s East End.
Exemplar have been selling the penthouses and flats off-plan in south east Asia and to UK buyers. The developers are taking advantage of non-existent land tax in the UK and high land taxes in other parts of the world and also instability in the global banking system. It matters little that they are not representing Fitzrovia correctly compared to the way they represented the viability of the scheme to Westminster Council who allowed planning permission with reduced affordable housing.
Yes, yes, the flakes of paint were a clue, but surely the “Shipton Gallery, London E2” sign in the window was the giveaway?