On average areas with a Michelin starred restaurant have house prices some 42% more than the surrounding region’s average, and a third of these have asking prices that are typically 50% above the regional average.
The new research from PrimeLocation shows that the highest is Ascot in Berkshire, home to Coworth Park, where house prices are 146% higher than the regional average.
The effect is not limited to towns in the south of England. Pately Bridge in North Yorkshire has the greatest restaurant premium of any northern town, with the Yorke Arms helping push up house prices to some 137% more than the rest of Yorkshire.
The trend continues in Scotland where asking prices are 133% above the regional average within the town of Elie in Fife, home to Sangster’s.
Bray, in Berkshire, contains the only three starred restaurants outside London, Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck and Alain Roux’s Waterside Inn. Such famous names help make this already expensive patch of the Home Counties higher than its regional average, and at 42% the same as the national average.
And Ilkley in West Yorkshire, home to Marco Pierre White’s the Box Tree, has seen its house prices increase 105% above the average regional asking price in recent years.
‘With a record number of Michelin stars awarded last year, Britons are definitely acquiring a taste for fine dining. Now more than ever, Michelin starred restaurants are popping up outside of major cities, benefitting both the appetites and the wallets of residents of smaller towns,’ said Nigel Lewis, property analyst at PrimeLocation.
