It was once the most desirable address in London, but a look inside one of the mega mansions for sale on the Bishop’s Avenue proves exactly why the street has lost its sheen.

Fair Hill, located on the so-called billionaire’s row near Hampstead Heath, North Londonis on the market for a cool £20million, but prospective buyers will also need a healthy budget for redecoration.

The 13,900 square foot mansion, which features on Britain’s Most Expensive Homes, airing tonight on Channel 4, was once home to foreign royalty, who enjoyed the property’s six reception rooms, eight bedrooms, and even the nightclub-style party room.

But today the ‘nightclub’ might draw more comparisons to a humble village hall than a party venue for the rich and famous on Billionaires’ Row, with the washed out room featuring a raised stage with dated blue carpet, gloomy sofas, and tired curtains.

It’s not the only lacklustre room in the expensive abode, with the living room looking big but bare, while the bedroom pictured on Zoopla featured a mattress without a bed frame.

Discussing the property, Pav Wasik, Founder of Uptown Interiors, told The Daily Mail, ‘It’s giving late ’80s cruise ship luxury… back when shiny surfaces and gold finishes were the height of sophistication and taste.’

The nightclub was particularly concerning for the founder, ‘If you want a nightclub in your home, there are plenty of ways to do it with taste. They even make black limewash these days, so you can party in darkness but still have a bit of class.’

‘The good thing is with homes like this, though, is that the bones are solid. With a great stylist, interior architect, and a skilled decorating team, you could bring this kind of place right into the modern day without needing a billionaire’s budget.’

Elsewhere, Dhilnawaaz Trotman, Co-Founder and Creative Director at DKT Interior design studio told The Daily Mail, ‘You can almost feel the architecture gasping beneath the beige.

‘The bones are there ornate balustrades, solid joinery, generous proportions but they’ve been lost under mismatched lighting, heavy curtains, and furniture that feels more catalog than couture.

‘It’s proof that affluence and aesthetic intelligence aren’t always aligned. Money bought the postcode, not the palette.’

The area’s fall from grace is laid bare in this week’s Britain’s Most Expensive Homes, during which estate agent Jeremy Fine from Godfrey and Barr travels to Fair Hill, but its tired appearance raises the question of whether bulldozers should come in.

With its marble flooring, winding staircase, and space to host a 100-person party, it’s clear to see that, in its prime, the home made a stunning living space for its lucky residents.

The 66-house Bishops Avenue, formerly home to Justin Bieberspans from the north side of Hampstead Heath to East Finchley, and thanks to the average price rising above £1million in the late 1980s, it became known as Billionaires’ Row.

The road, however, is failing to stand the test of time, with piles of rubbish, graffiti, potholes, and the constant sound of drilling consuming the areaas Barnet Council reportedly fails to take its upkeep seriously.

As the expensive road moves further away from its glory days, when Princess Diana could be spotted on her way to visit the home of the last King of GreeceConstantine II, its homes are also struggling.

Other features include an impressive 20ft reception hall, a double reception room with double-height ceilings and huge windows, a nightclub room featuring a DJ booth and stage, a lift to all floors, and staff quarters with a separate staircase.

In the episode, which airs this evening on Channel 4, Jeremy welcomed international buying agent Nick Dawson to assess the property and to see whether the house might pique the interest of the world’s ultra-wealthy.

However, after viewing the home, the property expert reasoned that its drab and outdated features meant the rich might not deem it fit for their lavish lifestyles.

‘There is a sense of faded glory,’ Dawson said when looking around the property. He added, ‘The clients I’m acting for are probably going to look at this in terms of a land deal, they’ll get their architects in and almost start from scratch.’

He added that other potential buyers might purchase the property and change it into flats or smaller homes. ‘You’re not putting all your eggs in one basket, you’re diversifying the risk,’ he said.

Fine added, ‘I think getting planning permission to demolish this would be straightforward.

‘It is a shame, but it isn’t a shame. By the time you refurbish a house of this scale, it’s often so much easier than faffing around to just demolish it and start again.’

However, securing his desired £20 million might be a bit of a mission for Fine, because the home to the filming date had yet to receive an offer even near the asking price.

It comes after one Bishops Avenue resident, who chose to remain anonymous, told The Daily Mail in February, ‘It’s awful to live on a street like this, we didn’t expect this when we moved in seven years ago.

‘All the council does is fill in potholes. I think the new restrictions will affect family who are coming to visit because where are they going to park?’

And while the street was made iconic by 25-bedroom homes, developers have been tearing down the mega-mansions and turning them into apartments, retirement flats and housing developments.

The resident said, ‘The contractors parking on the road is annoying because you can’t turn left, you can’t turn right, we’ve had temporary traffic lights both at the top and the bottom of the road so there’s always a traffic jam.

‘We also think the litter is coming from the contractors, the people working in all the different buildings because there’s nowhere to throw their rubbish.’

Another resident, who also chose to remain anonymous, told The Daily Mail, ‘The contractors are clearly not allowed to smoke on site so we get lots of stubs of cigarette remains on our side of the road.’

Brandon Joyce, from NG Tunnelling, has been working on one of the developments. He said residents were appreciative of his team’s work in clearing up the damaged roads and cracked pavements.

He told The Daily Mail, ‘We were doing the roadworks and nobody complained. Everybody’s being really kind and thankful and we’ve received thanks from two people, because we were tidying the road and doing the drainage.’

At the time of reporting in February, there were four main developments being built on the road, including a complex for over 65s called Riverstone Bishops Avenue, which will consist of 93 apartments, a pool, spa, physio, library and gardens. It is expected to open in early 2026.

Alongside the mansions there are now ten apartment buildings or complexes, two of which are care homes.

Trevor Abrahmsohn, Director of Glentree, the real estate firm that represent the majority of properties on The Bishops Avenue, told The Daily Mail, ‘The planners became a bit more flexible in the ’90s with their plan for The Bishops Avenue and they’ve allowed apartment buildings to be built.’

He claimed that properties on the street are still going for between £4million and £100million.

But several properties have been boarded up, and it’s easy to spot overgrown plants that seem to span acres of derelict land, which was allegedly bought in 2013 for £70million.

Mr Abrahmsohn explained the houses were initially bought in 1990/91 during the First Gulf War.

He said, ‘Rafic Hariri, who was then the Lebanese Prime Minister sent his henchmen to buy, no matter what price, 10 properties and they bought these properties hurriedly for the exiled Saudi Arabian family.

‘They subsequently sold them when they were excess to requirements and they were bought by an Iranian businessman.

‘The plan is to redevelop them.’

To add to the locals misery, there are no parking restrictions along the road, meaning it’s become a hotspot for caravans and mobile homes.

It is a bizarre mix of the upmarket and the shabby, with some homes completely abandoned, others in pristine condition and others undergoing major redevelopment.

Britain’s Most Expensive Houses returns to Channel 4 on Wednesday at 10pm.