New Tottenham Hotspur stadium: White Hart Lane regeneration kick-starts plan for thousands of new homes, shops and restaurants

Tottenham Hotspur may be making itself at home in its new stadium but the arrival of the £1 billion complex at White Hart Lane isn’t good news only for Spurs fans. The project has kick-started regeneration schemes in the shabby hinterland of The Lane, from thousands of new homes to new public spaces, parks, shops and restaurants.

The increasingly ubiquitous and impressive architecture practice Studio Egret West is behind the biggest change proposed, a £1 billion revamp of the area between two key landmarks, the London Overground station and the new stadium.

In January Lendlease, the company remodelling Elephant & Castle, signed a development deal with Haringey council to execute the plans, dubbed High Road West.

Work is due to start later this year on 2,500 new homes and more than 18,580 square metres of shops, restaurants and leisure facilities, plus a park, library and community centre.

White Hart Lane station, on the London Overground, is to be upgraded with a new entrance, ticket hall and forecourt.

It has also been hinted that the station will be renamed Tottenham Hotspur in the club’s honour.

Whatever it is called, it is an excellent option for City workers. Trains to Liverpool Street take from 23 minutes and an annual season ticket costs £1,020.

At present White Hart Lane and Tottenham High Road, the main shopping streets, drag the area down with their preponderance of chicken shops and pound stores.

But Mustafa Khalifa, director of Hunters estate agents, notes that the demographic of buyers coming into the area has changed.

Once a hunting ground for buy-to-let landlords looking for cheap rental flats, he finds that the majority of buyers are would-be owner-occupiers, often priced out of Stoke Newington and Hackney.

“Buyers are starting to spill into White Hart Lane because they can get a lot more for their money. What do I think the area will be like in five years? Well, commercial property is also affordable, so you are going to get a lot more small, independent businesses coming in: trendy cafés, restaurants and small clubs.”

There are also going to be more multimillion-pound big bang development projects.

Spurs hopes to help meet the cost of its stadium by turning property developer, although its ambitions for the local area are not without controversy. In 2016, the club also bought an industrial site, the Goods Yard, for £4.05 million, adding to its extensive collection of small building sites. A planning application to build 330 homes in blocks of up to 21 stories, plus shops and restaurant, was lodged last year.

Haringey council, however, rejected the “unacceptable” plans, claiming the club is offering an “insufficient contribution” towards improvements to local infrastructure, and is declining to fund vital improvements to nearby White Hart Lane station.

Spurs has come out fighting, counter-claiming that its project will create much-needed homes and employment, and regenerate a semi-derelict site. A planning inquiry to decide the matter is imminent.

Spurs also plans to use its stadium, which has three times as many seats as the O2 Centre, as a music venue for top artists.

All of which means that, while the starting whistle has only just been blown on the future of White Hart Lane, there is every indication that this is a neighbourhood which is firmly on its way up London’s property league table.

Right now White Hart Lane is a nondescript parade of shops where pubs only really come alive on match days.

The promise of new homes remains in the future, but off The Lane there are streets of period terraces, and Thirties and Fifties semis. These are popular with parents who are keen to get their children into the academically selective free school, London Academy of Excellence Tottenham, or well-regarded primaries such as St Francis de Sales RC Junior School. Outlook Estate Agents (020 3858 3000) is selling a four-bedroom terrace house on Creighton Road for £570,000.

The streets around Bruce Castle Park are a good hunting ground for buyers keen to keep themselves clear of the regular influx of football fans to White Hart Lane. Knights Residential (020 8012 1836) has a three-storey, four-bedroom house on Bruce Castle Road for £575,000.

There are also small and slightly dated-looking purpose-built blocks of flats near by, which are highly affordable. Dabora Conway, a property specialist (020 8012 7237), is selling a two-bedroom flat in Somerset Hall, also on Creighton Road, for £295,000.