Wags, Jags and a battle for the soul of Britain's Beverly Hills

 

Few places scream glamour on a wet winter ­afternoon, let alone a supermarket car park. But the pay-and-display opposite Waitrose in Cobham can still make quite an impression on first-time ­visitors. A red ­Lotus Elise here, two Maseratis over there. Oh look, a silver Porsche Carrera. And a Bentley. Smoked window Range Rovers? All over the place.
Nearly all these cars have personalised number plates. More than one seen roaring through the Surrey village on this bleak afternoon sports the letters CFC — Chelsea Football Club.
It is well known that several of the club’s star players, including John Terry, live in gated mansions just up the road in Oxshott. Like Cobham, it is in the district council area of Elmbridge, which also includes ­Claygate, Esher and Weybridge, each a couple of miles apart. Twenty years ago, this was the heart of what was called the ‘gin and Jag’ belt; now it is nicknamed the ‘Beverly Hills of Britain’.

It’s gained its title after ­triumphing again in the latest ­Quality of Life survey — in the past five years, Cobham has four times been named the best place to live in the country.
Residents of this exclusive corner of Surrey, which lies just inside the M25, have a ­better lifestyle than most other ­people in ­Britain in nearly every way, found the Halifax survey.
They are fitter, live longer, earn more and their children do better in exams. Cobham is even said to have nicer weather, with less than average annual rainfall.
But even though it is described as the ‘closest place to paradise’ in the ­country, there is a fierce battle being fought in this glorious corner of Surrey — and it boils down to that other great British obsession: class.
You see, for some long-time ­residents here, the new arrivals (not just ­footballers, but City traders and fund managers, too), with their ­ostentatious displays of money, are rather vulgar. The shift from ‘gin and Jags’ to ‘Cristal and WAGs’ has lowered the tone.
‘My daughter was at a private school here and some of the parents appalled me,’ says one well-spoken lady. ‘At the end of term, the children would give their teacher a present — soap, ­perhaps. But these go-getting bankers’ wives decided to give a big cheque instead.
‘When I said it stopped the children learning the true meaning of giving, they said if I didn’t donate, my ­daughter couldn’t sign the card. It became a purely monetary ­transaction.’

Celebrity residents: Abbey Clancy (left) lives with Peter Crouch in Weybridge, while Danielle Lineker (right) lives with husband Gary in Esher

The incident gives an insight into the underlying tensions that exist in parts of this outwardly blessed community.
The footballers have incurred ­withering looks, too. John Terry was accused of ‘arrogance’ for parking his Bentley in a disabled spot while he enjoyed a long lunch at Pizza Express in Esher, two years ago.
He got a £60 parking ticket (it didn’t seem to bother him, as he signed ­autographs before ­driving off) and later apologised. But the incident did little to endear the new arrivals to long-term locals.
Terry — who was sacked as England captain last year after an alleged affair with French underwear model Vanessa Perroncel — and other Chelsea ­­players began decamping to the area in 2005, after the team’s training ground moved to Stoke d’Abernon, near Cobham.
The then manager Jose Mourinho decreed they should live within ­minutes of it. Since Mourinho left the club, the rule has been relaxed, but Terry and England colleague Frank Lampard and striker Didier Drogba still live here.
The neo-classical houses on the Crown Estate in Oxshott are popular with the ­players. Each property is built on a half-acre or so, separated from the ­others by red-brick walls and foliage. Property experts say a new house there costs about £4.5 ­million. For the WAGs, Cobham High Street boasts a designer dress shop and shoe shop selling D&G, Moschino and the obligatory Ugg boots. An assistant at the latter ­confirmed WAGs, including Terry’s wife Toni, are among their customers.
There are already several beauty salons in the area and rumour has it that a walk-in Botox clinic is soon to open.

Rich and famous: Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood lives in Claygate while Girls Aloud's Nicola Roberts bought a home in Weybridge in 2009

One unimpressed lady ­shopper says: ‘Some people round here ought to work harder and get their nails done less. You get sick of seeing them swanning about in their cars.’
In Oxshott, the off licence sold out of Dom Perignon 2000 (£131.25) over Christmas. Manager Peter Higham says: ‘Sometimes you don’t see anyone for hours then a customer comes in and spends £400 on their way home.’
It used to be a very different story. Long-term residents remember when Oxshott High Street had its own butcher, greengrocer and haberdasher. Now it has three estate agents, a tile shop and two hairdressing salons.
Wendy Davies, 48, has lived in the Elmbridge area since the age of two and shares a £2.5 million detached Thirties house in Esher with her ­husband, Paul, 59, a scientist.
‘It is a lovely area. It has a rural feel, but you’re only half an hour from ­Central London,’ she said. ‘But it’s been mired by its popularity. ­Trophy homes started being built in the ­Eighties and there’s been more since.
‘It’s quite distressing for long-term ­residents — and there’s not many of us. I was at a neighbour’s cocktail party when we heard about the survey. Of the ten people there, I was the only one who’d been raised here.
‘It’s awful seeing the tasteless new houses in Oxshott. The lovely old ­character houses are being pulled down to make way for these horrible things that footballers like. We live on a big plot and there is huge ­pressure to develop it, because you could get two new houses on it, but we’ve held out.’
Mrs Davies used to live in the same road as Who Wants To Be A ­Millionaire presenter Chris Tarrant, before he split from his wife Ingrid, and one of her two sons went to the private Danes Hill School with a son of the snooker player Jimmy White.
Other famous faces include Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker, Theo Paphitis from ­Dragons’ Den, TV ­presenter Eamonn Holmes and ­Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

Picturesque: The village pond at Esher which is the home of Gary and Danielle Lineker

By far the district’s biggest star, ­however, is Ronnie Wood. The ­Rolling Stones guitarist moved to the ­village of Claygate after splitting from wife Jo and has a quirky home, which has an octagonal tower with a turret and gargoyles. Not long after he arrived, he had a row outside a ­restaurant with his then girlfriend, Ekaterina Ivanova, a Russian 43 years his junior, which ended with the police being called.
Since then, things have calmed down. Wood ‘loves’ living in Claygate and spends most of his time there, despite also having ­properties in London and Ireland. Claygate has taken him to its heart, too. He switched on the Christmas lights and the locals have asked him to join their cricket side — he impressed them after accepting an invite to join in when he was ­strolling in the park with ­Brazilian girlfriend Ana Araujo.
‘Now I’m ­getting notes through the door ­asking me to be the batsman. I’d love to, if I had time,’ he said.
One resident explains: ‘Claygate is renowned for its community spirit. Ronnie can move around without being ­bothered and ­everyone — rich or poor — is treated with courtesy.’
So, what does Britain’s ‘Beverly Hills’ have to offer at night? The George bar and restaurant in Esher is the place to go. It was set up five years ago by Jonathan Dunne (he also runs the Albert Arms pub, which is the local of Jimmy White and Chris Tarrant) with the aim of ‘bringing West End standards to Esher’.
Inside The George, tall red drinks appear to be the in thing, with many sipping £7.50 raspberry Mojitos.
For those with a bigger wallet there’s champagne, including Louis ­Roederer Cristal Vintage 2002 for £220 a bottle and Dom Perignon Rose Vintage 1996 for £350. ‘We’re opening a private members’ place next year: it’ll be like Tramp or Annabel’s,’ says Mr Dunne, before revealing that the Esher ­Business Guild has contacted the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce in ­California about twinning.
Once, they might have seemed the strangest of bedfellows. But now they appear to be made for each other — except for the weather.