Knight Frank conjures up some new areas for prime central London

A few years ago, London estate agents stood accused of inventing upmarket-sounding village areas within the capital.

So, heaven knows what people will make of Knight Frank’s latest expansion of the definition ‘prime central London’.

The phrase, a frequent puzzle to out-of-town agents, is generally understood to mean Mayfair, Knightsbridge, Kensington, Chelsea and Belgravia.

But the trouble with W1 and SW1 postcodes is that the area they cover, whilst affluent beyond most of our dreams, is a bit small.

And it’s not like there’s much room for a developer to move in and throw up a few hundred new homes.

So, what’s an estate agent to do?

A few years ago, Knight Frank took a deep breath and announced that South Bank was now part of prime central London.

The announcement was enough to put several of its staff, all called Rupert and Tarquin, on life support. Indeed, they still get nosebleeds if they go south of the river.

South Bank sounds great. The reality is that it’s Waterloo, Bermondsey and London Bridge, and more Subway than Harvey Nicks. However, there’s been lots of development going on there.

Now it seems that even South Bank isn’t enough, so Knight Frank has had another go at redefining prime central London and mixed in those oicks from the City plus a rather vague area called ‘City Fringe’, which translates as – be brave, Rupert, deep breaths – Shoreditch.

Whatever next? Balham, gateway to the South? Clapham Junction, where leafy Surrey is but a short train ride away?

Perhaps the only way is Essex.