Residents in a town famous for being the birthplace of the modern TOILET are feeling flush for having the hippest postcode in the Cotswolds.
Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire sits in the middle of the highly sought after CV36 postcode.
It is located just ten miles north of posh Chipping Norton – home to celebrities including Jeremy Clarkson and David and Victoria Beckham.
Estate agents have reported that CV36 is enjoying a property boom with prices reaching 40 per cent higher than neighbouring areas.
The average price of a family home is around £350,000 but is still cheaper than equivalent properties in nearby Cirencester and Moreton-on-Marsh where four-bed houses typically fetch £500,000.
Despite rising prices, demand is soaring for properties in Shipston-on-Stour as people see it as a more affordable way to live in the Cotswolds.
Estate agent Amy Nicholson, of Sheldon Bosley Knight, said working from home has given buyers more freedom to live where they want.
She said: “We’re only a few minutes from the main Cotswold towns but our houses are cheaper.
“Some of the villages nearby have premium prices in recent years so people are looking around for areas still in CV36 but more affordable.
“Covid and the stamp duty brought a lot people here.
“Shipston-on-Stour isn't as busy or as touristy as Moreton-in-Marsh, but we are getting more popular.
“The town is less busy than other Cotswold towns and people live at a nice pace.
“People are now properly remotely working and can live wherever they want. They can live here and have a nice lifestyle here.”
Savvy locals who have lived in the town for many years are also keen to cash in with some houses selling “in two minutes”.
Anne Wagstaff, 73, has seen the value of her home jump more than £120,000 since she bought it nine years ago.
The gran-of-eight said: “We’re just putting it up on the market.
“I want to move a little north of Stratford so I’m near my children
“In my road we’ve had two new people but we only have eight houses. We had one family move in from London.
“Most people come and stay and love the place.
“I was quite surprised with the valuation of my house when they gave it us.
“We’ve got a three-bed detached and it’s up for offers over £400,000.
“We bought it for £280,000 nine years ago and I never imagined it would go up so far in that time.
“The estate agents said the market was picking up.”
Anne, who volunteers in a local charity shop, said she believes the town is attractive to families while enjoying good transport links to London.
She added: “You can get the train nearby straight to London and the town itself has everything you need.
“It’s got little bits of everything here. Cafés, butchers, I think it’s attractive for young families from all over.
“We love a ride down to the Cotswolds, it’s beautiful around here. You can’t beat that.”
Homeowner Andrew Godding, 45, moved into his £300,000 detached property eight years ago but has no plans to move anytime soon.
He said: “Shipston is little known other than being the home of Thomas Crapper and
the first flushing toilet so probably gets overlooked as a place to live and raise a family.
“It’s pretty mad that I have a nice sized house but just ten miles away in Chipping Norton it would probably cost another £50,000 or maybe £100,000.
“People pay for the postcode and it’s great in one sense than CV36 is now being recognised as a trendy place to live but these sort of things can be fads.
“I do always think we’re living a Cotswold lifestyle without paying silly Cotswold prices.”
Located in between the M5 and M40 motorways also means hybrid or full-time office can easily commute to London or Oxford.
The nearest railway station is also six miles away in Moreton-in-Marsh where commuters can travel to London in just two hours.
Business owner Andrew Bastock has run A Touch of Dust antiques shop in the town for 29 years.
He said: “If you go down to Oxford you’re going to be paying Oxford prices for an Oxford postcode.
“It’s probably a £50,000 or £60,000 cheaper on the same houses up here.
“There are pretty good rail links to London as well which is important for people for work.
“People come here for maybe a holiday or a short break and just fall for the place.
“People find the town charming, we’re still a 1930s town at heart. We talk to each
other and it has that feel.
“That’s the sort of town this is. The lovely thing about the town is all the independent shops.
“We’re not inundated with Costas and Starbucks.
“They’ve built two new housing estates at the top of the road. We don’t have a huge out of town shopping mall either.
“I don’t think prices have increased that much yet but as soon as houses come onto the market they’re gone within a week.
“As soon as they put a Georgian house on the market from Sheep Street, it’s gone in two minutes flat.
“CV is rated as Coventry and that wasn’t considered desirable.”
Shipston-on-Stour’s most famous son was arguably Thomas Crapper who was credited with transforming modern toilets.
Crapper did not invent the flushing toilet, but he did make them, and was the first to exhibit his loos in a showroom in 1870.
In 1861, Crapper was commissioned by Prince Edward, who became Edward VII, to build lavatories in royal palaces.
Crapper also patented the floating ballcock and the U-bend.
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Until recently, a museum showcasing over 1,200 of Crapper’s loos, washbasins and baths were on display in the town.
Residents now hope their new found “fame” will lift their area’s name out of the
gutter.
Watchmaker Adrian Sirbu, 35, moved to the town after buying a repair shop in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
He said: “I think realistically it’s the exclusivity of the businesses in the area, ours has been here since 1975.
“The properties sell quite quickly around here. My neighbours don’t go into the town, most work from home.
“There’s been an increase in new estates being built around here.
“It changes the dynamic of the town but hopefully it won’t lose it’s unique identity.”
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