Channel 4 A Place in the Sun: Inside new presenter Craig Rowe's £450k South London flat which he renovated for £100k
Craig says the amount he spent on doing up the flat was a 'gamble' - but it paid off
Ben Kempton
Meet A Place in the Sun's brand new presenter Craig Rowe (Image: Freeform Productions)
Craig Rowe is A Place in the Sun's brand new presenter and will be making his debut on the Channel 4 property show tomorrow night (January 7).
Ahead of his first appearance, the new presenter has given MyLondon an inside look into his self-renovated South London flat.
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The new presenter says he's still pinching himself that he's going to be on the programme he grew up watching.
As part of getting the role, Craig sent off a twenty second video introducing himself and showing off his swanky pad that he renovated himself which has featured in Grand Designs magazine.
Once you have one look at the stunning Jap-Scandi interior you'll be able to see why he got the role.
Craig Rowe makes his A Place in the Sun debut tomorrow night (Image: Channel 4)
The 49-year-old grew up in Bristol - which you can hear in his west country twang - but moved to London at 21 and has moved around the city.
He now considers himself a Londoner through and through after living in the city for almost 30 years.
"London is the only place in the UK that I can imagine living. It's got everything, yet at the same time it's a place to call home, have fun and meet people," he told MyLondon.
Before getting this job he worked as a travel rep taking globetrotters on tours around Europe, and then went on to work behind the TV scenes in transmission and production at the BBC.
Throughout that time he saved as much as he could until eventually he could afford to get on the property ladder. That was when the renovation bug hit.
Craig has made a habit of buying properties and doing them up and selling them on, but this one stuck.
Craig got his design inspiration from Japanese and Scandinavian interiors and wanted to mix the two
He bought the ex-council flat on a housing estate in Southwark about a seven minute walk from Borough Market mostly because of the central location, but also because he fell in love with the property.
He said: "Everyone was really surprised because I'd done renovations before and said to everyone I'm not doing any more.
"I was done sleeping next to a bag of cement. Done dealing with builders. Done with mess being absolutely everywhere. I needed to move somewhere that was already finished.
"But when I saw this place, as soon as I walked in, I just knew. And I can see when other people have the same reaction on A Place in the Sun."
Craig bought the flat for £460k and set off on the mission of making it his own.
'The first thing I did was open it up and get loads of light in'
He said: "The building was really run down and really badly laid out, quite scruffy council flat. My friends asked me: 'What the hell are you doing?'"
"The first thing I did was open it up and get loads of light in.
"I really love wood, white, matte black and those were my influences. I'd seen lots of designs in Japan and Scandinavia and somehow wanted to mix the two, where you get these clean lines, warm wood and beautiful sense of space and light."
In total, Craig spent almost £100k on doing up the property, an amount which he says is so high because of all the bespoke parts he had installed.
"I'm a bit embarrassed about that amount because I realise it's a whopping amount," he said. "But I knew it was going to be my home and I've saved for years and years to be in the fortunate position.
Craig has lived in London for nearly 30 years and says there's nowhere else in the UK he could imagine living
"It's one of those things, it becomes a love-hate thing in that on the days it's going well, it's great, but it's also really worrying because of how much it cost."
He continued: "I don't have that kind of money sitting in my back pocket. That came from years of saving and remortgaging my old properties, so I threw everything at this."
The gamble paid off. Not only does he now have a beautiful home that he shares with his partner, but it also helped land him his dream job.
Craig said: "I've been a fan of the show for many years which is why I was so excited when I got it. Like many other viewers, I just find it pure escapism.
"Seeing all these beautiful locations, particularly on a grey English day, transports you away from the rain."
On which presenter he reckon he's most similar to, he said: "I think I'm most like Ben Hillman because he's got that cheeky personality.
"But I've also watched a lot of Laura (Hamilton) and Jasmine (Harman) and they make it look so easy, so I've tried to cherry pick a bit of their presenting skill from all of them."
Craig makes his first appearance on Channel 4's A Place in the Sun tomorrow (January 7) at 3pm.
Have a story you think we should be covering? Email ben.kempton@reachplc.com.
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