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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What’s going on in this situation?

137 replies

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 06:43

Name change because of possibly very recognisable location.

Live just off one of the most expensive areas in London. Houses between £20 and £40mil.

Go for walks daily.

There’s always a car with someone inside, outside of a specific house. The house is not on the road with the very expensive ones, just off it, so not an ambassador/Middle Eastern royalty one, more like a £5/6mil one.

Lots of private security guards around with high viz jackets and marked cars patrolling by car or on foot.

‘They’, instead, have normal cars with always someone inside looking utterly bored, checking phones, listening to music. Never outside of the car, not even in summer. So cars and people inside change, but car with person inside there day and night, always in front of this house.

From the outside, you can see that inside the house there’s a tv showing cctv camera feeds. It feels like the tv was positioned so as to make it clear to outsiders that there are plenty of cameras in and around the house.

And a man often sitting by the window facing the road in an office/library room. Neither the man nor the room look fancy, but also not a guard.

What’s the deal?

(I know it sounds like the beginning of a badly-written short story, but it’s all real, I’ve been discussing this with my husband and I just can’t understand what’s going on but I pass in front of it every day so it’s hard to not think about it)

OP posts:
ladyofshertonabbas · 09/01/2026 10:45

It’s staff, probably security. Why don’t you ask him and report back? (Pleaseeee).

rainbowstardrops · 09/01/2026 11:11

Ooh intriguing. I don’t know but I’d like to!

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:50

Turmerictea · 09/01/2026 08:04

The person in the car could be a driver, waiting to chauffeur.

I'd go with foreign royalty or diplomatic status too.

And I would totally fabricate a reason to knock 😂😂😂

No definitely not. The fancy shiny cars you see behind the corner are nothing like the normal, non-descriptive cars outside of their door.

OP posts:
Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:51

In this case, the only time the car was not outside was over Xmas when the house was also completely in the dark. It seems to me that they are protecting the person, not the house and its belongings.

OP posts:
Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar · 09/01/2026 11:51

corlan · 09/01/2026 10:33

You've clearly not been here long. Curtain twitching is a long established British tradition.

Oh hell yeah. I absolutely love it.

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:52

IwishIwasacaterpillar · 09/01/2026 08:18

Can we have a street view pic of the house

I think this might go a bit too far

OP posts:
Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:52

MrsDutchie88 · 09/01/2026 09:38

I’m a bit taken aback. Is this a British culture? Snooping on people’s personal affairs?

Gosh you are a fountain of fun!

OP posts:
Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:52

Runningoutofpatiencefucksandmoney · 09/01/2026 09:42

Bishops Avenue ?? Aka - the biggest building site in London. It's private security OP

Two roads down

OP posts:
Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:53

1clavdivs · 09/01/2026 09:50

My DH is a bodyguard and he does this. Yes it’s an affluent area of London and if the family is at home they don’t want the bodyguard in the house. He gets flipping freezing on night shifts.

Ah there you go. Now, the real question, is it just monied/famous/important people he 'bodyguards' or could it be a bad one too? As in, drug lord or the sort?

OP posts:
AndSoFinally · 09/01/2026 11:54

MojoMoon · 09/01/2026 06:44

A rich person obsessed with not allowing someone to park in front of their home employs a team 24/7 to prevent it.

Ha! Yes, this is the equivalent of penguin bollards when money is no object 😂

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:54

InterestedDad37 · 09/01/2026 10:15

That's the place where all the conspiracy theories are dreamt up. There's a cabal of bankers and politicians who go to meetings there, arriving through the secret underground railway that links it to their own houses. You're not supposed to know about it, so be careful!

I was actually wondering if it was some kind of 'safe house' where the guards remained but the people changed?

OP posts:
Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:56

JoshLymanSwagger · 09/01/2026 10:24

I guess it's someone with way too much money to spend thinking they're way more important to the world than they are.

🤷‍♀️

You do realise they record your image when you walk past? and that of your dog?

I know! Though no dog unfortunately. And it's starting to piss me off because I am second guessing myself and going out at different times of the day to make sure that they don't think I do it on purpose to pass in front always at the same time!

OP posts:
Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:57

Thepeopleversuswork · 09/01/2026 10:44

I was going to say M15/MI6 but they would probably be somewhere more suburban and nondescript than this. Agree probably private security for some zillionaire.

No the zillionaires are behind the corner. This house says 'I've done really well for myself, but in this area I am just normal'

OP posts:
Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar · 09/01/2026 11:58

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:56

I know! Though no dog unfortunately. And it's starting to piss me off because I am second guessing myself and going out at different times of the day to make sure that they don't think I do it on purpose to pass in front always at the same time!

I told you!! I'm onto you!!!!

But seriously. Go up and ask the dude in the car. He's bored so he might tell you so he can have a conversation. Maybe take him a Costa.

Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar · 09/01/2026 11:58

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:57

No the zillionaires are behind the corner. This house says 'I've done really well for myself, but in this area I am just normal'

Second home?

Noshadelamp · 09/01/2026 11:59

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:53

Ah there you go. Now, the real question, is it just monied/famous/important people he 'bodyguards' or could it be a bad one too? As in, drug lord or the sort?

Not necessarily mutually exclusive

MedievalNun · 09/01/2026 11:59

Another one thinking bodyguard / security services. Although probably not MI5 / MI6 as if so, their tradecraft is crap, as they would be less noticeable in a high-end car in that neighbourhood.

You are probably correct in that they are guarding a person rather than the location tbh. If you’re concerned you could call into
the local nick and say you’re worried someone is casing the place 😉 although it won’t get you an answer as to why they’re there, unfortunately. (Which is a pity as I’m totally not here for that, nope, not me)

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 09/01/2026 12:00

My aunt and uncle used to live on Bishops Avenue but uncle was a caretaker for a Jewish old peoples home there and they lived in house. Once when younger I was speaking to I think someone at work who didn’t know me that well and assumed from my working class London accent that I was probably shock horror, poor (they were monied, wealthy, upper class). I casually dropped this information into the conversation and got a look of surprised but impressed shock horror. I don’t even recall if I told the actual truth! Just kept them guessing for eternity!

OP, it’s likely to be security or a small embassy. I thought quite a few of the houses on Bishops Avenue were actually empty, no idea why.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 09/01/2026 12:06

By the way the one millionaire our family knew who lived on Cheyne Walk, he was a bit dodgy in his younger years but branched out into property development hence where he made his millions. In theory they had enough for a security guard or needing high risk protection but didn’t bother and they were nowhere near enough high profile/prestige for people to target them. The wife was much younger, Japanese and they had 4 young sons. That house was eventually sold mostly for its internal parking space courtyard as parking is scare and v expensive round there.

user2848502016 · 09/01/2026 12:07

I’d guess a famous person or foreign royalty/PM’s child renting the house

333FionaG · 09/01/2026 12:09

1clavdivs · 09/01/2026 09:50

My DH is a bodyguard and he does this. Yes it’s an affluent area of London and if the family is at home they don’t want the bodyguard in the house. He gets flipping freezing on night shifts.

What happens when he needs a pee? Is he allowed in the house? Or does he have to use a fabric conditioner bottle in the car?

Ohhohoho · 09/01/2026 12:10

Thestormishere · 09/01/2026 11:57

No the zillionaires are behind the corner. This house says 'I've done really well for myself, but in this area I am just normal'

But surely that’s what you want? To not stand out. 5/6mil house is still insane amount of money to loads of people and surely means the person owning it is very wealthy.

You’ve said it yourself in this area I am very normal, so makes them less of a target. Could be a diplomat, someone very important or the child of someone very rich who is studying.

Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar · 09/01/2026 12:36

TemporarilyCantDoMyself · 09/01/2026 09:47

Is it Dutch culture to have no curiosity at all? No wonder poor Van Gogh went mad! 😂

Dutch people put it all out there. There's no mystery so therefore no curiosity.

They don't even have curtains

Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar · 09/01/2026 12:42

user2848502016 · 09/01/2026 12:07

I’d guess a famous person or foreign royalty/PM’s child renting the house

Ooh yes, could be one of the PM's kids. We don't know anything about them but they are teenage, aren't they? So one of them could have grown up and moved out?

Agapornis · 09/01/2026 12:44

MrsDutchie88 · 09/01/2026 09:38

I’m a bit taken aback. Is this a British culture? Snooping on people’s personal affairs?

Says someone from the country where they no longer have net curtains (vitrage) since the protestants took over to make it easier to keep an eye on people - got to love the sociale controle and the buurtwhatsapp (neighbourhood WhatsApp) Grin