The Guardian, Sunday 3rd October 2004;

Blairs' new London address is a world away from constituency home in Durham
David Smith
Sunday October 3, 2004
The Observer

They may be sorry to leave the simplicity of village life and the bracing country air, but when Tony and Cherie Blair quit their constituency home for Connaught Square, central London, they will not be in want of shopping opportunities or celebrity neighbours.
The closest business to Myrobella - the former pit deputy's home in Sedgefield, Durham, bought by the couple in 1983 - is Lamb's Funeral Services. Little remains of what used to be called the High Street in Trimdon Colliery, a village given its name by a coal mine which closed in 1966.

PTS Timber & Hardware Supplies has seen better days, and few people are taking up the offer of freshly made sandwiches on the plastic board outside D&J Jordan Off-Licence & Grocer. The Style Studio has a sticker in its front window which says 'Exclusive Salon' - a claim that would have more credence if the weather-beaten sign had lost fewer letters.

Shopper Dorothy Elward, 56, said: 'There is nowt here. If I want to get some shopping in, I have to catch the bus to Hartlepool - that is, when they are running.'
The nearest shop of reasonable size is in Trimdon Village. The Blairs took a tour of the store when it opened, Cherie posing for the cameras with a bunch of bananas in her basket.

Last week the Blairs splashed out £3.6 million on 29 Connaught Square, a five-storey Georgian town house near London's Marble Arch. Affluent neighbours include Paul Oakenfold, the DJ and composer of the Big Brother theme, while Madonna and Stella McCartney live close by.
Blair need only nip around the corner, past six art galleries, to find the Iraqi-owned Le Chef restaurant, where Delia Smith once cooked and Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi was a regular.
Its manager, Baghdad-born Haidar Alyassriy, said: 'Mr Allawi and all the present Iraqi government have come here since Saddam. We would like to invite Tony Blair from the first day he will be a neighbour. I respect what he did in Iraq. I am happy and I think 99 per cent of Iraqis in Britain feel the same.'

Should Carole Caplin fail to move in too, Cherie can choose from Ruth's Beauty Salon, Connaughts Hair & Beauty or, a short walk away, Daniel Galvin's. The pampering possibilities are endless, including aromatherapy, arasys inch loss, electrolysis, eyelash tinting, facials, thread vein removal and waxing.
If she gives up bargain-hunting on eBay, Cherie need only walk around the corner to Jimmy Choo Couture, where bespoke shoes can go for £900. Blair can toast the good times at Arturo, a new restaurant with more than a whiff of Granita about it. Amid the pristine white tablecloths and bare wood floor, the fare is distinctly more New Labour than Old.

General manager Paul Puglisi, from Sydney, said: 'If the Blairs come regularly, I'm sure we can always find room for them.'