From Ladbroke Grove to New York’s Carroll Gardens and back to west London, Lily Allen’s journey through bricks and mortar tells a story as candid and colourful as her music.
The West End Girl singer, whose latest album delves into the breakdown of her marriage to David Harbour, has built a property portfolio that mirrors her life’s many chapters — from her London roots to a transatlantic lifestyle and now, a homecoming.
A West End Girl at heart
Although Allen has called multiple cities home during her career, London remains her safe place.
The daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen grew up in Ladbroke Grove and has recounted hanging out at The Globe club, starring in a panto at The Tabernacle or going to Notting Hill Carnival with her close friend Miquita Oliver.
It is an area she has always gravitated towards, and in late 2025, she quietly snapped up a new flat, a 10-minute walk away from her mum in the capital.
Describing the purchase as a childhood dream realised on her podcast Miss Me?, she emphasised her connection to the local community and her desire to avoid any perception of gentrification despite the building’s mixed council and private ownership.
“This flat that I’ve bought is in a social housing building, I have kind of given myself a ‘get out’ clause because it is slap bang in the area which I grew up in, so I don’t feel like I am coming from outside and coming into the area and gentrifying it,” she said on the podcast.
“I have wanted to live in this building since I was a baby, it’s been a dream of mine forever and finally a flat became available in here and I was in a position to buy it and I did.”
Allen went on to explain that she bought the flat from another private owner.
This is not her first UK purchase. Before her Brooklyn foray, she owned a Gloucestershire pile which she bought for £3 million in 2010.
She called it her “house of dreams” and has said that one of her big regrets is having to sell it in order to cover the cost of being sued by a former tour manager.
The loss was, by her own admission, “soul-destroying” and she checks every day to see if it has come back on the market. She sold the six-bedroom, which dates back to the 1600s, for £4.2 million.
Her interior design for this home was boho country chic. Set in a picture-perfect cottage with a garden full of wildflowers and rose beds, it was decorated with a mix of vintage finds and heritage pieces.
Rooms had affectionate nicknames — from the Claridge’s guest bedroom with crewelwork bedspreads and antique curtains to the Gellybub, stacked with guitars, comfy armchairs and shelves of vinyl.
The sitting spaces, decked out with photographs, drawings and quirky artefacts, were infused with a slightly kitschy style. Think mismatched textiles, well-worn sofas and walls crowded with curios.
Allen also owned a north London home. She bought the ground-floor two-bedroom flat for £900,000 in 2008 and rented it out during her Cotswolds move before moving back there in 2017.
It was not until 2019 that she met David Harbour and New York called.
The infamous Brooklyn brownstone
The most talked-about address in Allen’s portfolio is the Carroll Gardens brownstone in Brooklyn that she shared with Stranger Things actor David Harbour during their marriage.
The 19th-century townhouse — a four-storey beauty on a leafy Union Street block — became the backdrop for one of the most colourful celebrity homes ever featured on Architectural Digest, blending a healthy dollop of English eccentricity with New York charm.
The couple purchased the property in early 2021 for around $3.35 million and embarked on an extensive renovation with designer Billy Cotton and architect Ben Bischoff.
Inside, whimsical design moments — from botanical Zuber wallpaper to an unexpected carpeted bathroom — sat alongside traditional details such as crown mouldings and fireplaces. A private garden complete with sauna and cold-plunge pool capped off the flamboyance.
Allen’s album West End Girl references the home directly in its lyrics.
She sings: “And now we're all here, we've moved to New York / We've found a nice little rental near a sweet little school / Now I'm looking at houses with four or five floors /And you've found us a brownstone, said ‘You want it? It's yours. So we went ahead and we bought it / Found ourselves a good mortgage / Billy Cotton got sorted / All the furniture ordered / I could never afford this /You were pushing it forward / Made me feel a bit awkward.”
In autumn 2025 the townhouse hit the market for just under $8 million — more than double its original purchase price — offering buyers a slice of celebrity real estate.
