He memorably described Primrose Hill as ‘the friendliest place I have ever lived by far’, after moving there following the stroke which almost cost him his life. But is Andrew Marr reconsidering his assessment?
In a forthright attack on his ‘white, middle-class’ neighbours in the North London enclave, the BBC broadcaster decries recreational drug-taking, which he says is rife behind closed doors in its privileged streets.
The locale has, of course, been synonymous with hedonism since the heyday of its most famous residents, Sadie Frost and her ex-husband Jude Law.
BBC journalist Andrew Marr has linked residents of Primrose Hill taking drugs with the slaughter on the streets. He said the drugs trade is 'incredibly violent' and said 'we should be much more judgmental about middle-class drug taking'
Marr had previously described Primrose Hill, pictured, as the nicest place he has ever lived
‘In Primrose Hill we have some of the richest people living in their nice houses and going to their lovely cafes, and in the other direction there are young kids in gangs who are killing each other,’ Marr observes of the area, where locals include Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant and Channel 4 newsman Jon Snow.
Spelling out the link between the killings and those taking narcotics at home, Marr adds: ‘The drugs trade is incredibly violent, lethal and destroying lives in big numbers, and the people doing it are the middle-class, wealthy people taking drugs in the privacy of their own homes. We should be much more judgmental about middle-class drug taking.’
But Marr, who reportedly limits his own pleasures to ‘the odd pint of Camden IPA’, admits that it is possible to go through life cocooned from reality.
‘If you are white and middle class, you don’t see what is going on,’ he says, adding that it was the local vicar, Marjorie Brown, who opened his eyes to the crisis.
‘Otherwise I would be blundering around Primrose Hill like everyone else.’
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