New-builds have a reputation for being bland and boxy, but for Paul Firmin and Niko Dafkos, they were thrilled to be the first ones through the door of their townhouse in east London. “The fact that you can make it your own, and that everything — from the windows to the boiler — is brand new, is no bad thing,” says Dafkos, who is from Germany.
Partners both in work and life, the founders of homewares retailer and fragrance brand Earl of East bought the property from the developer nine years ago and persuaded the company to cover the stamp duty. Fatigued from months of viewing microscopic flats in more salubrious neighbourhoods such as London Fields, where they met 13 years ago, they settled on Leyton.
