Character BUILDING

A mid 19th-century butcher’s shop in a dilapidated state was not what David and Linda Williams had in mind when they were looking to move. Many years and one painstaking renovation later, they have created an eclectic family home...

- ALICE MORO/GAP

Back in 1979, David and Linda Williams felt ready to move to a spacious, light house with a good-sized garden. Ideally, it would be low maintenance so as not to encroach on David's job as head of art at a local school. Before they had even begun seriously looking at houses, something caught Linda's eye in the commercial properties section at an estate agent. 'It was a shop, but because it was extremely cheap, we couldn't resist having look at it anyway,' says David. The property, a 19th-century butcher's shop with living accommodation in southeast London, had everything that the couple didn't want. It was dark, in a particularly bad state and it had next to no garden. They instantly fell in love with it. 'We could see daylight through the roof,' laughs David. 'It was a complete wreck, yet we said “yes, we'll buy it”.'