“It’s like a goldfish bowl with people staring in,” says interior designer Russell Loughlan. He’s talking about the generously scaled windows that front his three-storey Tudor cottage on Dolphin Street, a narrow terrace-lined lane that leads straight to the beach in the coastal Kent town of Deal. “I think we’re about 25 strides from the sea. When I was at No 9, it was more like seven.”
Loughlan’s relationship with Dolphin Street began more than 20 years ago. This is the third property he has bought and renovated on that road. In 2005, he moved in to No 1 before selling up to take on an old Victorian bicycle shop further into town. In 2019 he purchased No 9, “a four-storey dolls’ house” where the refurbishment became a calling card for his burgeoning interior-design practice, The House on Dolphin Street. He has gone on to overhaul homes for clients both locally and in London, all the while keeping a keen eye out for new properties. For a time he moved to Princes Street, some 300m away, but was drawn back to Dolphin Street last year.
Russell Loughlan in Le Pinardier wine bar © Andrew Urwin
“I know every street in Deal backwards,” says Loughlan, who divides his time between the south east and east London. “All the agents know me. I’m a bit of a joke. I ring up and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s you.’”
