Alan keeps to the high life

Alan Cumming, who played the camp Scottish air steward in the TV series High Life, has decided to keep his Soho penthouse overlooking Leicester Square, which he put on the market last winter at £1.05 million. "It's an extraordinary-looking place but, despite reducing the price to £975,000, he had no takers," say the agents LDG. Cumming spent 18 months and £400,000 transforming his two-bedroom pad into a party palace. Its surreal décor includes yellow walls , a massive glass-fronted fridge that had to be delivered by crane, a £2,500 bath sunk into solid oak and a giant cinema screen.

TV presenter Kate Lawler is still waiting to move into the £300,000 flat she bought in Beckenham, Kent, two weeks after winning Channel 4's Big Brother last summer. "The building work is taking much longer than Kate expected," explains her agent. "At first she stayed with her parents in the same area, but now she is sharing a flat nearby with a friend." The feisty kick-boxing tomboy, who won £70,000 on the show, is currently presenting C4's breakfast show, RI:SE and Capital Radio's weekend programme,

Despite the pristine condition of his three-bedroom house behind Queen's Club, Fulham, former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson is having no luck selling. He has therefore just reduced the £650,000 selling price through Faron Sutaria by £50,000. Mandelson and his Brazilian partner, Reinaldo da Silva, moved there from Notting Hill less than two years ago. Cherie Blair's guru Carole Caplin would surely approve of Chateau Mandy's New Age crystals, candles and fake waterfall on the staircase.

Fans of Hollywood beauty Ava Gardner should consider buying a two-bedroom, two-bathroom second-floor flat in Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge. It is for sale at £625,000 through Hobart Slater on a 23-year lease. The tragic former wife of Frank Sinatra lived in a nearby flat until her death in 1990. An urn in the communal gardens commemorates the star of epics such as The Barefoot Contessa, Bhowani Junction and 55 Days at Peking. Would-be purchasers should negotiate a lease extension with the freeholder, the Wellcome Trust.