A bit quiet at present: Caretaker Vern Anagnostou in the vast former Younghusband wool store's show room in Kensington. Credit:Paul Jeffers

When you are the sole resident of a century-old former wool store the size of two city blocks, it’s not a good idea to binge-watch a series of The Walking Dead late at night.

That’s what Vern Anagnostou discovered one night two years ago. After he switched off the zombie drama, Mr Anagnostou, who is the live-in caretaker of the Younghusband complex in Kensington, set off on a foot patrol.

He didn’t come across hordes of the undead but says he ‘‘got a fright’’ and scurried back to his flat after seeing a strange van parked in a driveway into the building, with one of its doors open (the van was later found to be stolen).