Around 1770 Barret is known to have been living in Orchard street an extension of Baker Street in London, and he has been linked to the young Anglo- Irish aristocrat and aspiring politician, the Hon. Edward Augustus Stratford. Stratford of Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow (who became Earl of Aldborough) who was developing the land belonging to the City of London Corporation, called the Lord Mayor's Banqueting House Ground. Stratford laid out Stratford Place, a planned cul-de-sac of superior Georgian houses, culminating in a single grand mansion at the end, which is unique in London. Early on Stratford Place was grouped with Portland Place and the Adelphi Terrace in a trio of London's finest showpiece developments. According to a story published in 1783, Stratford had learned of the site from Barret, then resident in Orchard Street, whom he had consulted 'about purchasing or building a town house'.