West Ham United chairman David Sullivan has cut the price of his London mansion by £10 million blaming Rachel Reeves‘ budget proposals.
Sullivan, 75, who is the largest single shareholder of the Premier League club, has slashed the price of his 21,000 sq ft townhouse in Marylebone from £75m to £65m, saying he had to be ‘realistic’ about market conditions.
The businessman claims he is selling the six-storey Georgian townhouse at a loss after spending £50m on renovation since buying it outright for £27m in 2015.
The Grade II listed home in Portland Place, which was built in 1776 by Robert Adam and his family, is famed for its cultural history, including as the setting for Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, but also for riotous sex and drugs parties.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Sullivan said: ‘I’m selling it at a loss now, but you have to be realistic.’
David Sullivan, 75, who is the largest single shareholder of the Premier League club, has slashed the price of his 21,000 sq ft town townhouse in Marylebone from £75m to £65m
The businessman claims he is selling the six-storey Georgian townhouse at a loss after spending £50m on renovation since buying it outright for £27m in 2015
The Grade II listed home in Portland Place, which was built in 1776 by Robert Adam and his family, is famed for its cultural history, including as the setting for Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, but also for riotous sex and drugs parties
Pictured: Workers putting the finishing touches on the refurbished mansion
He blamed high interest rates and the Government’s plan to clamp down on restrictions on non-doms, UK residents whose permanent homes are elsewhere.
The 75-year-old told Bloomberg: ‘What the Government is doing to the non-doms isn’t very nice, and a lot of rich people are leaving the country as a result of what they anticipate in the Budget. Three or four of my friends have already gone to Monaco or Dubai.’
‘Non-doms’ have been exempt from inheritance tax on their overseas assets and wealth. But Labour has warned that individuals who have been resident in the UK for ten years will now be subject to the levy.
They will also remain liable for a decade after leaving Britain.
Rachel Reeves is reportedly ready to water down her planned crackdown on non-doms amid Treasury fears it will bring in no extra cash and cost the country money.
Sources said on September 26 that the Chancellor would change course if the numbers do not add up. ‘We are looking at the details of our proposals. We will be pragmatic, not ideological,’ an official told the Financial Times.
‘We won’t press on regardless, but we are not going to abandon this completely.’
Rachel Reeves is reportedly ready to water down her planned crackdown on non-doms amid Treasury fears it will bring in no extra cash and cost the country money
Jeremy Hunt faced a backlash when he announced he would scrap the non-dom status in the March Budget over fears it would push wealthy people abroad.
He pledged to replace it with a ‘fairer residency-based system’ an action predicted to raise an extra £2.7billion a year.
From April next year, new arrivals to the UK will pay the same tax as everyone else after four years.
There are about 74,000 non-doms in the UK, most of whom are internationally mobile – meaning they can leave overnight, taking their money with them.
Whoever meets Mr Sullivan’s £75m asking price tag will get the 21-bedroom home which comes with a mews house at the back, a wine vault, gym, juice bar and outdoor, rooftop kitchen, but they will also be buying a slice of London history.
The Georgian property was home to a succession of wealthy aristocrats from 1775 when work was completed until after the Second World War.
The stunning home is spread across six storeys. Pictured is the sumptuous interior of one of its reception rooms
The 21-bedroom home which comes with a mews house at the back, a wine vault, pool, juice bar and outdoor, rooftop kitchen, but they will also be buying a slice of London history
The Georgian property was home to a succession of wealthy aristocrats from 1775 when work was completed until after the Second World War
The luxury mansion, which is spread across 24,000sq ft of prime London real estate, also comes with its own gym
The Grade II listed home in Portland Place also has its own cinema room
Residents included The Wyndham family for more than 50 years, the Earl of Sheffield and James Blyth, a millionaire who had founded the famous gin distillers, W.A. Gilbey & Sons.
In 1954 the Government of Sierra Leone took on the house as their embassy remaining in place until 1998, when its history took a sharp change in direction after it was taken over by Edward ‘Fast Eddie’ Davenport, who had made his name organising debauched parties for public school kids.
He snapped up the lease on the vast home, which was to become the centre of his party empire, for just £50,000 from the Sierra Leone government while the country was embroiled in a civil war.
The six-storey house was used for film shoots, a fashion show and a masquerade ball, and he once reportedly had his swimming pool filled with Cognac so revellers could row through it.
And the sprawling central London pad was also the setting for Kate Moss’s raunchy Agent Provocateur advert (pictured)
As well as being the former embassy of Sierra Leone, the stunning six-storey mansion was also the setting for the Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth (pictured in the film) as George VI battling to overcome his stammer
Media magnate Sullivan plans to put the house on the market in the autumn with the asking price likely to be almost three times the £27million he paid in 2015 (pictured is caretaker Frederick Porter inside the home)
Kate Moss was filmed walking down its staircase wearing nothing but stiletto heels and underwear for an Agent Provocateur advert and Singer Amy Winehouse used it to shoot the video for her hit song Rehab.
In 2010 it was used as one of the main locations for the Oscar-winning film The King’s Speech starring Colin Firth as George VI battling to overcome his stammer.
The venue was also used to host notorious Killing Kittens sex parties run by Emma Sayle, a one-time friend of Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton.
Reports of one event at the house in 2007 said more than 30 party guests writhed on a giant bed in group sex session, while others queued to take drugs in toilet cubicles.
Wealthy playboy Edward ‘Fast Eddie’ Davenport used to hot debauched parties at the stunning mansion when he owned it. There is no suggestion the women he is pictured with were involved in the parties
But in 2011 the house’s party period came to an abrupt end when Davenport was sentenced to eight years’ jail for his part in a £4.5million fraud
But in 2011 the house’s party period came to an abrupt end when Davenport was sentenced to eight years’ jail for his part in a £4.5million fraud.
He was exposed as a fraudster who duped victims out of their life savings through bogus start-up loan schemes and had to sell 33 Portland Place to pay back £14million to his victims.
It was finally sold to Sullivan in 2015 who then embarked on the ambitious refurbishment project.
