Tycoon who wants a river through his dining room
Phones4U billionaire planning fish-filled waterway for his £250m mega-mansion
WITH a large fortune and a Mayfair mansion to titivate, a water feature no doubt seemed an excellent idea.
How about a swanky aquarium or elegant, tinkling fountain? All a bit passé for John Caudwell, it seems.
Instead, the mobile phones tycoon is going to have a river – running right through his dining room.
The 67-year-old – who sold his Phones4U empire for £1.5billion – is creating the waterway complete with colourful fish to entertain guests in the Thai-themed room.
His lavishly refurbished home will have 15 bedrooms across nine floors, a ballroom catering for 200 guests and its own hidden car-lift and stacking parking system. It also comes with an entertainment floor featuring a swimming pool, gym, salon, ‘media room’ and games room.
The entrepreneur has merged two Mayfair houses into one 45,000sq ft home said to be worth £250million.
‘It’s a unique property. You can’t find anything else like it, as far as I know, in London – both in terms of size and facilities,’ he told Financial News. He bought the houses in London’s embassy district from Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei’s brother, in 2012 for a reported £81million. The father of five began renovating the 18th and 19th century, grade II listed properties, linked by a courtyard, in 2015 and is due to move in by October. Mr Caudwell plans to use the ballroom to host galas in aid of good causes. He said. ‘I can entertain 200 people for dinner in the ballroom in a magnificently opulent environment.’
However, Mr Caudwell has not gone into further details of the river, which will feature in a television documentary about the refurbishment. It is expected to use water that is constantly recycled to create a flowing effect. After buying the properties, Mr Caudwell said that when he first saw them he ‘felt a combination of awe and horror [and] didn’t know whether to love it or hate it’.
Local estate agents say his refurbishment has created ‘one of Mayfair’s finest houses’. But other experts argue that central London properties owned by the Qatari royal family can cost up to £330million.
Mr Caudwell is said to pay the most income tax in Britain – contributing more than £200million over five years. The entrepreneur, from Stokeon-Trent, dropped out of school to work in a tyre factory before becoming a second-hand car dealer, then setting up his phone firm. He also owns Broughton Hall, a £12million Jacobean manor house in Eccleshall near Stoke and spends time with partner Modesta Vzesniauskaite, 35, at his Monaco residence.