Robbie gets the underground pool he craved
...but only by splashing out on home miles from his war with neighbour Jimmy Page
IT HAS been one of music’s most bitter and long-running disputes – pitting Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page against next-door neighbour Robbie Williams in a battle over a basement.
But Robbie appears to have finally called a truce in the five-year confrontation – by moving out.
At the centre of the row was Robbie’s dream of creating a luxury basement spa complete with pool under his £ 17 million West London mansion.
He has made three planning applications for the spa since buying the house in 2013, but each time Page has objected vociferously.
He fears the excavation would affect his Grade I-listed mansion next door, built in 1781 – and at the last council meeting in May, planners again refused to approve Robbie’s project.
Now The Mail on Sunday can reveal that former Take That star Robbie has packed up and moved three miles away – from Holland Park to St John’s Wood – renting a £32 million home complete with the underground swimming pool he and wife Ayda craved.
And judging by his stunning new home, Robbie may not ever want to return. It has nine bedrooms, a lavish cinema, a games room and a huge and perfectly landscaped garden. But it is the swimming pool, kitted out with state-of-the-art lighting, that has encouraged Robbie, 44, and Ayda, 39, to splash out £20,000 a month to live there.
Their move is the latest twist in the long-running dispute.
After Robbie bought the 46-room Holland Park mansion from the estate of the late Sir Michael Winner, he spent three years renovating it before moving in, and has made repeated applications for the spa – in 2013, 2015 and 2017. After one knockback, Robbie called Page ‘mentally ill’ – an insult he later withdrew as he apologised.
Page has described Robbie as ‘a particular nuisance’.
Robbie’s side say he has offered to meet Page many times to discuss his project, but that the guitarist has ignored the requests.
A source close to Robbie said: ‘When he bought the property in Holland Park he and Ayda dreamt of having a luxurious health spa. They spent years trying to get permission. In the end, they thought the easiest thing to do would be to move to a place that already has one.’
Page has said: ‘I’m only the custodian of that house to pass it on to the next person, and on my watch I feel that I’ve got to do everything I can. It’s my duty.’