Billy’s £3m Red Wedge!
Socialist singer Bragg set to make at least £2m profit selling his seaside mansion
HE’S a staunchly socialist music star who railed against bankers’ bonuses and promotes equality and anti-globalisation on his records and at gigs.
But Labour supporter Billy Bragg is hoping to benefit big-time from the capitalist society, with a whopping £2.4million profit from the sale of his seaside mansion.
The veteran songwriter and founder of socialist musicians’ group Red Wedge has put his magnificent Victorian beachfront property in Dorset up for sale with elite estate agents Savills.
Mr Bragg, 61, and his interior designer partner Juliet de Valero Wills bought the villa overlooking Chesil Beach for around £630,000 in 2000. It is now valued at £3 million.
Sprawling over almost three acres, the house lies at the end of a 200-yard shared drive and is adorned with decorative columns. The sales brochure reveals design touches such as cream-painted wood-clad rooms, tiled floors and colourwashed walls.
Built by the Pitt-Rivers family, who once owned the pretty neighbouring village of Burton Bradstock, the 5,500sq ft property is one of ‘twin’ villas nicknamed Alpha and Omega by locals. The other has been converted into a boutique hotel by the founders of Soho’s Groucho Club. Described as ‘an outstanding Victorian coastal villa with direct access to the beach’ the Bragg residence includes four en suite bedrooms, dressing rooms and a balcony offering uninterrupted sea views.
There is a ‘summer sitting room’ and second sitting room, along with a study, library, kitchen-lounge, reception room with indoor pool – described as ‘not in use’ – ornate hallway, second-floor kitchen and a studio over the garage. The grounds include a walled garden with raised beds, a paddock, ‘beach garden’ and beach hut.
Last week, Mr Bragg helped launch Labour’s Charter For The
Arts. A prominent protest singer in the 1980s, whose hits include A New England, he played benefit concerts for striking miners and was an outspoken critic of Margaret Thatcher.
More recently, he resisted paying taxes in protest against City bankers’ bonuses. In the nearby Anchor Inn, locals said he had run fundraisers for the village hall, manned a record stall at the local primary school Christmas fair and volunteered at a Dorset young offenders centre. ‘Billy doesn’t play the star,’ said one friend. ‘People will be sorry to see them go but they are spending a lot of time in Australia.’
Another resident said: ‘He’s been good for Burton Bradstock. But given his wealth and that great big house, some do see him as a champagne socialist.’
A spokesman for Savills declined to discuss the sale. The Mail on Sunday has seen the marketing brochure for the property, but last night a spokesman for Mr Bragg insisted: ‘The house is not for sale.’