A banker who snapped-up an historic tower for £425,000 is selling it for £2million just twelve months later – despite £3million of taxpayers’ cash being spent on restorations.
Christian Tym, 42, bought Hadlow Castle in August and promised to allow tours to run throughout the year in exchange for the grant from Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
To the dismay of residents in Tonbridge, Kent, visitors have not been allowed through the doors of the Grade-I listed tower in recent months and the owner is expected to more than quadruple his money in just 12 months.
A banker is expected to quadruple his money on Hadlow Tower in Kent, despite public money having been used to restore it
The gothic tower was built in 1838 in the grounds of Hadlow Castle in Kent by Walter Barton May
The tower was turned into a home after a long-running battle by campaigners in the local area in Kent
Lord Lloyd-Webber is among the critics of the sale. He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘A huge amount of public money was spent on this project… If it’s going to be sold, it should be returned to Historic England and the Heritage Lottery Fund. It can’t go into the pocket of a private person.
‘I don’t think the public purse should be used to speculate – this seems to have slipped through the net.’
Hadlow Tower cost £3million to restore, and that money was granted on the condition that it be accessible to the public for 28 days every year.
Members of the public should have been allowed to visit the eight-storey tower, which was used as a lookout in the Second World War.
Estate agents Strutt & Parker, who are selling the castle, said the owner had not needed to showed anybody around the tower since he bought it, suggesting the rules ensuring access to the historic tower may be able to be swerved.
A community action group fought to get the tower restored after it was severely damaged in the Great Storm of 1987.
Locals formed the The Save Hadlow Tower Action Group, and poured £50,000 of their own cash into the building, raised through fundraising projects, which topped up cash from Heritage England and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The one-of-a-kind, 175 ft gothic tower was built in 1830, but fell derelict before being rescued by the artist Bernard Hailstone.
At the foot of a large, spiral staircase which leads up the tower, the owner will be able to sit at this attractive writing desk
The property was bought after the owners went into liquidation and has since been renovated by its current owner
Among the many unique features of the property is this huge fire place in a octagonal sitting room
Hadlow Tower was bought by The Vivat Trust £1 after a compulsory purchase order was made by the borough council in 2011.
Campaigners financed and staffed a visitor centre on the ground floor, and from 2013 it was open to the public weekly in summer.
Restoration on the castle was completed in February 2013 and it was shortlisted for the 2014 Kent Design Awards.
Known locally as ‘May’s Folly’, the tower then received a multi-million-pound restoration and later rented out as a holiday home for £1,954 a week.
In 2016, the the tower owners went into liquidation and Hadlow Tower was put on the market for offers over £1million.
It was sold to Christian in 2017, who is married with four sons, who said he was attracted by ‘the novelty factor.’
It was rumoured the motive of man who originally built the tower was to create a vantage point to spy on his estranged wife
It is now on the market for £2million, provoking criticism of how its owner seems to cashed in on the public money invested
The tower has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a dining room, a kitchen, a drawing room and a media room
The tower has a large spiral staircase running up to the top, where beautiful views are offered of the Kent countryside
Campaigners reported that 700 people visited the castle in 2017 – with the numbers dwindling in 2018 to zero.
The Heritage Lottery Fund said it expected Christian to report to it in August with evidence of his compliance.
Mr Tym was unavailable for comment.
The castle is listed as containing a media room, castle drawing room and four bedrooms. It also comes with almost three-and-a-half acres of grounds and a lift to all floors.
The tower was previously advertised on swingers website Club Aphrodite – inviting ’25 couples or 50 singles’ for some ‘Gothic castle folly’.
It said: ‘Enjoy threesomes, foursomes and moresomes in the intriguing candlelit rooms created for the fulfilment of the eccentric, original owner’s medieval, baronic fantasies.’
The completely unique property includes a number of stained glass windows and quirky features
Many of the rooms are near-circular, with this king-size bed looking out over the surrounding countryside from one floor
Critics say the public money invested in the project should go back into the public purse rather than into private hands
Building began in the late 1780s and was commissioned by Walter May whose son Walt added a 170ft octagonal tower in 1838.
After the son died the tower was owned by the High Sheriff of Kent and later by Harley Street specialist Dr MacGeagh.
During the Second World War the castle was used as a watchtower by the Home Guard and Royal Observer Corps.
Restoration on the 130ft Grade-I listed castle was completed in February 2013 and it was shortlisted for the 2014 Kent Design Awards.