Manx owned mansion fire on 'Billionaire's row'

Fri, 21 Jul 2023

The fire that broke out in a “derelict” mansion during the early hours of this morning (Friday, July 21) is owned by Manx registered company, Birch Ventures Limited.

Around 70 firefighters and ten fire engines were tackling the blaze on the The Bishops Avenue in Barnet, north London.

The Bishops Avenue is renownedly nicknamed as billionaires row due to it being one of the most expensive streets in Britain, with big names such as Sultan of Brunei and Justin Bieber inhabiting some of the mansions on the street.

The Georgian property known as the ‘The Towers’ was reportedly bought by the Saudi royal family for £25 million and was built on part of the site of the mansion of British actress Gracie Fields.

According to sources, the property was sold on to Castletown based company, Birch Ventures Limited in 2013.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) have said that the fire started on the home’s ground floor but damaged the first floor and destroyed the roof of the three-storey building.

A spokesperson for LFB said that “the heavy smoke” from the fire could be “seen and smelt in other areas of central London”.

The site of the property is currently the subject of a planning operation to Barnet Council. Sources have said that developers had hopes of demolishing the property and replacing it with 65 flats.

 

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