Graham Wildin, 70, has defied a series of court orders to demolish the leisure complex at the back of his house for more than a decade – even serving a prison sentence for it
Britain’s ‘largest man cave’ is finally being demolished after a protracted battle over the ‘eyesore’ built more than a decade ago.
Millionaire Graham Wildin, 70, has consistently defied court orders to demolish his illegal 10,000 square meter leisure complex – and even served a prison sentence for it. The feud has been going on since 2014, when he built the man cave with a bowling alley, casino and cinema at the back of his house – without planning permission.
Wildin, from Cinderford, Gloucestershire, was even jailed for failing to comply with a court order to dismantle the building and has lost a string of other court cases. Forest of Dean District Council confirmed earlier this year that it would be demolished. And last week work started taking it apart.
His first of five court defeats came in September 2018, when a Supreme Court order was issued, initially giving him until the end of April 2020 to remove the building. He failed to comply with the order and was given a suspended sentence in June 2021.
He subsequently lost an appeal against the verdict at the Court of Appeal in November and was ordered to demolish the complex by March 10, 2022. But as Wildin’s resistance continued, the six-week suspended sentence for contempt of court was activated on August 13, 2022. .
Once released from HMP Cardiff, he was given 18 weeks to “soft strip” the inside of the building to make it unusable. That deadline expired in January 2023 and last year marked his FIFTH defeat in court, when his sentence was upheld and he was ordered to pay £9,962 in costs to the district council – despite claiming he had now paid it all for just £1 had sold.
In September 2023, it was reported that he had been issued an interim injunction to prevent him from harassing his neighbors with parking spaces and CCTV. Wildin’s neighbors claimed he took out his frustration with the council on them by filling the street’s parking spaces with his fleet of classic cars. He appealed and in December he was reportedly granted a permanent injunction, allowing him to park only two cars on the road, plus provision for two visitors, who could stay for a maximum of eight hours.
The judge also ordered that Mr Wildin must not place the CCTV surveillance cameras on the outside of a vehicle or on an extendable pole. But in March this year it was reported that the six-bed house near the ‘man cave’, thought to be owned by his family, would become a holiday rental.
Temporary permission has been given to use it as such, despite locals’ concerns about noise, cars and “noisy revelers”. A spokesperson for Forest of Dean District Council said: “As a council it is our duty to ensure that planning and development proposals comply with the law and deliver benefits to the local environment, while also protecting the community.
“Every year hundreds of people follow the correct process for planning applications and development, unfortunately this has not been the case at this location. It is important to note that the cost of this process should not be borne by taxpayers, and we will look to recover the full cost of the demolition from the landowner in due course.
“We will be working closely with our demolition contractor to minimize disruption to residents. “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the people living in the immediate vicinity of this property for their patience during this lengthy legal process.”