The Leslie Arms, the Grade II-listed Victorian pub building on the corner of Cherry Orchard Road and Lower Addiscombe Road, has been placed for sale by auction next month. The auctioneers’ guide price is £1.45million.
For sale: how the Leslie Arms appears on the auction website. Guide price: £1.45m
Built in 1900, the Leslie Arms has not been used for its intended purpose, as a south London pub, for more than a quarter of a century, since being bought by millionaire property speculator Anwar Ansari in 2000.
Ansari, the man behind AA Homes and owner of the Coombe Farm complex off Lloyd Park, had wanted to use the Leslie Arms for an Islamic education centre and possible place of worship.
But his plans were repeatedly thwarted over two decades by the council planning department, which insisted that Ansari comply with the building’s listed status and a demand for community spaces by the broader community.
When he failed to get his planning application wishes granted, Ansari seemed to go into some kind of developer’s sulk, as work on site was abandoned for long periods, the building left neglected.
The Leslie Arms was first placed on English Heritage’s Heritage At Risk register in June 2009. The Victorian Society said: “It is crucial that pieces of our heritage such as this are protected.” But that gesture did not save the period fixtures and fittings in the bar area. Ansari claims that this destruction was caused by squatters, who accessed the insecure building.
Dog conviction: Anwar Ansari photographed after he had a run-in with the law
Builders’ hoardings that had been in place since the turn of the century on this significant public site on a busy junction were only taken down last year.
Ansari, previously a generous donor to the Labour Party, is not known for purchasing and selling on properties. He has made much of his fortune by buying dilapidated and tired office blocks and turning them into rabbit-hutch flats, generating many millions in rental income for his companies.
Last year, Ansari had a criminal conviction upheld for failing to control three large Anatolian guard dogs, which went on a rampage through Lloyd Park. His appeal case is yet to be heard.
The auctioneers’ notice suggests that he is charging £1,800 for a one-bedroom flat on the first floor of the Leslie Arms, one of four flats in the building’s conversion.
Ground rents: how potential investors will appraise the potential for the Leslie Arms building
The ground floor and former pub cellar were long a point of contention between Ansari and the council’s planners. The auctioneer details suggest that Ansari has been leasing that space out to a business, Suburban Studios Ltd, since September 2024 for more than £5,000 per month.
The auction is set to take place on June 9.
Savills, the auctioneers, say, “The property comprises a substantial three-storey building arranged as a ground and basement office together with four flats over first and second floors.”
Rare glimpse: a photo from 2019 shows how the Grade II-listed pub’s Victorian interior had been stripped and allowed to deteriorate
The building is described as “Substantial freehold mixed-use investment”, “comprises approximately 566.00sqm (6,154sqft”, “Substantial building on prominent corner location”, and they reckon that the offices and flats can generate rental income of £141,800 per year – around one-tenth of the guide price.
The particulars mention nothing about the Leslie Arms’ potential as a pub.
*This article was amended on June 4 to reflect Dr Ansari’s account of how damage to the bar interior was caused.
Read more: Leslie Arms timeline: sad 25-year decline of heritage building
Read more: Owner Ansari seeks to avoid Leslie Arms planning conditions
Read more: Addiscombe’s Grade II-listed Victorian pub ‘at immediate risk’
Read more: Property developer ordered to pay £65,000 over dog attacks
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Odious man.
Suburban studios ltd sure has a lot of former directors with the last name Ansari