Now you see it…: how the Leslie Arms auction appeared on the Palace Auctions website for yesterday’s sale, before it was withdrawn
Auctioneer Swindells claims the landmark pub was never in his company’s catalogue, as Ansari-linked property fails to sell for third time in as many months. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES
The Leslie Arms, the Grade II-listed Victorian landmark building in Addiscombe that has been on the national heritage at risk register for 17 years, was withdrawn from auction yesterday, with no explanation offered by the auctioneer or the property’s owners.
The Leslie Arms ceased operating as a pub in 2000 and has been in the ownership of multi-millionaire property developer Dr Anwar Ansari, or companies associated with him, for 25 years. The interior of the building has been badly neglected.
Ansari’s property business has been in financial difficulties this year, with at least six related companies placed into the hands of receivers since March.
Yesterday’s auction, apparently conducted from the rooms of the Claridge’s hotel in Mayfair, was something of a fire sale of assets, with “something in excess of 20” lots linked to Ansari, according to auctioneer Edward Swindells.
The fantasy: how Palace Auctions used AI to promote their ‘high-roller’ sale in Mayfair yesterday
Yesterday was the third time in three months that the Leslie Arms, or parts of the building, has been put up for sale. None of the auctions have achieved a sale.
In June, the building was withdrawn for sale just hours before the auction. Then, it had been listed with a guide price of £1.45million.
On a second occasion, when the property’s four flats were offered for sale by the liquidator, they failed to meet the reserve price.
This time, the sale was being handled by Palace Auctions, who operate from a prestigious address on Old Bond Street in the West End. Their event was chaotic, with the auctioneer’s microphone malfunctioning to such an extent that observers might have been forgiven for thinking it was being conducted by a tribute act to the 1970s comedian, Norman Collier.
The tatty reality: Palace Auctions’ Peter Swindells struggling with the technology yesterday
Palace Auctions still had the sale details for the Leslie Arms on its website this morning.
Its auction catalogue for September 23 had previously featured the property in a graphic with the title “Foreclosure”, and with conflicting guide prices: £1.3million and £1.45million.
As well as the faulty audio issues and frequent pauses in proceedings to fix the auctioneer’s microphone – never to any great effect – the auction featured a series of non-sales, with many lots failing to achieve their asking price, or simply being pulled from auction altogether.
Several of these were recognisable as Ansari-linked properties.
When Swindells got to Lot 82 yesterday afternoon, it was no longer for the sale of the Leslie Arms. The Croydon pub had mysteriously vanished from the online catalogue.
If Tim Martin, of Wetherspoons fame, or the property managers of any other pubco were lurking in Claridge’s St James Room waiting to snap up a bargain in response to a plea from local councillors last week, then they had had a wasted trip.
Today, despite the Leslie Arms still appearing on his company’s website, auctioneer Swindells would not be drawn on the reasons behind the withdrawal of the property from his shambolic sale.
“We are not instructed on the property,” Swindells told Inside Croydon when asked about the disappearance of the Leslie Arms from his sale.
Croydon means business: Anwar Ansari conducting an interview with Croydon Mayor Jason Perry earlier this year
The auctioneer tried to claim that the Leslie Arms had never been in the catalogue for yesterday’s sale, until we pointed out the screengrab of the building as listed in his company’s online catalogue. The lot was still visible on Palace Auctions’ website today.
“We continue to work with the vendor,” Swindells said.
As Inside Croydon reported in August, at least six Ansari-linked companies were subject to “Receiver action”, according to public records.
At its peak, properties owned by Ansari and members of his family were thought to be valued at at least £90million. Companies House shows Ansari, 68, as the director or former director on more than 80 company listings.
Dr Ansari has been approached for comment.
Read more: Ansari’s £90m property empire in collapse as receivers move in
Read more: £1.45m Addiscombe landmark building withdrawn from auction
Read more: Leslie Arms timeline: sad 25-year decline of heritage building
Read more: Property developer ordered to pay £65,000 over dog attacks
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Please tell me that others also see the heavy irony of this auction being facilitated by someone whose name is actually “Swindells”?
It is just too easy.
Your final photograph above is captioned “Croydon means business: Anwar Ansari conducting an interview with Croydon Mayor Jason Perry earlier this year”.
Is that Perry by any chance related to the one who told Zotefoam employees facing redundancy that “stepping in … would risk creating a precedent for council involvement in private employment and corporate matters.”?
I think we should be told
If you mean the bumbling buffoon and utter hypocrite who is trousering £1,653 per week of public money for doing a few photo ops and eating free meals, while remaining managing director of his family’s plastic guttering business, then yes.