The roof has been ripped off Britain’s ‘biggest man cave’, which is finally being demolished after a ten-year planning battle. Millionaire Graham Wildin, 70, has repeatedly defied court orders to knock down his illegal 10,000 sq ft holiday complex – and even served time in prison for it.
The dispute has been going on since 2014, when he built a ‘Man cave’ at the back of his house, complete with a bowling alley, casino and cinema – without planning permission. Forest of Dean District Council began tearing it down in June – and this week the roof was ripped off, revealing the gutted interior.
Drone images show the shell of the building behind his home in Cinderford, Gloucestershire. There was no sign of the plush squash courts, soft court or bowling alley that can be seen in the video of the complex when it was first built.
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An onlooker said: “It really doesn’t look like the fancy leisure center we used to see there.” Wildin’s first of five court defeats came in September 2018, when a High Court injunction 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. In November, he lost his appeal against the judgment at the Court of Appeal and was ordered to demolish the site by March 10, 2022.
But when Wildin’s defiance continued, a six-week suspended sentence for contempt of court was activated on 13 August 2022. Once released from HMP Cardiff, he was given 18 weeks to “soften up” the inside of the building to make it unusable.
That term expired in January 2023 and last year was his FIFTH court defeat as his conviction was upheld and he was ordered to pay £9,962 in costs to the county council – despite claiming he had now sold everything for just £1. In September 2023, it was announced that he had been granted an interim injunction to prevent him from bothering neighbors with parking and CCTV.
Wildin’s neighbors claimed he was venting his frustration with the council by clogging up street parking spaces with his fleet of classic cars. He appealed and was told in December that he had been granted a final injunction – allowing him to park only two cars on the road and accommodate two visitors who could stay for a maximum of eight hours.
The judge also ordered that Mr Wildin could not have CCTV surveillance cameras on the outside of any vehicle or on any extension pole. But in March this year it was announced that a six-bed house near the ‘man cave’ – believed to be owned by his family – was to become a holiday let.
Temporary permission was given for it to be used as such – despite local concerns about noise, cars and ‘noisy railers’. Last month, Wildin was asked if he had any comments and if he thought the demolition was fair, but he did not answer the questions and immediately returned to the property.
A Forest of Dean District Council spokesman said: “As a council it is our duty to ensure that planning and development proposals comply with the law and benefit the local area while protecting the community. Hundreds of people follow the right application planning and development process every year, unfortunately this place didn’t.”
“It is important to note that the cost of this process should not be borne by the taxpayer and we will endeavor to recover any demolition costs from the landowner in due course. We will work closely with our demolition contractor to minimize any disruption to residents. “
”We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the people living in close proximity to this property for their patience during this lengthy legal process.
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