A 70-year-old millionaire’s “eyesore” man cave is finally being torn down after a 10-year wrangle.
Accountant Graham Wildin persistently ignored court orders to demolish the UK’s ‘biggest man cave’ that spanned a whopping 10,000 square feet. The pensioner has been embroiled in a legal fight for more than a decade after illegally constructing the leisure complex at the back of his home, which featured a bowling alley, casino and cinema.
The mega-rich OAP, from Gloucestershire, didn’t get planning permission for his unusual renovations and was even sent to prison for failing to comply with an order to decommission the building.
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(Image: Tom Wren / SWNS)
Wildin lost his appeal to keep his man cave and, upon his release from HMP Cardiff, was given 18 weeks to “soft strip” the interior of the building so it was unusable.
After refusing to knock down his precious man cave once more, he received his fifth court defeat and was ordered to pay an eye-watering £9,962 in costs to the district council.
In 2023, it was then reported he’d received an interim injunction to stop harassing neighbours with parking and CCTV.
(Image: SWNS)
Wildin allegedly began “clogging up the street’s parking spaces with his fleet of classic cars” to get revenge on the council and ended up receiving a final injunction that allowed him to only park two cars on the road.
Two visitors could also be parked for a maximum of eight hours. He was also ordered by a judge that could not keep CCTV cameras on the exterior of any vehicle or any extendable pole.
But now a wrecking ball has swung into action to demolish the man cave at long last.
(Image: SWNS)
A Forest of Dean District Council. spokesperson said: “As a council, it is our duty to ensure that planning and development proposals comply with the law and bring benefit to the local area, whilst also safeguarding the community.
“Hundreds of people every year follow the correct process for planning applications and development, sadly this has not been the case at this location.”
(Image: Tom Wren / SWNS)
The council said the cost of knocking the man cave should not be footed by the taxpayer, adding: “We will look to recover the full cost of the demolition from the landowner in due course.
“We will work closely with our demolition contractor to limit any disruption for residents. We would like to also 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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