"Now," he says, "if 20:20 (his national distributor) wants to sell to one of the national chains and Phones 4U (his retail chain) wants the product, the decision-making process is purely and simply as to who is the best customer and who's got the contract in place. "I've got this spectacularly perfect house, if someone spills some red wine on the carpet I'm going to just look away," says John, who sold his Phones 4u chain in 2006 for almost 1.5bn. Best Car Lifts for Home Garages in 2022. From here, guests can see the vintage and luxury cars John chooses to display in his car stacker storage. When a lift shaft sprang a leak, the site manager said that if it had been any worse, he would have thrown myself into the Thames, because this would have delayed the project. "We don't realise how quickly we will adapt to a pleasurable event and make it the backdrop of our lives," says one of the psychologists. "The secret is to cut the margins down, add value the customer can really see, run it in a very efficient way and let the customer loyalty be the most important thing of all. The reception room is a cosy walnut clad room adorned with jackets designed by the home's owner billionaire businessman John Caudwell. Nor do the cuts seem to be biting everywhere. Nobody knew about mobiles then, there was hardly any demand, and anyway nobody would come to a car salesman to buy a phone." all. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. There's no ownership issue. At the time of listing, it was the most expensive detached house on the open market in the UK. John described the room as a triple threat - "very atmospheric, very comfortable and very luxurious". It would have been ruined anyway, McFly: 'NME used to call us c***s - now they give us five-star reviews', On TV tonight, BBC Two uncovers Chanel's mystery man Karl Lagerfeld, Interior Design Masters is the only good talent contest left on TV, The best part of Interior Design Masters is the baffled tradies, Helen Flanagan could win I'm a Celebrity South Africa if there was a public vote - too bad, The best new books in May 2023, from Tom Hanks' debut novel to Emma Cline's The Guest, How the audiobook boom made listening the new reading, The sexist bunny boiler trope is gone. John is passionate about property. I'd only done it once in real life', Lizzy Caplan: 'There's so much dark, f***ed-up, wild shit that comes with motherhood', Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story has more to say about Meghan Markle than any stuffy doc, Jerry Springer apologised for ruining the culture. "A big increase from the 10[million] I originally conceived, somewhat naively," he adds. One quickly gets the impression that Mr Caudwell is utterly, unstoppably determined in everything he sets out to do. His property business, Caudwell, includes some of the most magnificent residences in the world. But one of John's favourite features of the house is the car stacker lift, which is visible from within the house through strong glass, keeping his vintage motors on After a few years of throwing lavish parties, Caudwell recentlyembarked on an epic-scale renovation that reportedly ran him an astonishing $85 million. Just last weekend the police managed to find 7,000 officers to patrol the Notting Hill carnival at a cost of 7m. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, John Caudwell: The millionaire who finally found his calling in mobile, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Get up to 10% off using the Booking.com app, 50 off over 650 using this Expedia discount code, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected product with this eBay voucher code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK April 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this April, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. John Caudwell, the founder of Phones4U, is the latest billionaire to tell us that money hasn't made him happy. ", Britains Most Expensive Home: Building for a Billionaire aired on Channel 4 at 9pm on 5 February. You cant steal a marble staircase.. All rights reserved. Sign up to our newsletter. The refurbishment also includes an incredible 78 miles of electricity cables, eco-friendly heating, a subterranean cinema and a spa complete with pools heat experiences and a gym. It's just an instinct, I know that's the way to do it." Far from taking away my ability to give to charity, it increases it because it has increased my wealth significantly. He owns a white 200,000 Bentley, but most days he drives a Toyota sports car. A newly built 10-bedroom mansion in St Johns Wood has become the most expensive home to go on the London market this year, with a price tag of 75 million. Each email has a link to unsubscribe. During the renovation, work on the swimming pool ground to a halt when a malfunction with the lighting meant the team had to lift the panel off the wall. Every morning, he clocks up 40 miles, returns to his rural manor house, then drives to his office in Stoke-on-Trent. The retailer was selling phones for 1,600 each, and two for 1,350. Money can't buy happiness for John Caudwell. The 68-year The ground floor of the Dragoumanos property has a vast formal drawing and dining room with French doors leading to gardens and a sunken courtyard. In 2003 he sold Singlepoint to Vodafone for 405m and completed the sale of the wider business three years later for 1.46 billion to private equity firms Providence Equity Partners and Doughty Hanson. John Caudwell, 57, founder of Phones 4U, sold the company along with 20:20 Distribution in September 2006 for a combined sum of 1.64bn. Where is Heidi Klum's model daughter Leni living instead of $9.8m Bel-Air family mansion? Enter your password to log in. "And they went for it," he says, with some relish. Yet his initial masterplan for life took a long time to start working. So I ended up servicing phones, repairing phones, wholesaling phones without airtime and wholesaling them with airtime as brokers for airtime companies. He sold all Caudwell Group BMW company cars and urged other businesses to do the same. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. The construction project reportedly employed 300 workers and is the subject of the new Channel 4 documentary, Britains Most Expensive Home: Building For a Billionaire. And its a far cry from the council estate (the U.K. version of a housing project) in which Caudwell grew up. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. It features a nightclub, games room and a car stacker - which which can summon any of John's impressive car collection at the touch of a button. John has covered the walls with photos of his family members recreating snaps of Hollywood royalty in iconic poses, including the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. John Caudwell is a striking man, as fit as you'd expect for someone who cycles up to 100 miles a day, every day, in all weathers. "Some of the things I did in my early career were massive learning curves," he says, "because I had no-one to guide me. Now, through the companies his group owns, he has the biggest UK independent mobile telephony business by some way. With his brother Brian, in 1987 John registered Midland Mobile Phones as a mobile phone wholesaler taking 26 Motorola mobiles at 1,350 each. Try it outhere. * Connect with the best local, qualified and experienced professional near you "I wanted to be able to drive the beautiful old Rolls-Royces my father admired when I was a child." Inside Britain's most expensive home: a 250m mega-mansion in Mayfair. The businessman even has a lavish cinema room that has been kitted out with all the amenities for a movie night. I told them: 'I've got some really good products here, I'm selling them for charity, it's for the blind, but forget that because they're made from sandalwood, really good products at a really good price'. * Residential & commercial car lift installation services Businessman John Caudwell has created Britain's most expensive home in Mayfair it's more than twice the size of the Royal Albert Hall and worth 250 million. ft. mega-manse was purchased in 2012 for about $100 million. Inside the UK's most expensive home: The 250m mega-mansion complete with indoor car park EXCLUSIVE: Former Phones4U tycoon John Caudwell gives OK! It was purchased by Mr Caudwell for 87 million, before the renovation which can summon any of owner John Caudwell's impressive car collection at the touch of a button. Expert and Professional Commercial and Residential Car Lift Installation for Commercial & Residential. Mr Caudwell has built his businesses up from scratch and, with his brother Brian, a minority investor, is estimated to be worth 300m, placing the duo 85th on The Sunday Times Rich List. Niall Keating, chef director at Lunar Restaurant, has taken inspiration from the classic bacon and cheese filling. The master bedroom suite has a huge crystal light finished with a gold leaf trim, plus the emperor-sized bed. all phoenix. Who else has a room like this? "I've got this spectacularly perfect house, if someone spills some red wine on the carpet I'm going to just look away," says John. To wind down away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the property boasts an indoor pool with a volcanic lava installation. Five crystal chandeliers stretch up over four floors to transform the staircases. Courtesy of Channel 4. ft. mega-manse was purchased in 2012 for about $100 million. So could he see that the future for mobile telephony was so bright? But it was hard to watch this 68m renovation and feel anything but disgust. The next year he was taken on by the Michelin Tyre Company as an apprentice engineer, and he stayed 10 years, until 1980, though that didn't stop the hyperactive Mr Caudwell from setting up three businesses on the side. "We expect to double our turnover in the next two years," he says. Now fixed, the lava appears to be moving above the swimming pool. ", His voice rises enthusiastically with the memory. "Are the police having us on?" The property was purchased from a Channel Islands trust that linked to Jefri Bolkiah, the unfathomably rich and famously profligate younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei. Subscribe to RR1 Live+ for exclusive virtual events all year long (at least 1 per month), conversations with Robb Report editors, special perks, and more. From the glamour of the Cte dAzur to the refined tree-lined streets of Mayfair, the Caudwell style combines the best in global design and craftsmanship. The extensive renovations of the mansion include a volcano wall, a swimming pool and staircases of solid white marble that connect to each of the eight floors. So it comes as no big shock that what is quite likely Britains most expensive home is located in the posh neighborhood. His office is a smallish room carpeted with Wilton (white diamonds on a claret background) and lined by posh striped magnolia wallpaper. He attended Shelton Church of England School and then Berry Hill High School before abandoning his A-levels to become an apprentice at Michelin and later becoming a second-hand car dealer. This house is exceptionally wide He used 20,000 sheets of gold leaf throughout the property's opulent interiors. Customise cookies or read more in our Cookie Policy. Oh, and the house? As the documentary makers, builders and site managers pack up, John is preparing for the 30 or so close friends arriving that evening to celebrate his birthday. As well as his Mayfair pad, Mr Caudwell also owns the 50-room 12 million Jacobean Broughton Hall in Eccleshall which was burgled in 2010 with the raiders There is also a games room overlooking the pool, a 12-seater cinema with bar, two climate-controlled wine cellars, a cigar room and an underground garage with four-car hydraulic lift. The narrator assured us that Johns motivation to spend so much on the house is in part to attract a better quality of guest to his yearly charity ball, but the charity itself states that the ball brought in 1.5m in donations in 2018. Set in a Portland stone building, the super-home spans 43,000sq ft and has more than enough room for John, his partner and former Olympian Modesta Vesniauskait and their six-month-old son, William, to roam around. A 17-seater cinema is a real showstopper, with the seats synchronised to lower at the same time if required. "They saw what we were doing and came and stole our thunder," says Mr Caudwell, smiling. READ:Julie Neville shares an exclusive access-all-areas tour of her incredible family home, Speaking about the new series, executive producer Dan Barraclough said: "This incredible access gives us a glimpse into the world of the truly mega wealthy, where every whim can be realised, but where things can still go wrong, as on any building site. Around the room, shots from iconic films have been superimposed with the faces of John and his family. His pre-tax profits last year in this low margin business came in at 14.3m. Get involved in exciting, inspiring conversations with other readers. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. After initial promise in the entrepreneur's club, the young Caudwell became somewhat bogged down. He shakes his head. Get involved in exciting, inspiring conversations. The two ventures that most excite Mr Caudwell now are 4U Net, the free internet service, and E.Commercell, a radical system his technicians have developed to allow recharging of airtime on prepaid mobiles by using a swipe card. Last year, the most expensive detached home on the market was a secluded Hollywood-style mansion near Hampstead Heath, which was listed for 40 million. ", Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. John Caudwell: a billionaire on a budget The charity-focused tycoon is camping out in a mansion, upset by the plight of his old company John Caudwell at his If it's caught early itcan be cured by antibiotics, but all too often it isn't: a friend of mine in Scotland still suffers aches and pains from it because doctors were too slow to diagnose the problem. ", So how did he succeed where the others failed? The group also includes the Phones 4U chain of retail outlets. A 17-seater cinema is a real showstopper, with the seats synchronised to lower at the same time if required. The first floor has three bedroom suites, including a master bedroom with walk-in dressing room, and two separate marble bathrooms. More than a thousand pieces of furniture have been bought for the home at a cost of around 6 million. And an impeccably decorated Thai-themed dining room also steals the spotlight, with stunning blossom trees and a river which a number of the tropical fish Malawi cichlids call home. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile, It is 6am, and John Caudwell is on his racing bicycle, speeding along the Staffordshire byways. On the third floor, a former conservatory is a Thai-style dining room with a 15-foot preserved cherry tree and silk pink blossom hanging over the table. I saw all the adults would come back to the minibus and nobody would have sold anything. Tonight's show follows the workforce in the final three months of the project, as they try to meet the new deadline of John's birthday on 7 October. Like this article? Interiors were designed by Athens and London-based Sissy Feida and include a 13-metre crystal floor-to-ceiling hanging chandelier in the grand hall. We use cookies to give you the best online experience. For other inquiries, Contact Us. John's friend Dawn Ward, an interior designer and one of the original cast members of ITV reality series The Real Housewives of Cheshire, has spent four years designing the house interiors with her team. You learn very quickly because it costs you torment and trouble." He says he became convinced of the profit-making potential of the retail side only recently, though in typical fashion he is expanding the business rapidly, with a further 70 shops to open this year. "I just wasn't academic. The huge property has a ballroom, 15 bedrooms and eight floors, spanning 43,000 sq feet. It makes for a fascinating character portrayal. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. Caudwell added: "Although refugees will benefit from the safety and shelter I can provide, I suspect the experience will be unique, humbling and deeply enriching for me as well. Even his girlfriend has left him for someone more normal. "It's a massive sadness in my life." It was so unique that it really did excite me, mainly from a charitable perspective, because I dont need a house anything like that size.. I bought the cheapest Amstrad computer there was, had a girl sitting next to me loading the names of all the phone dealers in the country and started prospecting them on the phone and started selling them wholesale phones.". His first jobs were, variously, sweeping a pottery floor, manhandling steel ingots in a mill, and working as a nightclub bouncer. And John Caudwell has plans. Since I spend all day wandering around London I accurately responded: I would describe them as comfortable.' he renovation of an extraordinary home carved out of two mega mansions in the heart of Mayfair has been featured in a one-off documentary, Britains Most Expensive Home: Building for a Billionaire, on Channel 4. "If you think having money means that life is going to be fantastic all the time, that you can move from one wonderful thing to the next, then you need to recalibrate," he says. John Caudwell is one of Britain's most successful businessmen, having sold his company, Phones4U, back in 2006 for an incredible 1.5billion. Today they operate as entirely separate enterprises with no horizontal links or mutually favourable agreements. * Fast and affordable car lift installation services, including home and property jobs like repairs, installation, maintenance, and inspection From offering you easier car maintenance to additional vehicle storage, a home garage car lift is a dream for every For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, The sprawling 250million mansion is owned by Phones 4 U founder John Caudwell, Britains Most Expensive Home John Caudwell, Credit: (Channel 4 images must not be altered or manipulated in any way) CHANNEL 4 PICTURE PUBLIC, The stunning swimming pool has a lava volcano theme, The property is in Mayfair and has its own bar, The majestic ballroom was left pretty much untouched by John during renovations, John lives in the pad with his wife Modesta Vesniauskait and their six-month-old son, William, It's a billionaire's paradise with its own bar and cinema, The spa room even has a sunken jacuzzi to relax in, One of the mega-mansions luxurious bedrooms, John's extravagant home cinema is now adorned with snaps of his family recreating film stars famous poses, The plush games room is the perfect place for entertaining, Tinie Tempah shocked as Extraordinary Extensions developer spends 11million transforming basement, inside some of Britain's most expensive homes, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). "I was looking for anything I deemed 'good value', regardless of size or price," says John during the programme. Around four years ago, John decided to embark on a total renovation of what was, he says, a "tasteless gold palace". One is what Caudwell describes as a hideous former car park that will be redeveloped into super prime luxury apartments on South Audley Street. I just thought how magnificent it would be for gala evenings, Caudwell toldThe Timesof London about the ballroom. Eventually, I'll find ways of making money as well, through value-added propositions on the website.". "Sometimes," he says, "when I look out of the window in winter and it's dark and two degrees above freezing and sleeting, I hesitate. Pull the other one, lads and lasses! "After that I pulled off one deal after another. Contact us to discuss the range of architectural services we can provide. He readily admits he was desperate to find a business idea that would make him rich, but without a commercial family background, in a depressed area where the traditional pottery firms were closing, it was hard for the teenage prodigy to find a viable proposition. There are stunning embroidered chairs to relax in while enjoying a film - perfectly situated in close proximity to the popcorn machine. All the money in the world can't buy you health. By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use, Cookie policy and Privacy notice. Just 13 years ago, John Caudwell was a used-car dealer, working out of small premises in the decayed industrial landscape of Stoke-on-Trent. "They were still as big as bricks, and very much a specialist, marginal tool," he says. At the heart of the programme is the intriguing character of Caudwell himself a tough taskmaster, but also a committed philanthropist.