Cornish locals divided after village is sold to billionaire real estate tycoons for £16m in Battle of Trevalga – while boxing promoter Barry Hearn says he’s RELIEVED he didn’t end up buying it
- Savills announced the William Pears Group has snapped up the ancient village
- Sports magnate Mr Hearn was gazumped days before sealing £11million deal
Cornish locals are divided about their new landlords after their village was sold to billionaire real estate tycoons – while boxing promoter Barry Hearn has said he is relieved he didn’t end up buying it.
The Williams Pears Group snapped up the 1,200-acre picturesque Trevalga for a cool £16million, it was announced this week.
Many of the 71 inhabitants of the ancient hamlet were left in fear of being evicted from their slate-roofed stone cottages when Marlborough College put the village on the market for the second time in a decade last year.
Many have quietly welcomed their new landlords, but some feel they have been ‘left in limbo’, they won’t be ‘hands-on’ enough, and ‘it would have been nice to have been told’ about the deal.
Mr Hearn once coveted the ‘glorious’ hamlet and was days away from completing an £11million deal, he told MailOnline, but now says he’s relieved to have missed out.
Artist Peter Pracownik, 71, has rented Trevalga’s clifftop Manor House for the last 28 years, and was informed of the £16million deal with William Pears Group four weeks ago
The 1,200-acre Trevalga estate was formerly owned by Gerald Curgenven, a former pupil of Marlborough College, who left the land in this will to the exclusive school in 1959, with the instruction to ‘preserve it’
He was initially left incensed when he was gazumped just days before exchanging contracts, but is now happy not to be part of it while saying the village wasn’t worth the £16million price tag.
READ MORE: Cornish villagers LOSE the Battle of Trevalga: Sleepy hamlet is bought by billionaire real estate family for £16m – sparking fears that sale could destroy more gentle way of life and see many tenants on the land evicted
Tenants in the village, where slate-hung cottages and quiet tracks fringed with dry stone walls have remained unchanged for centuries, are mostly on shorthold tenancies giving little long-term security.
The majority either declined to comment on the new owners or would not give their names when MailOnline went to speak with them yesterday.
One woman, who would not be identified, told us: ‘It would have been nice to get a letter telling us what was going on, rather than reading about it in the press.
‘Savills are due to come round and assess the repairs needed on my cottage and I was getting ready to bend the chap’s ear over all the uncertainty.
‘We’ve all looked up William Pears and they seem okay. But until we see what they do, as opposed to what they say, there’s still that feeling of being in limbo.
‘Will they really be hands-on? The problem so often with big business is that greed takes over.’
Another tenant, who also declined to be named, said: ‘I’m happy so far with what I’ve learned about William Pears. I think they will be good for the village.
Trevalga, pictured on a map, is located between the tourist havens of Boscastle and Tintagel in northern Cornwall
Boxing promoter Barry Hearn agreed an £11million deal for the ancient village but was gazumped at the eleventh hour
(Barry Hearn dines at Buca di Beppo during Leyton Orient’s team holiday in 2011). Hearn had been mooted as a potential buyer of Trevalga and told locals he was ‘probably best news locals have had’ as he wanted to keep village how it is
The manor of the historic coastal parish of Trevalga in Cornwall is home to just six let farms and 17 other homes – who have lived in the ‘unspoilt’ paradise for decades
‘I don’t want to say too much because they clearly want to keep matters private between themselves and their tenants.’
READ MORE: Barry Hearn wades into the Battle of Trevalga: Sports promoter is spotted on a tour of the tiny Cornish parish where residents are fighting against £15.75m sale
Artist Peter Pracownik, 71, who has rented Trevalga’s clifftop Manor House for the last 28 years, said he was informed of the deal four weeks ago.
‘In that time the new landlords sent someone round to fix a broken window which the previous owners had done nothing about,’ he said.
‘So, judged alongside the performance of the last lot of trustees, this is good news for Trevalga’s tenants.
‘There is so much wrong with our house and it has been ignored for years. Windows are falling out out, the roof has holes in it and a supporting wall is subsiding.
‘It feels like none of the rent we paid went back into maintaining our homes.
‘You’ll find most tenants are still very cautious about giving their views publicly.
‘People have had such a dreadful time over the years that they want to wait and see how their new landlord deals with things.
‘But I believe William Pears are philanthropists. They are good people. One of their senior directors has visited me and given me his personal assurance that everyone can stay – no one is going anywhere.’
Boxing promoter Mr Hearn was greeted with protests and signs declaring ‘Hearn Out’ when he toured Trevalga last year as he weighed up a bid for a place he openly admits he fell in love with.
Local residents Serena Patrick (left), Kizzy Lockyear (right) and her son Ruben (centre) campaigned against the sale of Trevalga
Trevalga was put up on the market by top public school Marlborough College. It has been bought for £16million by real estate family the William Pears Group
Villagers in ancient hamlet Trevalga, near Tintagel, fear their gentle way of life could be ruined after sale was rubber-stamped
Residents had battled to try and stop the sale of the 1,200-acre estate, with signs being put up across the community
Such was his desire to appease locals, he hired out a nearby tea room to chat with villagers where he told them their rent would be frozen for two years.
He told MailOnline this week he was initially devastated to have missed out and made his feelings clear to estate agent Savills, whom he claims paid back his legal fees.
READ MORE: Locals in ‘untouched’ Cornish village vow to continue fight against Marlborough College after watchdog raised no objection to them selling £15.7m land to developers
The 75-year-old sports magnate now looks back on the saga with relief having been outbid at the eleventh hour.
‘Looking over my shoulder now with the benefit of hindsight I’m really happy I didn’t buy Trevalga,’ he said. ‘Because it inevitably was going to be much more complicated with tenants there.
‘You are dealing with people, so with every slate that comes loose you are going to get a phone call.
‘Although I was saddened about not having this gorgeous place under my patronage I realised there were other things that were better for what I really wanted.
‘I don’t miss Trevalga.’
He added his whole family had told him they didn’t want him to buy it in the first place.
‘I’m pleased I hadn’t gone through with it… had I gone through with it those tenants would have loved my ownership because I wasn’t looking to capitalise I was looking to preserve, but having said that the Pears people I know are a very nice bunch of people and I’m sure they’ve now got brilliant owners as well,’ he said.
The Trevalga estate was formerly owned by Gerald Curgenven, a former pupil of Marlborough College where both Kate and Pippa Middleton were educated.
In 1959 he left it in his will to the college with an instruction that trustees should ‘preserve it’.
Trustees of the Gerald Curgenven Will Trust tried to sell the estate in 2010. But they abandoned the plan after campaigning villagers obtained legal advice suggesting any sale could be deemed unlawful.
However it was again put on the market in 2022 and, after the Charity Commission ruled that trustees had fulfilled their legal duties, the sale finally went through last month.
A statement on the William Pears Group website suggests the business is looking to invest for the long-term in Trevalga.
It reads: ‘The Pears family have been investing in residential and commercial property since 1952 when the William Pears Group was founded by Bernard Pears and his son Clive.
‘The family take a long-term approach to financing which has evolved over time to ensure they act to preserve the capital of the business.’
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