As an ardent fan of cricket – I was originally raised in England in boarding schools for heaven’s sake – I was saddened to hear that the famous ‘home of cricket’ at Lords in London is under siege by a jewish land speculator named Charles Rifkind. (1)
To quote the BBC’s article on this:
‘It is a saga that stretches back nearly two decades, and involves a dispute over a narrow strip of land at the edge of the historic complex in north London known as "the home of cricket".
The stretch of land, measuring 200m by 38m (656ft by 125ft) at the Nursery End of the Lord's site, sits above disused Victorian railway tunnels.
And that area has been at the heart of a tussle between the ground's owners - Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) - and the owner of the lease on that strip of land, property developer Charles Rifkind.
After being frustrated by the MCC in his plans to develop the site over the past two decades, Mr Rifkind has teamed up with property consortium New Commonwealth - headed by developer entrepreneur Johnny Sandelson - to look at selling off portions of the land.
"We have had lots of interest, particularly from the Indian subcontinent, who see Lord's as a special place in their hearts," says Mr Sandelson, adding that there have been 10,000 strong expressions of interest.
Mr Sandelson is now working with financial regulators to get the all-clear to sell bits off in around nine months' time. Shares in the land will be sold via tokens called Lordscoins, which will be traded via blockchain technology.
But there is a catch.
Although the MCC does not own the tunnels, or any development rights to the land on top, it does have a sub-lease on the top 18 inches of the land - which runs until 2137.
And that makes property development impossible for another 119 years at the earliest.
"It is obviously a long-term asset. But people's grandchildren can have extraordinary development opportunities right in the middle of St John's Wood," says Mr Sandelson.
"We are democratising real-estate ownership."
‘Mr Rifkind's plans - to build 94 flats on the space - were rebuffed last year when MCC members voted for their own redevelopment scheme, or "Lord's Masterplan", for the ground.
The MCC plan involves the redevelopment of the Nursery End by removing temporary pavilions currently situated over the railway tunnels, and moving the existing Nursery Ground cricket pitch down over this space.’ (2)
In summary Rifkind is deliberately capitalizing on an unusual situation with the MCC and the former underground tunnels under part of the ground. Despite Rifkind’s proxy – another jewish capitalist named Johnny Sandelson (son of the late jewish MP and co-founder of the Social Democratic Party Victor Sandelson) – (3) claiming he is ‘democratizing real-estate ownership’. This is all about money as is demonstrated by the fact that Rifkind and Sandelson have spent quite some time trying to force the MCC’s hand by appealing to the financial regulators and the courts. (4)
The MCC however have been cocking a snoot at Rifkind and Sandelson by promptly building two new stands partly on the border of the strip of land owned by the two jewish speculators in 2021 thus preventing them building luxury residential accommodation on it.
As Lawrence Booth explains:
‘The new Compton and Edrich Stands at Lord’s were built ‘out of spite’, according to Charles Rifkind, the property developer whose purchase of a strip of land at the ground’s Nursery End from under MCC’s noses in 1999 has turned him into the club’s bete noire.
The £52m construction now extends an extra few yards on to the Nursery Ground enclosure, which hosts minor matches.
That in turn will force the boundary all the way back to the wall that separates club property from Wellington Road – potentially scuppering Rifkind’s plans to build residential property above the two defunct railway tunnels that run underneath.’
‘‘Of course it stymies further development if you want to retain cricket at the Nursery Ground,’ says Oliver Stocken, former MCC chairman and a long-time opponent of Rifkind’s plans. ‘It was a tactical move by the club.’
Robert Leigh, a long-serving MCC committee member and club trustee, also describes the decision as ‘tactical’, adding: ‘It means the Nursery End boundary rope has to go right to the wall.’'’ (5)
The MCC has basically found itself in a quiet civil war with two jewish land speculators and there is absolutely no sight of any accommodation between the MCC and the two jews. (6)
Long may it be so.
References
(1) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-509291/The-truth-svengali-seen-paying-late-night-visit-troubled-Amy-Winehouses-hotel.html
(2) https://www.bbc.com/news/business-43993471
(3) https://fiskeharrison.wordpress.com/2017/03/21/an-establishment-man-r-i-p-victor-sandelson-1928-2017/
(4) Ibid. also https://www.ft.com/content/2c0284dc-4870-11e8-8ee8-cae73aab7ccb
(5) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/cricket/article-9621519/Charles-Rifkind-accuses-MCC-building-new-stands-Lords-spite.html also see https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/review-blazers-brawls-and-underground-tunnels-under-lords-an-mcc-soap-opera-1267589
(6) https://chiswickcalendar.co.uk/episode-91-charles-sale-digs-deep-into-the-tunnels-at-lords/