Man with 12th-century castle says Labour’s Budget has made him ‘so angry’

Man with 12th-century castle says Labour’s Budget has made him ‘so angry’



by SmellyOldGit

31 comments

  1. > “I get that the Government has to raise money, and we have got to work out a way to have a dialogue with them. If they’re just blindly going to say, ‘Right, let’s tax you out of existence’, the damage they’re going to do will be unreconcilable.”

    Either pull yourself up by your bootstraps or live within your means.

  2. As someone who grew up in Hedingham, it’s very strange for the article to say it’s in Halstead.

  3. Correct me if I’m wrong but if it’s about the heritage of the place and not about “monocled owners” then wouldn’t it be simple to avoid the changes by having the keep managed as a charity?

  4. Aww bless.

    We should really feel sorry for these castle owners who have to pay tax now. It must be so strange for them.

    I hope they have the support they need to get through this unsettled time of change.

  5. It’s funny only the rich are angry this time unlike Truss budget where working class were bent over and screwed with a pole

  6. Has he thought about giving up Netflix, the AGA and the Range?

  7. If it’s about saving British heritage, has he considered donating the castle to the National Trust?

  8. > ‘Right, let’s tax you out of existence’

    Funny how these rich arseholes didn’t bat an eyelid while the Conservatives did exactly the same thing to literally everyone else

  9. Maybe if they had less avocados and Starbucks they could afford the tax.

    15 years of Tory government with austerity policy and poor people being told to try harder. Allowances being made for the rich while the poorest have cost of living increases. Gas prices go up and the energy companies make record profits. Food prices go up and the likes of Tesco make record profits. All at our expense.

    Now finally the rich are getting made to cough up they want everyone’s sympathy. Where was their sympathy for the last 15 years?

    Absolutely no sympathy for Tory voting millionaires set to inherit millions of pounds of assets.

  10. Well this click bait of an article has certainly achieved its goal in this thread

  11. I thought the site was a pisstake. Reminds me of that printing company Mark gets stung by in Peep Show.

  12. The comments are heartless. Just for one moment put yourself in the comfortable high end slippers of a castle owner.

    Having to keep so many elegant and vast rooms well heated is extremely costly – but how else are you supposed to stay warm while sipping the third brandy and gazing at the portraits.

    The summer house and winter cottages need redecorating every season incase I happen to take the carriage that way by chance. Not to even mention the boat over at the family lake.

    The groundskeepers, security, stable hands, cooks, maids, butler, gardener, blacksmith, events manager and promotion agent all need to be well paid and the overpriced vistor cafe run by my niece needs the art deco light bulbs replaced every so often.

    So kindly stop accusing and complaining and get back to your peasant duties as we are noticing a decline.

    Lastly, double the taxes – rob the poor to the feed the rich, aha!

  13. >are saying they have to pay three per cent, which is like “getting another large mortgage”

    I think people would be ecstatic if they were offered a 3% mortgage.

    I’ll try and find my tiny violin… might be in their grade II listed Georgian house they own opposite the castle they own…

  14. Sure he’ll survive. If he’s really lucky Mr Dyson and Clarkson will club together and buy it from him.

  15. Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, get yourself some mounted retainers and shake down a few passing merchants if you’re short on cash.

    This generation of castle-owners has no initiative smh

  16. Perhaps these people worried about their land and property not being affordable should get a second job or cut back on expenses… so that they have enough money to pay their bills / cover their taxes.

    Turn that castle in to a money maker, and if you are too stupid to do so sell it on to somebody who can bring some wealth to the economy with it

  17. Everyone is slating this Labour government but frankly they *must* be doing the right thing if it’s pissing off these rich gentry fuckers that much.

  19. Has he considered cancelling his Netflix subscription?

  20. To me the actually worrying thing about what the new labour tax laws are doing is showing how much of the “rural economy” is a house of cards that’s centered around “keeping everything the way it’s always been”.

    Hell it’s failing under free market capitalism’s own logic – if you can’t survive without government carve-outs then you should be left to fold and something better suited can take your place.

    Also, if it’s so historically important and you are so selfless, make yourself a charity. Keeps the jobs, keeps the visitors, keeps the roof fixed.

  21. Maybe he shouldn’t own a castle if he can’t afford it? Maybe he just needs to work harder?

  22. One less ivory back scratcher this year then. Diddums!

  23. He’s moaning about paying 3% tax? I have to pay 55% on earned RSUs, but intergenerational wealth is somehow special?

  24. He’s making a good point. These places, if not taxed beyond what is affordable, can become economic centres which employ solely local people. I know people on here love to laugh about the fall of the landed classes after the Second World War, but those big houses with their staff would employ dozens of people from small villages providing them with a stable income and lodgings. they were local economic powerhouses

  25. > Accusing Sir Keir Starmer’s party of “cultural vandalism”

    Yes mate, but it’s a grade 1 listed building isn’t it? So even if you sell it the building will still exist, won’t it? So that argument makes no sense, does it?

    At least when the farmers tried that attack line there’s admittedly a nonzero chance the buyer of their farm will convert the land into solar panels or something.

  26. He won’t be able to afford his castle? Boo fucking hoo. I’m barely affording to rent a damp 1 bedroom shithole and also eat food. Pay your share.

  27. What pathetic people we have residing in our medieval castles today. Would the Black Prince or Simon De Montfort go whinging to the press about how they’re ‘so angry 😠’ with some modest tax increase? No, they’d suck it up to help king and country. Alternatively, they could suit up their armour, raise some bannermen and march down to London for a duel with Starmer and Reeves.

    Or, you know, just live in your presumably stunning flat or townhouse in London or Edinburgh and just give it to the National Trust.

  28. Lets be fair, tis not a true castle. Simply a large tower house.

    The real castle owners are avoiding, paying their fair share. Whilst the backs of the mere large tower owners, are being broken by onerous taxation.

    Jokes aside, I’ve said before any money raised anywhere from anyone. Will get swindled or pissed-away. Britain is a systemically badly run country.

    Everyone is in the same boat, in that regard.

  29. So… I happen to know for a fact that it costs £8-10,000 to hire Hedingham castle for a wedding with a Marquee reception for one day. That doesn’t include food, drinks, decorations or entertainment. It’s just for the venue, tables/chairs, crockery and wait staff.

    It costs substantially more (up to £17,000, IIRC) if you want to include all that stuff, and/or have a reception in the castle instead of just the ceremony.

    I’m sure this is going to cost the guy more money (hello; that’s what tax *is*), but it seems hard to believe the guy isn’t bringing in *millions* per year with relatively few overheads aside from keeping the building maintained.

  30. I daresay this man’s voice may not be relevant to the wider public.

  31. I was going to play my little violin for him, but it is in fact now so small it has dropped between the atoms of my desk.

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