Careful what you wish for. A former accountant slash millionaire who illegally built what has come to be known as "Britain's best man cave" recently moved his collection of cars onto the street as a means to rile up his neighbors. Now, they want to key the collectibles in retaliation.
Graham Wildin revealed the existence of the man cave in Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK, in 2014, calling it the perfect family hangout, especially on cold and wet winter days. Even then, it was known that he’d built it in his backyard without construction approval from the council, which is a big no-no regardless of whether you live in the UK or any other country.
The man cave included, in addition to a squash court, a casino, a private movie theater, an entire kids’ playground, and a nightclub, a generously-sized garage that housed more than 20 collectibles – Wildin’s personal property. The council ordered him to take down the complex, which spans 10,000 square feet (929 square meters) and is estimated at $260,000, but he repeatedly ignored all requests in this sense.
Instead, he bought two more patches of land that he gave to his family, effectively closing in the complex: authorities would have to get the relatives’ permission to get bulldozers in to tear down the man cave. At the start of the year, Wildin also began moving his cars onto the street, hoping this would rile up neighbors enough to get them to complain to the council about it, which, in turn, would get the council to call back the demolition order.
The neighbors are now sufficiently riled up, but not to complain. They told The Sun they’re considering keying the parked vehicles, which include several Porsches, a Bentley, a Rolls-Royce, a Range Rover, and a bright yellow vintage Jensen Interceptor. Fret not, though, because no harm will come to the vehicles. As one neighbor points out, they can’t really act on their intention because Wildin has “CCTV cameras pointing at almost every house in the neighborhood.”
For the time being, neighbors have to just live with it: the tarpaulins causing a ruckus in the wind, the difficult access to their own driveways, and apparently taunts from Wildin himself, telling them they shouldn’t even drive if they can’t squeeze between two of his collectibles. “He's a slippery, crafty sod,” one of them tells the media outlet. So this is basically the fanciest, most British parking dispute.
Here’s the slippery dude talking about his man cave slash family hangout – which he later tried to pass for a business venue to avoid paying taxes.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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