The tycoon owner of the Ivy restaurant has been ordered to rip out the “excessive” windows in his £40m South Kensington mansion.
Richard Caring, owner of The Ivy, Scott’s and Sexy Fish restaurants, had been ordered by the local council to take out three “incongruous” windows at Park House which were “installed without planning permission.”
His wife Patricia appealed the decision, but in a ruling issued last week, the planning inspectorate sided with Kensington and Chelsea Council and against her and the 75-year-old millionaire.
The decision-maker Elizabeth Pleasant said in a notice issued September 29 that she had received “significant” number of comments from neighbours concerned about the impact of the dormer windows on their living conditions.
“The dormers have had a harmful effect on the overall design quality of the building and thus fail to preserve the character of the CA [conservation area],” she said.
Mr Caring, who also owns private members’ club Annabel’s, has six months to rip out the windows from his 13,400 sq ft house.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Mr Caring said: “We have lost the appeal to keep the windows as they are. In the future we hope we come to an agreement with the council on something that is more acceptable to the style of the house.”
The mansion, which is on a one-acre site close to the centre of South Kensington, was renovated from a cottage purchased from German industrialist Gert-Rudolf Flick.
It has six bedrooms, a double-level basement, massage, steam and sauna rooms, and an underground swimming pool and gym.
According to the latest Sunday Times rich list, Mr Caring is worth an estimated £950m.
