Comedian John Bishop has been hitting our screens in his chat show The John Bishop Show.
Although he was born in Liverpool, Bishop grew up in Cheshire, in a village called Northwich, eventually buying his dream home there in 2011.
Three years ago, in 2019, the Bishops were forced out of their stunning Cheshire mansion by the government's High Speed Rail project, CheshireLive reported.
He now lives on a farm in Northwich with his wife, Melanie, and their three children.
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In 2011, his family moved into their dream home, Whatcroft Hall, which has 28 acres of Cheshire countryside.
The Grade II-listed Georgian mansion, on the outskirts of Davenham, was built in 1780.
However, in 2019, he was forced out of his perfect seven-bedroom home by transport chiefs, who bought the property to make way for the HS2 railway line under the ‘need to sell scheme’.
The Department of Transport gave the Bishop’s £6.8m, over £4m more than what they paid in 2011.
Although the manor is safe from demolition, the new rail line is believed to be set to pass within 150 metres of the property, rendering it ‘unsellable’.
Bishop is vocal in his opposition to HS2, and so being forced out of his property for the same project must have been difficult.
A spokesperson for Bishop said: "He is unhappy, like many others affected by the proximity of the proposed line, that he was left with no choice but to sell his family home to HS2.
"The proposed line had rendered it unsellable on the open market - thus destroying all he and his family had worked for.”
In 2014, he lent his voice to the HS2 Action Alliance campaigners in a skit called ‘The Adventures of HS2 - The Great Train Robbery’.
He voiced Billy, Pat and Bob, as well as HS2, in the comedy film inspired by Thomas the Tank Engine, which depicts the high speed train ‘hiding from the facts’ in a railway sliding.
The comedy animation also claims HS2 will actually cost £73bn and will only cut the London to Birmingham journey by 20 minutes, turning Camden into a building site in the process.
In 2013, Bishop called the project “the wrong choice” in a tweet, and has questioned the benefits of the project on social media over the years since.
He also tweeted in 2013: “Just heard that Man City have put a bid in of £36 bn for HS2 !
“Going to bed and hope someone doesn't build a train line in my garden tonight.”
Just six years later, he was forced out of his home.
The £55.6bn high-speed rail project will link London to the north, firstly through Birmingham and later extended to Manchester. The eastern line towards Leeds was scrapped in 2021.
However, a link to Cheshire has been rubber-stamped by the Government, with plans for Crewe to get a new hub and rail service.
The 250mph trains, which will be built by Hitachi/Alstom JV in Crewe, Derby and Country Durham, aim to slash journey times between the capital and north.
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