The billionaire set to become the new owner of Royal Mail lives in one of Britain’s most expensive homes, once put on the market for a whopping £100 million – and the postmen are having a hard time on the board to make their deliveries.
Czech tycoon Daniel Kretinsky, 48, has a spectacular 15-bedroom mansion London‘The richest street in London is nicknamed “Billionaire’s Row”.
In 2016, pop star Justin Bieber rented the property for a staggering £27,000 a week while on a UK tour.
The postman has an uphill battle delivering parcels and letters to the exclusive address – it’s one of 66 palatial homes located on the mile-long Bishop’s Avenue in Hampstead Hill.
Behind imposing security barriers, Kretinsky – who owns 27 per cent of Premier League club West Ham United FC and owns almost 10 per cent of Sainsbury’s supermarket – has set up camp with his girlfriend Anna Kellnerova, 27, a horse rider .
She is the heir daughter of Petr Kellner, who was the richest man in the Czech Republic until his death in a helicopter crash in Alaska in 2021, aged 56.
The former lawyer built a global business empire worth an estimated $7bn (£5.6bn).
Mr. Kretinsky, 48 (center) with his girlfriend, 27-year-old rider Anna Kellnerova (right)
Anna Kellnerova, pictured in 2018, went to university at the same time as Kretinsky’s son
Kretinsky’s ex, Klara Cetlova – with whom he has a child – was deputy justice minister in the Czech Republic
His former partner was Klara Cetlova, a high-flying lawyer who served as deputy justice minister in the Czech Republic, with whom he has a child.
Kretinsky – known as the “Czech Sphinx” for his inscrutable behavior – is trying to take over the 500-year-old national institution after revealing a sweetened £3.5 billion offer.
The mansion is on Bishop’s Avenue, nicknamed “Billionaire’s Row”, in Hampstead, north London.
The luxury resort was built for sugar magnate William Park Lyle of the Tate & Lyle family in 1910.
The house has 15 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms and other facilities suitable for the mega-rich.
The mansion has indoor and outdoor swimming pools, as well as a jacuzzi, sauna, hammam and gym.
Perhaps fittingly, the mansion was built for sugar magnate William Park Lyle of the Tate & Lyle family in 1910.
The Grade II listed Edwardian ‘super mansion’ is 25 times the size of an average new build and one of the largest houses in the capital with 25,000 sq ft of living space set in 2.5 acres of gardens.
In addition to its 15 double bedrooms, there are 13 bathrooms and six dressing rooms.
There is an indoor swimming pool, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi, as well as a fully equipped gym, cinema complex, bar and 600-bottle temperature-controlled wine cellar.
There is also a billiard room, an office, a library and a veranda.
All entertainment and leisure facilities are arranged on the ground floor of the three-story mansion.
The property fell into disrepair after it was taken over by the Bank of China in the 1950s. Around fifty employees once lived there.
It was purchased in 2006 by British property developer Andreas Panayiotou, who employed a team of 120 craftsmen to carry out a lavish renovation costing £40 million.
Hand-carved marble sinks were prepared in Italy before being transported to the property, while a pure onyx bath worth £250,000 was installed in one of the bathrooms. baths, requiring the floor to be particularly reinforced.
Panayiotou put it on the market at a price of £100 million, but was forced to reduce the price several times before finally being sold three years later for a reported £25 million.
It was thought to have been completely renovated since the property, also rented in 2017 by actress Salma Hayek, was sold.
Born in the city of Brno to a mother who was a judge and university professor, Kretinsky was just 14 when the Velvet Revolution ended communist rule in 1989 in what was then Czechoslovakia.
He trained as a lawyer before joining a Slovak investment group. The majority of his wealth comes from his control of energy giant EPH, which has power stations in Devon, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire and Northumberland.
Passionate about sport, he has been president of his childhood club, Sparta Prague, 37 times champion of the Czech Republic, since 2004.
He owns a stake in the French edition of Elle and previously owned part of Le Monde. The billionaire also considered an offer on the Telegraph.
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