Council kept in the dark over Hornsey Town Hall sale

A Cayman Islands-based financial conglomerate announced last week it had agreed terms to buy the building but a senior Haringey councillor says they have still not been notified, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Haringey Council has still not been notified of the sale of Hornsey Town Hall – despite the news being announced on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Last Tuesday (10th) AMTD IDEA group, a Cayman Islands-based financial conglomerate, announced it had agreed terms to buy the town hall and adjoining hotel from current owners Far East Consortium (FEC).

FEC had previously bought the property from the local authority on a long lease back in 2016.

The new deal – which comes following extensive restoration work and the construction of housing and a new hotel at the site – is set to make FEC more than seven times the £3.5million it paid the council for the property back in 2016.

The sale from FEC to AMTD was first announced a year ago – but no news of the sale’s completion arrived until AMTD published a statement on the LSE last week.

Speaking at a full council meeting on Monday (16th), Emily Arkell, the local authority’s cabinet member for culture and leisure, said the council had not received the official request it needs from the current owners.

In its LSE announcement last week, AMTD said it had agreed a fee of roughly £24.6m for the town hall and £22.7m for the adjoining hotel as part of a deal referred to as “the Hornsey transactions”. They also agreed to buy an office building in Holburn from FEC for $24m – roughly £18m.

AMTD added that the sale of Hornsey Town Hall and other properties “underscores the deepening strategic partnership between AMTD and FEC, building on a strong track record of collaboration across landmark hospitality projects such as Dao by Dorsett AMTD Singapore and The Ritz‑Carlton Perth in Australia”.

On Monday Crouch End councillor and Liberal Democrat opposition group leader Luke Cawley Harrison raised concerns about the transaction, due to be completed in the coming days, “despite no notice having been given to the council about the sale and despite the building not having practical completions”.

Cllr Cawley-Harrison asked the local authority if they would be challenging the sale and if the council would be entitled to extra money “from a sale price way beyond what FEC claimed it would be worth upon completion”.

In response Cllr Arkell said: “The council has not been formally notified of any proposed sale and we are still awaiting the required request under the legal agreement between us and the Far East Consortium.

“Once that request is received, we will consider it in full and in line with our responsibilities as the freeholder.”

The sale comes amidst other concerns regarding the future of the town hall.

The Grade 2*-listed building was finally reopened to the public in December last year, to much fanfare about the facility providing a new public arts and cultural venue. Since then, there have been growing concerns that the private owners of the building will not be delivering the long-awaited community facilities.

In February, Cllr Arkell herself wrote a letter to the CEO of General Projects, the company currently running the town hall on lease from FEC.

In the letter she raised concerns about the affordability of room hire rates, lack of quality audio and visual equipment for events and “reports of slow or inconsistent communication risking further undermining confidence in the operation of the town hall”.

At full council on Monday Cllr Arkell reiterated that any owner would have to honour an agreement made with the council as part of the 2016 sale to make the town hall a community arts facility. It is not clear how legally binding this agreement is, however.

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