SOHO House sold

Thu 21 Aug, 08:20

Thank you for that Christine

Although I enjoy cars and museums, the Enstone Mullin was not really a car museum. It was a project to get a round about planning permission to build 56 luxury holiday homes in the Cotswolds. With the car collection now broken up I cannot see how they can progress with this, although as the land abuts Soho Farmhouse it may well be that they will attempt to redevelop the area as a Soho expansion. We will see what happens next.

Tue 19 Aug, 13:51 (last edited on Tue 19 Aug, 13:54)

It's now very unclear what now will happen to the proposed Mullin automotive museum at Enstone, given that the Mullin Automotive Museum in California closed in February 2024. This was 4 months after the death of its founder, Peter Mullin. He had wanted the US museum to continue after his death, but seems to have changed his mind in the last few years of his life.

Much of Mullin's collection  of vintage vehicles has been auctioned off or has been dispersed to other private collections or museums, with the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA receiving four of the most prized cars as a donation. One US reporter notes that Mullin had recently commissioned Norman Foster to design a lavish museum for his collection in West Oxfordshire, but remarks that this "ambitious project appears to be off the table as well". 

The sale of the Soho House Company did not write off its considerable debts, as these were taken on by the new Soho company which will no longer be listed on the New York Stock exchange, but will instead be a private company with some new investors, alongside existing share holders. Yes, I am sure the new company will seek to rationalise its finances, but whether this will result in the proposed automotive museum is perhaps unlikely.

Mullin Automotive Museum is still listed on gov.uk (in fact as 2 related companies). But I notice that a new linked company was set up in June. The name of the new company (Enstan Land Ltd) might indicate that the project is now to develop the land at Enstone, rather than the proposed automotive museum. 

Quite a few locals will be relieved, if so, especially given the current consultations for a huge theme park, Puy du Fou, also not too far from Great Tew, and also likely to generate a huge amount of traffic.

Tue 19 Aug, 07:40

I read that SOHO was sold yesterday for about £2Billion. The new owners will no doubt look to turn around this loss making business. I wonder if they will crack on with the Mullin automotive museum at Enstone after having thrown so much money at it to gain planning permission and then doing nothing with it? I see that current controlling shareholder and aspiring house builder in the Tews will roll over his shares into the new company. I wonder if any of this will impact Charlbury?