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Looks like a Chav'y cyclo-cross venue to me.
his M&D have obviously been on here lurking on the farmers IHT thread
This explains why I have always found him obnoxious.
his M&D have obviously been on here lurking on the farmers IHT thread
Ha, yeah. That struck me too. Hope his mum, (assuming that was her in the video) last 7 years. 😀
Who knew?
He has done a few GCN videos with his dad over the years and the house was in the background. He is young and they are passing it on before they die presumably so will avoid IHT (which is clearly what anyone who has planned it would do).
He is now left with a nn million pound asset which takes millions a year to run but has no money but seems to have a sense of preserving the family association to it. If that's the job you want to do then great, if not then sell it (after 7 years) and never worry about money ever again. Nice position to be in.
And as part of the younger generation a large part of our plan for running this place at profit in the 21st century is monetising our socials, zzzzz. No thanks.
Very lucky, Indeed.
Meanwhile, looking at homeless bloke under a wet blanket on Baldwin Street (Bristol) in the rain…. Presumed dead.
?
But that’s the luck of the draw in this country.
It is, but the good luck bit applies to any one of us with a home, job, full fridge and reasonably stable domestic circumstances. Not just to a well off youtuber.
Real wealth right there. Worth multiple times more than most of us will earn in our entire lives, presumably inherited without a penny in tax being paid. Meanwhile the rest of us squabble over whether 43% or just 42% of our meagre earnings should be taxed.
That's life in modern Britain, but a show built on such vile inequality is never going to be on my watch list. I hope he at least treats the staff with respect and acknowledges that they're the ones who do the work while he prances around making jokes.
It's also a good opportunity for the guy who claims "we can't find 50p to rub together" to actually prove that they are cash poor, but somehow I suspect that's not actually true at least not in the sense that most of us would consider "poor".
So was he the over privileged prick who was interviewed on the News Agents?
Saying that the IHT would bankrupt him and when he was asked what his tax bill would be, he said he hadn't worked it out yet.
I tell you what, split your house into apartments and sell them. Or just sell the whole thing to a footballer or whatever.
Why would 2 people need a house that size that they obviously are struggling to maintain?
Looks like a Chav’y cyclo-cross venue to me.
Pretty sure they'd held CX races on his land...
presumably inherited without a penny in tax being paid.
If that’s the job you want to do then great, if not then sell it (after 7 years) and never worry about money ever again. Nice position to be in.
It's under trust iirc - so he won't be able to sell up. The trust will also pay tax every 6? Years ...
I live and work on a similar estate just north of Hank - very similar in approach and business. Estates like that have multiple workers and businesses on the land all paying tax, benefiting the community etc. In fact my business (village shop) wouldn't exist if the estate (and trust it's managed under) didn't.
Jeremy Clarksons farm is 100acres bigger, doesn't have a massive grade one house of significant historical importance on it and still (according to Jeremy) doesn't make money.
It’s under trust iirc – so he won’t be able to sell up.
So why did he claim he was going to go bankrupt?
He, like many other of these "farmers", are lying and yet plenty on here still support them
There's a reason that property is in trust and it's purely to benefit him and his family.
A bunch of lying grifters.
I'm not going to be negative about him just because of his circumstances
Just remember, that range rover that gives you plenty of space when passing, it could be him
why did he claim he was going to go bankrupt?
No idea, not seen the interview.
There’s a reason that property is in trust and it’s purely to benefit him and his family.
And also benefitting the wider community, like I said my business wouldn't exist without an estate under trust. It also stops them (the hereditary owners) from bankrupting the estate in debt from gambling, pissing it up the wall and acting like a poss toff etc & from bad business decisions. Trusts pay tax, yes he's wealthy with a big house, but in the scale of farming, he's not in the top 20% of land owners in the country.
Why would 2 people need a house that size that they obviously are struggling to maintain?
Usually the owner will live in small a wing or flat, the rest goes to ruin or storage (much like shown in the video). Only the super wealthy will have an entire house that's in tip top condition. There's 4 large country houses within two miles of me with land to each that just don't bother farming it because they are soooo wealthy.
You're right, we should all just keep tugging our forelocks.
What difference would it make to the wider community if they went bankrupt and someone else owned the land?
Why does a village shop need a feudal landlord? If there is sufficient trade then your shop can exist.
We have 2 shops that operate happily outside of an existing local trust that controls a lot of land and property, and is an absolute pain in the arse to deal with.
He seems to be acting like the posh toff already.
I like Hank and fair play to him for taking the house on, it could have been some ignorant entitled pr'k getting it who just wants to ride the system for as much as he can. He seems to have a few morals and sense of decorum (fair play to his folks for instilling that in him) so hopefully he'll do the right thing as far as possible.
Best of luck to him, will be interested to see what he can do.
Is this common knowledge?
It's certainly not been hidden, he's mentioned it on a few of the GCN vids I've watched (and I've not watched that many of them).
Why does a village shop need a feudal landlord? If there is sufficient trade then your shop can exist.
Because they keep the rent affordable so that there is a shop & workers in the shop, this benefis the estate and the vastly wider community - the shop just wouldn't be financially viable without low rent. The shop is attached to a house worth in excess 700k so its completely unviable as a freehold.
As I said theres significantly wealthier people and houses in the Cotswolds, Hank is a small player.
One local estate house was bought four years ago for 19million, the new owner has spent another 12 +million doing it up - still hasn't moved in. It's a UK holiday home for his family.
Another, shut down the entire road network locally, paying to have roads closed, so that his new infinity pool (which came in two halves) could be delivered.
There's an estate, about 20miles away, that was bought, existing farmhouses were demolished and a brand new 20+million mansion was built, the existing 600achre farm became the new owners lawn and shoot. Again a holiday home.
Hank is rich, but not super your ranting about the wrong people.
So if you had a "normal" landlord they would charge a rent that wouldn't make the shop viable?
That would mean their asset would make zero income.
Our local, feudal trust have left a school empty and boarded up for a few years now. It's an eyesore, attracts kids who keep breaking in and could be put to alternative use.
They refuse to allow a change of use for the site.
So if you had a “normal” landlord they would charge a rent that wouldn’t make the shop viable?
No, the house alone would be £2500+ a month rent, the shop would be on top of that at a value significantly higher than now. More likely they would split the house from the shop, and rent the retail unit to some sort of studio, loosing the postoffice and village shop.
I live a couple of minutes away and often see Hank (sometimes filming) out and about and he’s a down to earth bloke like his old man.
The grade I listed house and estate is a gigantic money pit kept going with weddings, a nice cafe, filming and house tours. I think a lot of people have preconceptions on here that people with large assets have ready access to liquidity to pay IHT. That’s simply not true and why houses get sold and people lose the family home.
And to add to @monkeyboyjc some serious money in this neck of the woods so can start giving Hank a hard time when he starts parking the Gulfstream at Kemble (looking at you Mr Dyson). They do bring very significant employment opportunities as well to local people that wouldn’t exist otherwise.
Who knew?
You'd never have guessed from his braying posh accent and his stereotyped bumbling upper class dad.
You can explain the local economic importance of the estate to the local economy till the cows come home, but it doesn't come close to justifying the ridiculous, archaic system that leaves great swathes of the country under the ownership of random people because their distant ancestor once went hunting with William the Conqueror.
Nothing against Hank or his ilk as individuals, but it's part of the same intrinsically-flawed system that gave us the Royal Family as God's representatives on earth and a rights of way system that belongs in the Dark Ages.
Ask yourself, if you were constructing a social and economic system from scratch, would you really think it was a great idea to parcel off great parcels of land and hand them over to individuals to be passed down in perpetuity, while the vast bulk of the population slaved to make enough money to pay for the tiny, but ruinously expensive, parcels of land that individual houses are built on.
They’ve owned the house since 1891 don’t have any titles but don’t let that stop you from stereotyping. Go read up on the history and you’ll see the irony of you spouting the Royal angle.
They do bring very significant employment opportunities as well to local people that wouldn’t exist otherwise.
That's simply not true.
That's how people justify living in a feudal system.
Nearly every other developed nation has an annual tax on assets.
In the UK, loads are people are complaining about an IHT that means that multi-millionaires will have pay a tax at half the rate the rest of us have to.
Why should they be allowed to keep assets that they can't afford?
Why is the system skewed to benefit the landed gentry?
I suggest you put your iht views on the other thread, where lots of us will agree with you.
Hank, and the owner of the estate I live on are not landed gentry - they are descendants of rich families from 150 years ago. They have to manage the commercial and social investments made 150years ago.
There's 20 earls and dukes who own a huge disproportionate amount of land in the UK. Hanks estate is comparatively tiny. The earls and dukes will now have to pay into (a good thing imo).
I use to always like him on gcn, but my mate use to race against him back in the day and told me he's an absolute entitled prick that every other rider loathed..
Never came across that way on gcn tbf..
he’s an absolute entitled prick that every other rider loathed
What a surprise.
Son of landed gentry, who talks about his "family's heritage" is an entitled prick.
They’ve owned the house since 1891 don’t have any titles but don’t let that stop you from stereotyping. Go read up on the history and you’ll see the irony of you spouting the Royal angle.
I looked up the history:
George Williams Lowsley-Hoole, the grandfather of David Lowsley-Williams (the current owner) inherited a nearby estate, thanks to the lack of a direct heir. He came down from York to inspect his inheritance and stayed with a friend, Sir George Holford at nearby Westonbirt. Having told Holford that he was not overly fond of what he had inherited, Holford told him that Chavenage was for sale. So Williams Lowsley-Hoole rented, then bought it.
From - https://www.divento.com/en/content/368-chavenage-a-family-business
Seems like a pretty damn wealthy and privileged family history to me.
You’re right, we should all just keep tugging our forelocks.
What difference would it make to the wider community if they went bankrupt and someone else owned the land?
FFS, people can be richer or more successful or "posher" than me but I don't have to tug my forelock. That speaks more about your own issues than wealth inequality.
And if someone else owned it, the only difference to the wider community would be that someone else owned it. I've worked alongside some big estates in a previous job, some were arseholes, most were not.
It's like they are the usual mix of normal people, but get extra hate.
Good luck to them! I still get benefit from his GCN training sessions. He seems like a decent bloke, treating people well, generating jobs, working for a living and getting on with life. He's hardly Bezos or Musk. 🙂
As Marcus Aurelius says "It is possible to live well, even in a castle".
I think there is more to us than the circumstances of our birth.
I think there is more to us than the circumstances of our birth.
Indeed - I've known some lovely, sensible, responsible people born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and some right entitled pricks you'd think would be alright as they are "like me" but then manage to blow the illusion.
Better to judge the person for who they are, not how un/fortunate the accident of birth made them. Otherwise we'll be blinkered by our bias.
The debate about changing the land owning/tax paying systems in this country should be about the systems, not the people.
Coming back to Hank, he hadn't flaunted his background on GCN, but he hadn't hidden it either - I seem to recall some of the other presenters having a pop at him once or twice about it. And while I can understand the pressures of keeping an estate going, I'm not interested enough to watch it on YT.
Don’t you just love the envious folk of STW , if he wasn’t rich he would be ok but now they know he’s wealthy he is a prick
Get a grip people and learn to make the best of your own lives rather than being envious of others
edit: just watched a bit of the vid and yes he’s taking it on, but doesn’t come across as loaded to me, straight away he says he will need to run it as a business to keep it.
Completely the right thing to have past the house on now before it becomes liable for IHT I doubt working for GCN made him a multi millionaire to pay that tax bill
It will employ loads of local people to keep it open, and lots of skilled trades people. I’d rather he keep it in the family rather it become some chain hotel , owned by someone in the US etc, and all the money disappears out of the UK.
How dare a posh person ride a bike though, and do a bloody good job at it too ?
edit: I didn’t realise Manon had gone too from GCN. Maybe her parents are scourge of the earth Welsh farmers and she’s taken over the farm now to become a billionaire and avoid inheritance tax
Are you sure the ‘rest of us’ are doing that?
I obviously can't speak for literally every person but the main national political discussion point over the last few months has been the extent to which taxes on workers should rise, so yes I think that was a fair comment
@ewan true although quite a high proportion of full time workers are higher rate tax payers now i'd think.
But you don't need to be a higher rate tax payer to be pre-occupied squabbling about workers taxes while the truly wealthy continue paying nothing.
I know a lot of people in this country will rush into bat for the rich in the desperate hope of being thrown an extra bowl of gruel, but elsewhere they manage to tax fairly and proportionately without any problems.
We must be almost unique, perhaps only 2nd to the US in terms of the deference we give to some fairly nasty people purely because of inherited wealth, often acquired on the back of their ancestors successfully stealing land from hard working farmers. Most other nations wouldn't stand for it.
although quite a high proportion of full time workers are higher rate tax payers now i’d think.
11%...
Jesus, the bitterness on this thread.
Ironically every person posting here is in the top 1 or 2 % in the world for weather, purely to luck of birth
Are we? Our weather absolutely shit.
To be fair the family have been running it as a business for years.
nearly 26 years ago it was the venue for our wedding reception.
I don't earn £50k a year, what do I win?
I’m interested to know if he takes on the financial aspects and acknowledges his privilege. Bet he doesn’t.
I always liked him on GCN, he seemed like a fun guy. But if it’s another Clarkson’s farm type thing but with inherited wealth I’m not interested.
Some really out of touch people here if they genuinely think the ‘majority’, ‘most of us’ are earning over £50K per year. Possibly not as out of touch as typical estate owners but even so.
My fault for not making my point very well, I said "quite a high proportion of full time workers" but I didn't think it was the majority or most. Government stats say there's now 5.6m higher rate tax payers out of 25m full time workers, so it's about 20% give or take.
My point was more about divide and rule and the tactics the wealthy use to keep us arguing among ourselves while they continue paying next to nothing.
Don’t you just love the envious folk of STW , if he wasn’t rich he would be ok but now they know he’s wealthy he is a prick
To be fair, I thought he was an idiot on GCN before I knew anything else about him, but as per my previous post, my argument with him and his ilk isn't about him as an individual, it's about wealth distribution in this country. It has nothing to do with 'envy', it's about wanting to live in a wealthy country which uses more of that wealth to create a world which is more about general well-being and quality of life than fostering one which is divided between people who have absurd amounts of money while others are struggling.
If you think that's 'envy; or 'bitterness', you're wrong. It's fundamentally about humanity and fairness.
If I'm honest, I do find braying, posh types problematic, but that's not entirely without justification. Boris Johnson anyone?
I always liked him on GCN, he seemed like a fun guy. But if it’s another Clarkson’s farm type thing but with inherited wealth I’m not interested.
TBH Isn’t it the lack of inherited wealth that’s the challenge of it 🙂
(although you could argue that in the worse case you can cash out so there’s very little risk to you, you just don’t get to pass that family house onto the next batch to live mortgage/rent free)
I did think it was another attempt at cashing on Clarksons farm (probably more Harry’s farm) YMMV.
It’s slightly different to yet another van life/build channel so that’s got to be good 🙂
I do find it interesting the vigour of hate people on here have for the inherited wealth Hank has. As I said earlier in the thread, when you live in the area that Hanks house is, he's small fry.
Ok he's got an estate worth a few millions, but it's surrounded by property that are worth 3 or four times that owned by multi millionaires or billionaires that put almost no return back into the local or wider economy. Hank is using his property as a business, yes he and his family benefit from that - but so does the wider community.
If you want to spit at the the distribution of wealth in the country - aim it at the correct people.
I’m in top 1% of earners, left school at 16, don’t have a degree, father was a bricklayer so just checking, am I automatically an entitled prick now or does some other criteria need to be applied?
Some really out of touch people here if they genuinely think the ‘majority’, ‘most of us’ are earning over £50K per year. Possibly not as out of touch as typical estate owners but even so.
Of course not, presumably you've worked hard for it and paid tax on it which is the complete opposite of what Hank of the Manor has had to do.
Also top 1% is £160k+ which is obviously a great wage for most of us, but is a pittance compared to what the wealthy inherit. How many years of hard work would you need to put in before you could pay off what Hank has inherited for free? Even on £160k you'd need more than one lifetime.
Your situation and Hank's are not remotely comparable.
am I automatically an entitled prick now or does some other criteria need to be applied?
just your kids, apparently
His kids?
How long will it take him to generate an estate worth £3.5 million on £160k a year?
I would also wager that estate with the massive house in the Cotswolds is worth a lot more than £3.5 million.
But won't someone think of the multi millionaire land owners and their struggle with maintaining the plaster work in their mansion and tidying up their clutter?
Cheers for the heads up op. Will watch it. The fact he winds up the commies on here is a Brucie bonus.
TBH he’s lacking a garage of exotic cars to really wind people up 🙂
It's shocking that us commies are wanting the rich people to pay their fair share of tax.
Especially when we have more food banks than ever before and more children living in poverty.
But enjoy the multi millionaire's creating libtard tears and getting wound up by right wing celebrities worth £50 million pounds complaining about paying tax.
It’s shocking that us commies are wanting the rich people to pay their fair share of tax.
I didn’t see any where in that vid where he indicates he won’t pay any taxes he’s due to pay?
Everyone tries to minimise their tax. Nothing wrong with that if it’s done lawfully.
I know there are plenty of people earning next to nothing who prefer to do cash deals , that certainly isn’t lawful or contributing to the greater good.
On a side note, just using a he tax band based on your income is a pretty deceptive figure - you need to remember the VAT on your utility bills which is no longer a small amount. More VAT when you put it food into your cupboards, a whopping amount of tax when you fill up your car with petrol…
I bet even someone earning below the tax paying tax threshold is still paying a significant amount tax by the end of the month.
It’s shocking that us commies are wanting the rich people to pay their fair share of tax.
What makes you think he isn't?
Pretty sure the multiple businesses the house runs, employees it supports, let alone the location business with the filming etc will generate a fair bit of tax. there is no difference between his estate and any other business.
Hanks estate, with The Rivals and Poldark being filmed there will have brought lots of tourist trade into the UK and general area.
I have no problem with Hank being a rich dude living in a big manor. I have a huge problem with him avoiding IHT. In the video he mentions that he has (in addition to the house and immediate grounds worth many millions), 2000 acres of farming land - conservatively that's 20 million right there (and since it looks like high grade agricultural it's probably worth more). IHT exemption for farms only came in in 1976 so on balance, i'd rather he did what other asset rich cash 'poor' (clearly actually isn't) land owners did before him - sell off some of the land, or gift the house to the national trust.
His father giving him all the land now rather than when he dies (assuming he survives 7 years) is probably cheating the people of the UK out of £12m (£20m for the farm + £10m for the house / grounds @ 40%), so I don't think it's totally unreasonable to feel a little peeved.
I didn’t see any where in that vid where he indicates he won’t pay any taxes he’s due to pay?
Yep, a lot of assumptions are being made born of prejudice
Everyone tries to minimise their tax. Nothing wrong with that if it’s done lawfully.
Yep, maybe the laws need tightening.
I know there are plenty of people earning next to nothing who prefer to do cash deals , that certainly isn’t lawful or contributing to the greater good
Yeah but....
His father giving him all the land now rather than when he dies (assuming he survives 7 years) is probably cheating the people of the UK out of £12m (£20m for the farm + £10m for the house / grounds @ 40%), so I don’t think it’s totally unreasonable to feel a little peeved.
Save your anger for the people who brought in those rules, not the people who are able to lawfully take advantage of it.
I do think launching this channel just as the farmers/IHT row was breaking was spectacularly bad timing.
It does demonstrate the stupidity of the row tho. Any sane actual farmer is just going to gift the farm to his kid to take over whilst they're in their 60s or 70s - thus avoiding any IHT at all. The only people who are impacted by the changes are people like Dyson and Clarkson who have bought up farmland to avoid IHT. And frankly, sod them.
Save your anger for the people who brought in those rules, not the people who are able to lawfully take advantage of it.
Exactly. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Folk are only playing the hand they are dealt. Some get dealt a better starting hand than others.
His father giving him all the land now rather than when he dies
His grandfather handed the estate down to him well over a year ago, it skipped his farther completely. Iht wasn't paid, I'd assume, as it wasn't part of the rules then.
It's all irrelevant in his case other than potential his children or grandchildren may or may not have to pay iht in the future. At the moment it's a working estate that generates revenue and tax.
His grandfather handed the estate down to him well over a year ago, it skipped his farther completely. Iht wasn’t paid, I’d assume, as it wasn’t part of the rules then.
It’s all irrelevant in his case other than potential his children or grandchildren may or may not have to pay iht in the future. At the moment it’s a working estate that generates revenue and tax.
IHT was part of the rules then.... assuming the grandfather hasn't died yet then passing it down whilst he was still alive has just made use of the 7 year gifting rule. Whether it's a working estate or not, it's still avoiding IHT (entirely legally of course) - it's symptomatic of the problem - I don't see any issue in pointing out specific examples, as this will then raise it in peoples minds to the point it may become politically acceptable to close the loop holes. I don't bare a grudge against Hank of course, I just don't agree with the loopholes.
assuming the grandfather hasn’t died yet
He died over a year ago and handed it down down to Hank. At the moment, farmland is exempt from inheritance tax under a policy called “Agricultural Property Relief” (APR). In the Budget, the Chancellor announced that she will end that exemption by restricting APR. The cut to APR will mean that from April 2026, a tax of 20% will apply to agricultural assets over £1 million.
Ah ok - so just the farmland? The video implies the house has been handed down - presumably that was already with the father and has now been handed down.
How long will it take him to generate an estate worth £3.5 million on £160k a year?
A lifetime but here’s the thing I don’t care what others earn or have as long as they pay the required taxes. Whether those taxes are fair is another subject entirely.
I remember reading years ago that "the process" for Hank actually started years ago when he was 18.
My view is that he didn't choose to be born into it, while the estate may be worth however much, its got to cost a fortune to keep it running and not fall into ruin.
I say fair play - he's not asking for handouts, he's looking for more avenues to commercialise the estate so it doesn't decline like so many others. Look how many sons/daughters inherit a family business and mess it up through laziness, at least it looks like he's going to have a good go at making it viable & preserving it. Alternatives - let it fall into ruin, sell to a foreign investor as a holiday home?
Couple of good articles about it:
My view is that he didn’t choose to be born into it
Which is why it's crazy to hate on the players and not focus on the suitability of the rules.
Plenty of people in the UK had a better start than me by an accident of birth. Quite a lot are cleverer, better looking, better athletes, just "luckier".
It's how they act, not what we perceive them to be, that should matter.
Which is why it’s crazy to hate on the players and not focus on the suitability of the rules.
And which class of 'players' do you think made and influenced those rules in the first place?
That ‘class’ isn’t making the rules, currently. Hence the change.
I do find it interesting the vigour of hate people on here have for the inherited wealth Hank has. As I said earlier in the thread, when you live in the area that Hanks house is, he’s small fry.
I think the vigour comes from people who have such mega assets & then they moan about not having enough money - just sell the ****ing house then. It's what normal people have to do when they're skint.
Look how many sons/daughters inherit a family business and mess it up through laziness, at least it looks like he’s going to have a good go at making it viable & preserving it.
Where would I look? I'm not seeing much of this anywhere, but there's not much of this in Swansea/Neath.
I think the vigour comes from people who have such mega assets & then they moan about not having enough money – just sell the **** house then. It’s what normal people have to do when they’re skint.
Their sense of entitlement means that they don't want or don't think they should have to. It's their "heritage" and they are the only people who understand it and should be living in it. It's not for common people.
Penelope Keith made a documentary about it in the 1970's.