The Bank of England is pursuing the sale of a leafy sports estate in southwest London amid a cost-cutting drive by the central bank.
Knight Frank has been appointed to assist on a potential freehold sale of the Roehampton site, which includes grounds leased to the All England Lawn Tennis Club.
• Roehampton: Where Wimbledon dreams are made but plenty more die
The property agent was this month awarded a £138,750 contract, public procurement filings show. Its appointment was first reported by Bloomberg.
The site in Roehampton, southwest London, covers 28 acres
A spokesman for the Bank said on Thursday: “Whilst the Bank’s Roehampton estate is under lease, we have brought in advisory services to consider future options.”
Bank officials agreed a 15-year lease in 2021 with the club, which hosts the Wimbledon qualifying event at the 28-acre site. An earlier sales process was postponed during the Covid-19 pandemic after a collapse in property transactions and criticism by MPs over the cost and suitability of the facility.
The site was acquired by the Bank in the early 1900s and hosted the annual Governor’s Day for staff and families until 2019. It was also open to present and former Bank employees and external fee-paying members.
It was put up for sale by the Bank’s court of directors in 2019 after criticism from the Commons public accounts committee, which said the central bank’s operations were “years out of date”. One MP had called it a “very expensive country club”. The decision to push ahead with a sale triggered a grassroots revolt from some members.
Concerns were raised with Bank officials at meetings and Lord King of Lothbury, the former Bank governor, who confirmed to The Times at the time that a large land sale had been agreed under his governorship to safeguard its future.
The Bank agreed the 2021 lease deal after concluding it was more appropriate to offer “a broader wellbeing sports and social club that can benefit all staff, without the focus on a single physical site that many staff are unable to access”. It had also concluded the “operation of a sports site does not fall within or support the Bank’s core purpose as a central bank”.
As part of the lease deal with the club there was a commitment to provide facilities for hire to the community.
The club was understood to have agreed the lease as it wanted to protect Wimbledon qualifying there until the tournament could be moved to its main grounds. However, it is facing local legal opposition to expanding its Wimbledon site.