Kirstie Allsopp ‘ s partner of 20 years, Ben Andersen, is facing a battle against his council and London neighbours.
The Location, Location, Location star’s partner bought a new pub in November 2023, but local residents have made complaints to Kensington and Chelsea council over safety and planning permission concerns. Residents of the borough have reportedly hired a street enforcement team to look over the building, but they haven’t yet appeared content.
One local complained to the council about the open external cellar doors and the placement of bags of topsoil outside, claiming that “it causes inconvenience for pedestrians and raises genuine safety concerns.” The “pavement is used for storing construction debris” outside the pub, according to them.
The resident pleaded with the council to “treat this matter with utmost urgency” and expressed concern that schoolchildren might be frightened of passing the site while the school is in session.
Some locals worry about permission not being granted for all works, with some speculating that Andersen’s development company was moving the kitchen into the cellar without permission, in addition to safety concerns.
One complainant claimed that, despite the planning application failing to expressly acknowledge these intentions, “over the Christmas period, I observed significant amounts of topsoil and large concrete stones being removed from the site.
Locals were told, “There is one rule for the Allsopps and another rule for the rest of us,” they continued.
In December, Kirstie’s partner submitted a new application for extra work, and residents claimed he’d filled it in incorrectly. One snidely noted: “Maybe Kirstie Allsop’s got so many places, she’s losing track of her properties faster than I lose socks on laundry day”! The Mirror has contacted Kirstie’s representative for comment.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) has previously been the subject of drama for Ben and Kirstie. The couple share two sons, alongside Ben’s two children from a previous relationship. After sharing that she was allowing son Oscar, then 15, to travel for three weeks with a 16-year-old friend, Kirstie revealed that she had been reported to the council in August.
Kirstie claimed that it was “a malicious call, made by someone who was obviously trying to upset me.” She added: “Social services should have recognised that and dealt with it, accordingly, malicious calls are actually an element with all social services”.
The council service had the opportunity to speak for what the presenter described as “utterly bizarre.” Kirstie continued, claiming that social services “would have treated me in exactly the same way had I been an ordinary member of the public” in support of the theory that her TV success was to blame for the complaint.
Oscar’s trip, which he then celebrated with his GCSEs, shocked Kirstie. She complained: “There’s generations of people who have travelled very freely all over the place, and now there’s this group of people, who are terrified and who are restricting their teenagers”.
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