How, one wonders, does the alleged “Man who bankrolled Brexit” manage to pay for the legal actions - another has been threatened against Netflix if they go ahead with The Great Hack, which includes contributions from the Observer’s Carole Cadwalladr - and find all the money to back his pal Nigel “Thirsty” Farage in his bid - now put on hold - to become a media personality in the USA? Put simply, who funds Arron Banks?
We may be a little closer to answering that question - if only in part - after the Bristol Post told readers last week “Wedding venue which causes 'intolerable noise' and wakes kids up gets licence extension … Old Down Estate in Tockington has had its licence extended to include a large neighbouring field, known as the Festival Field”.
There was more. “A wedding venue north of Bristol can now hold functions over a much wider area to the annoyance of villagers who claim the noise from events is already ‘intolerable’ … Old Down Estate in Tockington has been hosting weddings and events since 2010 … Its licence allowed alcohol sales and music in the manor house and the immediate surrounding area”. What’s so wrong with that, then?
More money for his pal Nige ...
“But a dozen members of the community objected to the application, fearing the extension would only worsen the ‘intolerable’ noise from music and fireworks that ‘rolls down the hillside’ from the estate during events … Villagers claimed the noise was so loud at times that it woke their sleeping children, ‘terrified’ farm animals, and caused their windows to vibrate and a pet dog to ‘shake’”. Yet the license extension was granted.
“Yesterday (July 16), that licence was extended to include a large neighbouring field, known as the Festival Field, within the 66-acre estate … A barn in the field, Foxholes Barn, will be the new wedding and events area”. So who’t behind this enterprise?
... and for frightening off inconvenient questions
“An agent for Arron and Ekaterina Banks, who submitted the licence application, said that, other than weddings, the estate holds ‘occasional’ events, mainly over summer”. Yes, it’s Banksy and his Russian wife Ekaterina Paderina (not that Banks has any of those Russian connections, you understand) who are expending their money-generating scheme.
Banks, as the Washington Post noted in their recent profile of him, does not live in “Old Down, a sprawling hilltop estate with giant rabbits, wandering llamas and views all the way to Wales that Banks rents out for weddings and seminars for pensioners on ‘wealth management’. He lives in a much smaller farmhouse down the road”.
As to the terms of the license, we are told “Fireworks cannot be any louder than 120 decibels, and all outdoor live and recorded music must stop by 11pm … Festival-goers must wear wristbands, with a different colour for under-18s, and ‘there shall be no painting of body parts that expose genitals or female breasts where those body parts may be exposed to children’ … No oxygen bars or Shisha or Hookah tobacco bars are permitted”.
So that’s all right, then. Another big shilling in the litigation meter coming right up!
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