By MARK DUELL FROM MAILONLINE

IMAGE: Registration: Admiralty Arch, once the Cabinet Office’s base, is allegedly an offshore-owned London landmark

Pubs and bingo halls are among 40,000 properties across London now owned by offshore firms – with one in ten properties in some areas registered overseas
Hundreds of pubs, dozens of bingo halls and landmarks among buildings
Wine cellars and car parking spaces are also allegedly registered offshore
1 in 10 properties in Westminster and City ‘owned by firms in tax havens’
Developments are now owned by firms in Panama, Liechtenstein and BVI

Hundreds of pubs, dozens of bingo halls and London landmarks are among 40,000 properties in the capital owned by offshore companies, it was claimed today.

Wine cellars and car parking spaces are also allegedly registered offshore, with one in ten properties in Westminster and the City of London now said to be owned by firms in tax havens.

Analysis of Land Registry data is reported to have found landmarks registered offshore include Google’s UK headquarters of Belgrave House and Admiralty Arch, once the Cabinet Office’s base.

IMAGE: Office: Google’s UK headquarters Belgrave House is said to have a leasehold owned by an offshore company

Developments are now owned by firms in the likes of Panama, Liechtenstein and the British Virgin Islands, according to a Guardian study by Robert Booth, Helena Bengtsson and David Pegg.

It was also claimed dozens of UK Gala Bingo halls plus hundreds of Yates and Slug & Lettuce pubs – which are owned by Stonegate Pub Company – are owned offshore.

But a Stonegate spokesman told MailOnline that the firm ‘is a Cayman-incorporated company, and is tax resident in the United Kingdom. It files UK corporation tax returns on an annual basis.’

Another London building said to registered in a tax haven is 12 Palace Street, which was once the Westminster Theatre but is now home to 35 luxury homes as well as the St James Theatre.

And at one of London’s most exclusive addresses, One Hyde Park, even wine cellars and parking spaces are allegedly registered to offshore firms in the Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein and Liberia.

The number of properties in London owned by offshore companies has risen by 9 per cent in ten months – helping to contribute to a current total of 39,917 buildings, the newspaper reported.  

IMAGE: Top of the range: One of London’s most exclusive addresses, One Hyde Park, even wine cellars and parking spaces are allegedly registered to offshore firms in the Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein and Liberia

The revelation follows concerns over foreign buyers using London homes as investments without living in them. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has hit out at those who buy UK flats as ‘gold bricks’. 

It was also revealed this week that Britain’s tallest residential skyscraper – St George Wharf Tower in London – is mostly owned by wealthy foreign investors who do not actually live in the property.

A fortnight ago Prime Minister David Cameron warned foreign companies which own around 100,000 properties in England and Wales that they will be required to disclose their ownership.

Mr Cameron told an anti-corruption summit in London on May 12: ‘All foreign companies with properties in the UK will have to register publicly who really owns them, who really controls them.’

Last August analysis reported in the Daily Mail revealed offshore companies had bought more than £150billion worth of property in England and Wales over the past 15 years.

IMAGE: Performing arts: Another London building said to registered in a tax haven is 12 Palace Street, which was once the Westminster Theatre but is now home to 35 luxury homes as well as the St James Theatre (pictured)

The figure was almost as much as last year’s welfare and defence budgets combined, with Land Registry data showing that many of the UK’s most expensive buildings had been snapped up.

It found that on one London street, 149 homes were owned by firms based in tax havens, bought for a total of £563million – and nearby, 101 properties bought by firms based offshore cost £348million.

Press representatives for Google and One Hyde Park did not respond to a request for comment today, while the owners of Admiralty Arch, Belgrave House and Palace Street could not be reached.

A spokesman for Gala Bingo said the buildings in question are owned by M&G Real Estate. An M&G spokesman declined to comment. 

There is no suggestion that any of the companies named in this article have broken the law. 

For more on this story go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3612814/Pubs-bingo-halls-40-000-properties-London-owned-offshore-firms-one-ten-properties-areas-registered-overseas.html#ixzz49xkxtTdP