By Mogens Hauschildt

When I first tried to join the Residents’ Association in 1986-87, I found there was no real organisation or structure, a proper business agenda and far too few members. Worse only a few people took care of doing the work, as always.

The day-to-day running of the association was conducted by Geoffrey Howard with a little help from the local schoolmaster of St. George School. Malcolm Lothian. However, Geoffrey was the true driving force, spending a lot of energy dealing with the hundreds of planning applications coming from Westminster City Council. Geoffrey had been a driving force from the start of the association.
It became clear to me that such an association should take a more organised and active role to protect the residents of Mayfair, from the greed of the landowners and local commercial activity. This meant establishing a professional set-up and recruiting more members. However, I was too naïve.

In 1989, the Westminster Council, with help from the Grosvenor Estate wanted to keep all the temporary office licences granted after the war, as so many properties had been bombed.

The shortage of offices allowed the issue of temporary permission to convert residential space to an office. This temporary situation was up to renewal in 1989 for 54 properties, and the council wanted 41.75 % of the floor space to remain as offices and only revert the rest to residential use.

This I and many others found unacceptable as we wanted more residents back to Mayfair. So, we had to organise a fight to stop all this and do our best to get as much residential space as possible. This would be a fight, especially against the greed of the landowners. We wanted that all the temporary office users should be allowed to lapse, and have residential use restored over a reasonable period, creating a proper residential environment for Mayfair.

Interestingly, I later got privately to know Sir Peter Hunt of Land Securities and when I told him that I believed that residential space in Mayfair, would one day be far more valuable than offices, he told me that I did not know much about property, after all, he should know when he was the chairman and Managing director of the largest commercial property company in UK. Land Securities. But he was wrong, and I was right, as history shows how valuable residential space is in Mayfair today.

Nevertheless, it became an ugly fight, and personal, as Geoffrey (Howard) said at the time, it is about £ 500-1000 million of possible gains to the landowners, so it was difficult, specifically with WCC headed by a corrupt counsel with David Weeks and Lady Porter.
Lady Porter, the heir to Tesco fortune had to run away from the UK to Israel after all this corruption and jerry mongering was exposed. At the time I worked with Mira Bar-Hillel, the property journalist, and the Leader of the Labour Group Paul Dimoldenberg. Paul led the team that uncovered the ‘Homes for Votes’ and ‘15p Cemeteries’ scandals.

For years the landowners had granted leases to property companies and allowed existing leaseholders to push the goalpost as to planning application with extension or re-building, using their own connection in the Council and leverage. The landowners acted like the three wise monkeys, as they knew any additional extension etc, even total rebuilding would ultimately increase the value of the leasehold and their land.

I recall when I first lived in Mayfair in 1960, it was like a village at the weekends. Mayfair had all food shops, from diaries, and fish and meat shops to delicatessens and bakery. This was also the case later when I returned in 1964-65, and my wife could shop on Mount Street with all these retailers.

So, I had to act, I went to see another Mayfair resident, Lord St John of Fawsley, who was chairman of The Royal Fine Art Commission, a very important institution. I also went to see Anthony Marecco, a barrister and resident of Mayfair since the 50s, to get him involved with the association.

I arranged with one of our committee members, a barrister, to buy an off-the-shelf company, which we on the 29th March 1989, changed the name to the Residents’ Association of Mayfair (RAM). A non-profit limited company, which we would apply for charity status.
I fought for RAM could get a permanent address, at 25 South Audley Street office (a little room), as this building was owned by the Westminster Council.

I created a new structure for membership, including for businesses in Mayfair to be associated members of the association. Until I came along it was only residents who could join, I believed that the local business should have a role in the Mayfair society. I consulted several locals, including Mark Birley and John Aspinall, both two faithful to Mayfair and with a vision for the future. John Aspinall later gave financial support to The Mayfair Society.

We arrange for many years’ Christmas parties, at the Clarridge’s, Dorchester, Four Seasons, Intercontinental, Millennium and Mayfair Hotel. In addition to the annual summer party, which was held in Mount Street Gardens and our private garden.

Ultimately, the fight ended with a personal bankruptcy petition against me, by the lawyers who represented us (David Cooper) as they saw large fees, moreover, they were frankly in the hands of the opposition WCC and landowners Grosvenor Estate, from the start. This resulted in that I had to step down as chairman of RAM. Even worse as trustee of The Mayfair Trust a charity, of which I was the co-founder.

Yes, it became very bad, the landowners used the policy of dividing their opposition, to sow division, trying to get other residents to create a new association etc. Many had their own plans, as to renewing their leases etc, therefore not concerned with others.

Moreover, the landowners used many as stool pigeons, after all this was about a lot of money. Such henchmen and stool pigeons. This included the major residential estate agent in Mayfair, who went along with WCC’s proposal backed by the largest landowner. He did their bidding for years. Interestingly, his whole business grew on the fact that RAM won a larger amount of office conversation to residential.

My work!

Getting street bins in Mayfair

Getting benches in the parks

The Builders Better Scheme

The Leaseholders Reform Act

Trying to get planning gains with contributions to the arts and the community.

Contacted Anthony Marreco and Sir Michael Clapton and got them involved together with several other prominent residents

Meetings with locals, both residents and businesses, including Mark Birley and John Aspinall

Berkeley Square Ball and devastations

The Temporary office permits.

Crossrail

St. Mark’s Church

Take the traffic and pollution away!

I was personally attacked when I in 1987 suggested taking all the buses and cars away from Oxford Street, and Regent Street, having electric tramps going up and down allowing pedestrians to enjoy the shops, without the devastating pollution. The same I suggested with Bond Street, even the Bond Street Association attacked me. At the time the buses were line-up bumper-to-bumper all day on Oxford Street, outpouring diesel pollution into the walking pedestrians, competing for passengers.

I spoke to Richard Rogers, the leading architect, about bringing Piccadilly and Park Lane underground, with traffic tunnels, like they had done in Paris – a very successful solution. Rogers thought it was a great idea and he made some calculations as to cost, I recall Park Lane would cost 250-400 million. However, the locals called me names, and told me, “Do not come here with your Scandinavian ideas”

I advocated that it would even be positive and profitable for the biggest landowner, that residents could walk directly into Hyde Park and St.James Park and enjoy the garden extended to the use and value of the properties. The leading landowner suggested that the Millennium funding should be used to pay for such a venture, they were not prepared to contribute anything, despite the huge capital benefit they would get.

So more than 35 years ago, Park Lane and Piccadilly could be driveways underground, and even the whole of Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch could have been underground, allowing most pollution to be away, trapped and filtered underground. Oxford Street and Regent Street should have been pedestrianised, possibly with an electric tram going up and down. First here in 2024, realistic steps were taken to pedestrianise Oxford Street, by the London Mayor, after the Westminster Council had objected to pedestrianisation.

The truth is there is little long-term vision and planning, practically everything is driven by the short-term result, guided by capital interests and politicians re-election, not the people who live there.

After working several years with a huge amount of planning applications for our area, I had considerable input, from my over lunch discussion with the head of the largest property company, Sir Peter Hunt and Angela Hooper, who had many years of experience as a counsellor, it became clear to me, that the residents frankly had no say, as to what happened in their communities.

I complained for years that immense wealthy residents of Mayfair did not bother what took place outside their door. Potholes, carbage, noise, parking and pollution, it appeared did not matter to them. I frankly was flabbergasted that their properties to millions with millions of inventory, Including art, could not lead to them engaging in their communities. The landowners and property companies had an easy job making money.