Jacob Waddington from Accrington bought his first two-bed house at 23 for £98,000

A man has bought his second property at just 24 years old, having put aside at least £1,000 a month from his earnings since turning 18.

Jacob Waddington, 24, has consistently saved at least half of his income since finishing college, enabling him to buy a £98,000 two-bedroom house at age 23.

Together with his girlfriend Holly, 23, Jacob from Accrington, Lancashire dedicated a year to renovating the property, before having it valued at £160,000 and subsequently letting it out.

The couple remortgaged the house and utilised the equity to snap up a second £140,000 cottage at auction, with intentions to convert this into an Airbnb.

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“The plan is to maybe buy one more house to do up and sell, and then maybe buy a doer-upper to live in,” said Jacob,

“All my friends and family say it’s amazing, and it does feel really rewarding. I’ve found a real passion for doing it and I just feel really motivated to keep going.”

After leaving college aged 18, Jacob began working for a telecoms firm, earning £24,000 annually.

This represented a significant increase from the £6 per hour position he’d held at JD Sports while still studying, making it relatively straightforward to save a substantial portion of his monthly income.

Since Jacob was still living at home and contributing just £200 monthly to his parents, he managed to deposit £1,000 a month into a savings account.

His salary then rose to £33,000, allowing him to set aside approximately £1,500 from his £2,200 monthly pay packet. To set aside such a substantial portion of his earnings, Jacob didn’t feel the need to adhere to a rigid budget.

“I’d only really spend money on going out at the weekend, but you don’t need to spend loads on that”, he said.

“Me and my girlfriend would go for the odd meal out, but we love going on walks and things like that”.

During May 2025, Jacob and Holly deliberated over how they should utilise their savings.

“We thought about buying a house together, but neither of us were desperate to move out, so we decided to buy a house to do up and then sell”, Jacob said.

Between them they placed a 25 per cent deposit on a £98,000 two-bedroom terraced property and invested £20,000 in refurbishments.

Jacob left his position to take up bar work two days weekly, bringing in £800 monthly, and dedicated the remainder of his time to the renovation venture.

They fitted a new kitchen, a new bathroom, re-plastered the walls, and installed a new boiler.

Come January 2026, nine months following their purchase of the property, the renovation was finished.

They then had the property revalued at £160,000 and extracted the growth in value to their bank accounts through remortgaging the house.

Following discussions with estate agents, they opted to let out the property, rather than selling it, as demand was strong for rental properties in their locality.

During March 2026, tenants took occupancy of the property, paying £875 in rent, more than double Jacob and Holly’s £430 monthly mortgage.

The couple then began their search for a second property, eventually discovering a 200-year-old one-bedroom cottage nestled at the foot of Pendle Hill, famous for the Pendle witch trials.

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“We’re thinking we might Airbnb this one out because it’s in a rural location”, Jacob said.

“It’s really picturesque and it’s in a historic area. It will be like a couple’s getaway.”

The pair used funds raised from remortgaging their first home towards the £140,000 cottage, securing a 75 per cent bridging loan over 12 months to cover the remainder.

A bridging loan is a short-term financial arrangement whereby, rather than making monthly repayments, interest accumulates over an agreed period.

Jacob and Holly intend to spend a year renovating the property, with an estimated budget of £30,000 for the refurbishment.

Following completion, they plan to remortgage the cottage, using the released funds to clear the bridging loan before transitioning to a standard mortgage.

“The house next door has just sold for £320,000 for a two bed, so I’m hoping to get this one remortgaged at around £250,000”, he said.

“If we can do that, we’d be able to pull out more money than we put in, because it will have increased in value by so much”.

Jacob has worked out that letting the Airbnb at £120 per night with 60 per cent occupancy would generate £2,000 monthly.

Once council tax, utility bills and the £650 mortgage are settled, approximately £1,000 would remain as profit.

“It could be more profitable than the standard rental”, he said.

Jacob intends to purchase another property to either sell or rent out following this project, before eventually buying a home to share with Holly.

He advised: “If someone wants to buy a house, whether to live in or to sell, don’t be afraid to by something that needs a little work doing to it.

“If you buy something a bit more run-down, you can get much bigger returns on it, as it will have increased in value.”

He documents his renovation journey on @buildingwithjacob.

Singer Aaron Rowe, one of the supporting acts who dropped out of Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour after Macklemore was removed for his pro-Palestine remarks, says that backlash about the controversy is being misdirected.

In a video shared on social media Friday, Rowe told his followers that the real issue lies with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who said that Macklemore was not welcome at his stadium following his onstage call to “free Palestine” amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“I’m gonna be honest, I think youse are all focusing on the wrong person here,” Rowe said in his video on Instagram. “All I keep hearing is Ed Sheeran this, Ed Sheeran that, when youse really should be focusing on the likes of Robert Kraft.”

He continued, “ You should really be focusing on the Zionist lobbies that are trying to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide.”

The Irish singer then went on to stick up for Sheeran, who said in an initial statement that he was “not complicit” in Macklemore being silenced and that he was not the one to make the decision to oust the rapper.

“I know Ed’s statement could have been a lot better, and I do think that Macklemore shouldn’t have been pulled off the tour,” Rowe said. “I fully believe it was panic stations over there and they rushed the decision because they didn’t know what to f***ing do because they were getting it from all angles.”

Rowe said that he has not been able to speak much with Sheeran, but that “I fully believe he knows that was a mistake.” He added that Sheeran would not have chosen pro-Palestine acts Macklemore, Beoga, BIIRD and others if he had been against their political stances.

“All he has inside of him is kindness,” he said. “That is who Ed Sheeran is. And yes, like every other human being he makes f***ing mistakes.”

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He said that protesters should be “using this opportunity to plaster Robert Kraft’s face everywhere. Someone who tried to shut down free speech, someone who tried to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide.”

Rowe was one of the four supporting acts who dropped out of Sheeran’s U.S. leg of his Loop tour after the decision to remove Macklemore following his comments in support of the Palestinian people. Other acts who backed out were fellow Irish artist Beoga, Danish band Lukas Graham and Finneas.

MobLand season 2 has finally arrived on Paramount+ and stars Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan spoke exclusively about what fans can expect.

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MobLand series two has finally landed on Paramount Plus, and following 18 months, audiences were keen to witness Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan reunite as the formidable Maeve and Conrad Harrigan. The chaotic and volatile gangland drama sees the leaders of the Harrigan dynasty pursue extraordinary measures to preserve their status at the pinnacle of the criminal underworld.

Prior to series two broadcasting, Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren spoke exclusively to Belfast Live regarding what viewers can anticipate, and what the experience was like returning together to film such an ambitious production. Brosnan revealed: “It’s so unhinged, actually, it’s hard to remember how unhinged [season 1] was.

“I was very happy with the work, I was very happy to be in the company of all these great actors and to be with this beautiful, beautiful lady in my life here,” he continued, referring to his co-star Mirren.

Continuing to praise the Calendar Girls and Thursday Murder Club performer, he stated: “It is just bewitching to watch her work and to play Conrad opposite her, Helen’s Maeve makes me real as Conrad, and the writing by Jez [Butterworth] is just so rich and nuanced. It’s a joy to play.”

The programme has already secured renewal for a third series ahead of the second instalment’s premiere, and Mirren suggested it was recognition of all the performances. She emphasised particularly the quantity of powerful, female characters, noting: “The great thing about MobLand is number one, for me personally, the female roles are fabulous.

“All of the female roles are very proactive; they are in the story, they are essential to the story, they are not just there to support the male characters. I love to see that, and there are a lot of them, which is brilliant. Then we have such extraordinary actors all the way through. It feels like a very deeply talented theatre company.”

She noted that the series, celebrated for its heightened language, being “absurdist and gothic and just really extreme”, made it “incredible fun to play [a role in]”. Brosnan concurred, remarking: “It’s exhilarating to watch the work, to read the pages, to read the scenes.”

When asked about the future direction of the characters, he offered: “We don’t know what’s going to happen. I have no idea where it’s going, maybe some sense in your intuition about it, but reality will be seen hopefully in the next month or so.”

Both stars revealed that the opening scene of series two at the greyhound racing track ranked amongst their most memorable to film, with Mirren disclosing: “The dog racing was a great scene and it was our first scene of the whole thing.

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“Guy [Ritchie] was directing it and we always love it when Guy is back on set. It was the first scene of the whole thing and we were all back together again, so yeah, that was great, it was a great day.”

In the upcoming series, the Harrigans find themselves battling to present a united facade as emerging competitors pose a threat to their crumbling criminal operation – with Harry Da Souza (Tom Hardy), their powerful ‘fixer’, forced to navigate a precarious path as family tensions escalate.

Paramount+ went on to hint: “As violence spills into every corner of their lives, loyalties snap, safety proves temporary, and the battle for power leaves no room for mercy.”

MobLand series 2 airs weekly on Paramount+.

‘Ugh’, I tried to adjust under my date Gareth* just before his climax, but he weighed heavily on my small body.

His sweaty torso was wrapped around mine, his head buried in my neck and arms locked around me.

I rolled my eyes as I rhythmically moved under him.

He didn’t notice me move, or maybe he completely ignored me, because he continued to thrust fast and succinctly. Like little full stops. 

These thrusts did absolutely nothing for me, but everything for him.

This was him near orgasm, and I simply had to wait for him to finish before he would release his grasp.

Eventually, suctioned in my neck, he let out a whimper like an abandoned puppy. I felt utterly disgusted.

But he was still clamped on me like a child asking for milk.

How silly of me to assume it was over.

I had met Gareth that night at a social media meet up for comedians in central London, on a cold winter night. I’m far from a comedian, but I gatecrashed with my comedy friends hoping to meet new people and laugh.

No one minded – it was a welcoming environment and people were just happy to have someone new to try out their material on.

My two friends disappeared into the crowd once I was accosted by an over-zealous comedian on the circuit, who wanted to find out if I was an agent, or a booker, or something important he could hustle a job out of.

After telling him I was simply a writer, his smile disappeared and he began to go through the motions of small talk, before Gareth butted in. 

Like the knight in shining armour, he asked if he’s met me before and that he remembered me – in fact, he owed me a drink from last time and guided me to the bar.

We walked up to the bar laughing, the new comedian but a distant memory as he began to introduce himself to me. We got chatting and before I knew it, we began flirting with each other. My friends appeared thinking they needed to save me, but I shooed them away.

Soon, we were out the door and on our way to his house for what we both agreed was a one-night stand. But I wish I never went.

I noticed his kisses were, what I then called, passionate. He pressed his face on mine as if he wanted to leave an impression of his lips permanently on mine. It was not a good kiss. For me anyway, he loved it and kept it going.

Something in me just wanted to please him – I think a lot of women have set themselves up to be disappointed, just to potentially reach a moment of pleasure. As it’s so rare and in between. Maybe these kisses wouldn’t be so bad in comparison to the sex, I thought.

I was wrong.

Back at his, he began taking his and my clothes off, while attacking my face with kisses, and before I knew it, we were having sex.

At first, he has soft and moved around my body, touching and kissing me. But it didn’t take long for him reach climax, and for him to clamp his body around mine like a vice.

After the sex was finally over – a minute later I managed to dislodge Gareth from my frame and move away.

‘That was not fun’, I said to him grimacing and wiping his sweat off me.

Turning to look at me, he said simply: ‘it’s the only way I can orgasm’ – his expression unmoving, as if we were talking about the weather.

‘Okay but it’s not how I have sex’, I fired back.

He shrugged: ‘I don’t care’.

He reminded me of the man who would only have sex with me while listening to Tenacious D. Or the one who could only orgasm if I screamed like in a porno.

They all had one thing in common – only their needs mattered. It was an eye-opening moment that unfortunately didn’t last long, since I found myself in the situation a few more times.

It was a year later that I would be in bed with a man who negged me the entire time, and wouldn’t let me leave until I was close to tears. Negging, for those who don’t know, is a form of emotional manipulation where someone uses backhanded compliments to undermine another’s confidence. It’s used to make them seek the manipulator’s approval.

I slowly started to understand my worth a lot more after that, but it took a period of healing.

But Gareth didn’t care, laying lazily in bed, covered in sweat and satisfied.

I told him he was like a man-child and needed to get a grip. Not literally.

Part of me was surprised he didn’t care, because he definitely didn’t give that impression earlier in the night.

I quickly grabbed my belongings and left, annoyed but determined not to let him ruin my next few days.

Texting my friends the update, they told me they didn’t actually know who he was, so they were surprised to see me talking to him. 

Luckily I never saw him again.

Which is good because even thinking of him gives me the ick.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing izzie.price@metro.co.uk. 

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Earl Spencer has insisted he is ‘telling the truth’ about a phone call with Prince Charles in the days following the death of his sister Princess Diana.

In his new autobiography – exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail – the Earl claims  Charles told him ‘we’ll forget her [Diana] soon enough’ during an argument over William and Harry’s involvement in her funeral. 

Royal aides have acidly suggested that grief had clouded Earl Spencer’s ‘reason, judgment and memory’ in response to the book, while friends insisted Charles would never have spoken that way and was consumed by grief when she died.

But the Earl has insisted of his account, detailed in his tell-all account Swan Song: Diana, My Sister: ‘I can tell you here and now, those are exactly the words he said.’

Speaking to the BBC‘s Laura Kuenssberg from his Althorp estate in Northamptonshire, Earl Spencer said he had told friends and family of Charles’ alleged words at the time, labelling them ‘monstrous’.

‘I’ve only ever had two calls on the line with Prince Charles at any stage of my life,’ he said.

‘I was hyper alert to what he was saying and those are precisely the words that he said and I promise that to you now.’

Alluding to the Palace’s statement, he added: ‘Genuinely, that is what he said. I don’t hear him saying he didn’t say that.’

His explosive memoir – Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – is one of the most anticipated books of the year and is due to be released next week

The earl claims Charles ‘went ballistic’ and ‘ranted for a while’ after he tried to tell the future King that Diana would not have wanted William and Harry to walk in her procession.

‘And then he stopped and I thought, oh now, now he’s gonna pull himself together and say something more appropriate,’ he said.

‘And then, he said, “we’ll forget her soon enough”.’ 

Earl Spencer added that the remark ‘stunned’ him, and that he hung up.

The book’s first astonishing extract made headlines around the world and is splitting society, with rival camps backing either side.

In the first extract, published online yesterday and in today’s Daily Mail, the earl claims:

• The late Queen dramatically offered to restore Princess Diana’s royal title on the day of her funeral;
• Diana told her father she could not go through with the marriage to Prince Charles a month before the wedding – but he told her it was ‘impossible to pull out’;
• The day before the wedding Charles told Diana that while he was happy to marry her, he was not in love with her;
• Diana was so unhappy that she considered suicide and drove herself ‘more than once’ to Beachy Head cliffs in East Sussex;
• Charles sounded ‘giddily elated – like a lottery winner’ shortly after Diana’s death.

Announcing the book last month, Earl Spencer said that, ahead of the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death next year, he wanted to write down his own thoughts and memories ‘rather than having the discomfort of again reading the opinions of others’.

Prince Harry and Prince William, aged 12 and 15, ultimately did walk behind Diana’s coffin in her funeral procession in September 1997 alongside Charles, Prince Philip and Earl Spencer.

Prince Harry stands between Earl Spencer and Prince Charles outside Westminster Abbey during the funeral procession for Princess Diana on September 6, 1997

Harry would later tell Newsweek magazine of the decision: ‘My mother had just died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television.

‘I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don’t think it would happen today.’

The Duke of Sussex, newly returned to the UK with his wife Meghan and their two children, is ‘aware’ of the book but has not read it, sources have told the Mail.

He ignored questions from reporters about it last night as he attended the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards at the historic Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

Swan Song: Diana, My Sister is due to be published next week.

However, several copies of the book were stolen from a lorry parked in a lay-by in the Netherlands earlier this week. 

The tomes had been wrapped in black plastic to hide their contents, but publishing insiders believe they may have been deliberately targeted in an audacious bid to steal them before the official release.

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If you’re looking to pick up one (or several) of September’s biggest games, we’ve rounded up the best deals available right now. 

Thanks to the looming titans of GTA 6 and The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time remake in November, an unusually large number of major games have been crammed into September and October. 

Onimusha: Way Of The Sword kicked off the month, but the real onslaught of new titles begins this week, with Marvel’s Wolverine and Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. For Ultimate Edition buyers, you can also play EA Sports FC 27 today, ahead of its launch on September 25. 

From there, it accelerates with Control Resonant and Silent Hill: Townfall on September 24, while The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Remastered closes out the month on September 29. The latter, however, will be free to anyone who bought the original game, so you might as well grab a copy on the cheap now before it comes out. 

For those interested in the other titles, we’ve compiled the best deals on physical versions below. Control Resonant launches on September 24 but only digitally at £49.99 (or £54.99 for the deluxe edition), with the physical version set to come out on October 15, which might be a blessing in disguise to space out your purchases. 

As usual, Currys offers some of the best deals across multiple titles, due to its 10% off pre-order discount, while Amazon offers some exclusive extras you won’t find elsewhere. For a list of all the best deals, check out the relevant section below. 

Silent Hill: Townfall on PS5

EA Sports FC 27 standard edition on PS5

EA Sports FC 27 standard edition on Xbox

EA Sports FC 27 standard edition on Switch and Switch 2

Control Resonant on PS5

Control Resonant on Xbox

Marvel’s Wolverine on PS5

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave on Switch 2

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For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

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Whether it’s the siren call of the fridge at home or the packet of biscuits in the office kitchen, most of us face the temptation to snack on a near-daily basis.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with snacking, it’s a habit that can quietly derail your health or weight goals. Those single squares of chocolate mindlessly taken from the cupboard have a way of adding up. It becomes especially frustrating when the habit feels out of control, leaving you trapped on a rollercoaster of energy spikes and crashes.

It turns out this isn’t simply a matter of willpower. A study from the University of East Anglia (UEA), published in the journal Appetite, found that the human brain continues to respond to tempting food cues even after we’ve eaten enough. Researchers monitored 76 volunteers using brain scans as they played a reward-based learning game involving foods like sweets, chocolate, crisps and popcorn, then fed them until they were genuinely full. 

While participants reported a dramatically reduced desire for the food and their behaviour showed they no longer valued it, their brain activity told a different story, continuing to fire reward signals at the sight of food regardless of how full they were.

In other words, if you’ve ever felt like your brain has a mind of its own when a biscuit tin appears, you’re not imagining it.

Two separate problems are often tangled together: genuine physical hunger, and an automatic response to food cues that fires regardless of how full you are. 

Emma Bardwell, nutritionist and best-selling author of The 30g Plan Cookbook, is known for her practical, no-nonsense approach to diet. Here, she explains why we find it so hard to stop snacking (both from physical and psychological cues), and shares practical strategies to help you break the cycle.

1. You’re simply not eating enough at mealtimes

This is one of the biggest reasons people find themselves grazing all day. If breakfast is a coffee and a cereal bar, or lunch is a salad that barely touches the sides, it’s hardly surprising you’re raiding the biscuit tin by 3pm. Your body has a remarkable ability to compensate for under-eating earlier in the day by ramping up hunger later on. The answer is simply to make meals substantial enough to actually fill you up. Aim for meals that contain a decent portion of protein, healthy fats and fibre so you’re physically full for longer rather than constantly chasing your next snack.

2. Your meals are low in protein and fibre

Calories alone don’t determine fullness. A 400-calorie pastry will keep you satisfied for a very different length of time than a 400-calorie bowl of Greek yogurt, berries, nuts and oats. Protein and fibre are the two nutrients most consistently linked with satiety because they slow digestion, trigger fullness hormones and help keep blood sugar on a more even keel. Most adults in the UK fall short on fibre, averaging around 18g a day instead of the recommended 30g. If every meal contains around 25-30g of protein alongside fibre-rich foods such as wholegrains, beans, vegetables, fruit, seeds or nuts, you’ll often find those constant snack urges naturally begin to settle.

3. You’re skipping meals or eating erratically

Many people think skipping breakfast or delaying lunch will help them eat less overall, but for lots of us (especially women) it backfires. Going for long stretches without eating can leave you ravenous, making it much harder to make satisfying food choices later in the day. By the time you finally eat, you’re often reaching for whatever is quickest, easiest and usually high in calories. Keeping meal times regular helps prevent those extreme peaks and troughs in hunger and makes it easier to stay in tune with your body’s natural appetite signals.

4. You’re eating because of habit, not hunger

As the UEA study mentioned above proves, not all snacking is driven by physical hunger. Many of us have deeply ingrained habits: something sweet after dinner, crisps when watching Netflix or biscuits with every cup of tea. These behaviours become automatic through repetition rather than because our body genuinely needs more food. Before reaching for a snack, it can help to pause and ask, ‘Am I actually hungry, or is this simply what I always do at this time?’ Sometimes the answer is hunger, but often it’s boredom, routine or simply being on autopilot.

Constant snacking is often a sign that your meals aren’t quite working for you, rather than a lack of willpower, says Bardwell

5. Your environment is working against you

Willpower is overrated when tempting food is constantly within arm’s reach. Research consistently shows we eat more when food is visible, convenient and readily available. If there’s an open packet of biscuits on the kitchen counter or a bowl of chocolates on your desk, you’ll probably eat more without even thinking about it. That’s not a personal failing, it’s human nature. Making healthier options the easiest choice, keeping less tempting foods out of sight and avoiding buying snacks you know you struggle to resist can make a surprisingly big difference without relying on self-control alone.

6. You’re eating your emotions

Food doesn’t just fuel our bodies, it can soothe, distract and comfort us too. Stress, anxiety, loneliness, frustration and even procrastination can all trigger the urge to snack, particularly on foods high in sugar or fat that activate the brain’s reward pathways. Emotional eating isn’t about lacking discipline, but recognising what’s driving the behaviour. If you notice you’re only hungry after a difficult meeting or during a stressful evening, it’s worth asking whether food is solving physical hunger or helping you cope with uncomfortable feelings.

7. Poor sleep is making you hungrier

A bad night’s sleep doesn’t just leave you feeling tired. It also changes the hormones involved in appetite regulation, increasing levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin while reducing the fullness hormone leptin. At the same time, your brain becomes more responsive to rewarding foods, making biscuits, chocolate and crisps feel harder to resist. When you’re exhausted, your body is also looking for quick sources of energy. Prioritising sleep won’t eliminate snacking completely, but it often makes healthy food choices feel considerably easier.

8. You’re eating too quickly and not noticing fullness

It takes around 20 minutes for fullness signals from your stomach and gut to reach your brain. If you’re wolfing down lunch at your desk or eating dinner while scrolling on your phone, it’s easy to miss those signals and feel unsatisfied afterwards, even if you’ve eaten enough. Slowing down, chewing properly and paying attention to your meal gives your body time to register fullness. You don’t need to eat mindfully in silence, but simply putting your fork down occasionally or eating without constant distraction can help you feel satisfied for longer.

The management of Taylor’s Sports Bar and Grill in Headingley said they were planning to appeal against the decision by Leeds City Council.

Retrospective planning permission was refused after changes to the venue’s premises licence were separately agreed in July 2025.

The council said the planning decision did not automatically require the premises to cease trading, but enforcement action could be taken.

The Otley Road venue is near the start of the pub crawl, which has attracted complaints of rowdy behaviour among thousands of revellers at weekends.

Donovan Ather, general manager of Taylor’s, said: “Obviously, we are very disappointed.

“We are instructing our consultants to lodge an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.”

Back-dated permission for change of use from a restaurant to a bar with expanded food provision would have allowed for alterations including a decked seating area.

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Council documents show local opinion was split over the planning application, with 107 letters of support and 160 objections.

Those in favour said Taylor’s supported community sports teams and provided free Christmas dinners for pensioners.

One said: “Basically Taylor’s is a community hub where people can meet up safely.

“The outside decking area is a lovely addition where patrons can sit and watch the world go by. In summer it’s a lovely area to sit.”

Objectors included Labour Weetwood councillors Julie Heselwood, Emma Flint and Izaak Wilson.

They raised concerns over the impact of overcrowding, noise, littering and drunkenness on people living nearby

An objector wrote: “The levels of noise nuisance, shouting and anti-social behaviour is totally unprecedented in this area and is an outstanding example of the harm that is being done to Headingley and its residents.”

Council highways officers raised safety objections, saying the bar caused  drinkers to drift across Otley Road, away from designated crossing points.

A council spokesperson said: “The retrospective planning application for the change of use and associated alterations at Taylor’s Sports Bar was refused planning permission.

“The council is currently considering enforcement action.”

The council pointed out that licensing and planning permissions were separate matters under the law.

The spokesperson said: “The refusal of planning permission does not automatically require the business to cease trading.

“Nor does it automatically affect any premises licence issued under separate licensing legislation, including a licence to serve alcohol.

“The applicant has the right to appeal the refusal of planning permission.”

Every generation discovers its own heroes. I found mine in 2026. He died in 1726 and his name is John Vanbrugh (1664-1726). I’m not the first to discover him, of course, and I am in stellar company. This year has seen the Vanbrugh300 tercentenary celebrations of Vanbrugh’s life and legacy, looking at him in the round as soldier, playwright, architect and all round fun person to know.

In the 18th century, John Soane acknowledged Vanbrugh as “the Shakespeare of architecture”. Soane was professor of architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts, London from 1806. He declared:

It is impossible to contemplate the works of Sir John Vanbrugh without feeling those emotions which the happy efforts of genius alone can produce. In his bold flights of irregular fancy, his powerful mind rises superior to common conceptions, and entitles him to the high distinctive appellation of the Shakespeare of architects.

Few large country houses still represent current political power and extreme wealth that they did in the 18th century. So why value them now? Post-second world war reconstruction threatened historic city centres, and country houses were being demolished at an alarming rate. This continued well into the 1960s. Arguments to protect nature, beauty and art finally resulted in changes to the planning system in 1968.

Now the conversation has widened to how much people benefit from access to green space, sources of awe and wonder, and the past as a pool of creative inspiration. Country houses have been opened up to large-scale tourism since at least the 1960s; deference has been replaced by leisure and pleasure.

Can we still put Vanbrugh on a pedestal next to Shakespeare? Academic discourse has begun to step away from the idea of the lone genius. “Great men” striding through history hide the hard work, team effort and lucky breaks that accompany creative work. Historic buildings are truly bespoke, everything hand made by teams of highly skilled artisans. Vanbrugh’s creative partnership with architect Nicholas Hawksmoor (1631-1736), for example, was essential to his success.

Hawksmoor had trained in constructing buildings and managing sites, having worked in the office of Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Vanbrugh had social connections, great client management skills and something extra – the “bold flights of irregular fancy” that Soane identified.

Vanbrugh’s buildings represent joint authorship, with both men contributing designs. It is hard to distinguish between them, but Hawksmoor never got the same applause in his lifetime or afterlife that Vanbrugh received. Perhaps this was to do with their differing social status, or the fact that Vanbrugh died when the monumental style was still fashionable.

Staging the country house

Vanbrugh’s architectural practice was almost entirely about building country houses, designing landscape settings for them and, rather endearingly, building homes for himself and his family members in the London borough of Greenwich. One of the joys of being an architectural historian is the chance to go and meet the buildings. Vanbrugh’s houses deliver on sensory impact and stirred emotions – the wow factor.

There is much to experience, as his major country houses survive and welcome visitors. The grandest and largest is Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the nation’s gift to the soldier who beat the French at the battle of Blenheim, Bavaria, in 1704, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. Blenheim is a world heritage site, for the significance of the house in its original designed landscape.

The visitor route leads you through a massive golden stone archway, scaled up to make humans feel tiny – and this is just the side entrance. The house itself is best seen from the main entrance court, an architectural expression of national pride.

The skyline elevates the house into a theatrical scene, using the classical language of architecture but with massive masonry additions to emphasise verticality (Hawksmoor designed the sculptural tops of the towers), and Vanbrugh’s manipulation of the effects of light and shadow on the cliff-faces of walls that break forward and recede. This is the castle aspect recast in classical form.

Visitors could feel overwhelmed by the weight of history, acreage and the now alien way of life it enshrines. Instead, the present day interpretation breaks the site into several stories: the servant’s eye view; traditional showcase state rooms and the private rooms which are still lived in. We get to choose how we encounter its social history. Having a resident family with continuous occupation is a huge help in offering authenticity to the visitor experience.

In bracing contrast to Blenheim’s robustness, the fantastically fire-gutted Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland, is now owned by the National Trust.

Seaton Delaval suffered from a serious fire in 1822, destroying the interiors of the main house, but leaving the stone walls, marble floors and even plaster statues in place. The roofed ruin offers a theatrical spectacle of an ancient Roman house, especially in the great hall with Vanbrugh’s Roman arches beating out a visual rhythm.

Externally, you might recognise elements from Blenheim: the high central block and high towers at the corners. The unique seven-sided corner towers remind me of the Tudors and Stuarts, who also played with theatrical castle-like houses. The National Trust have kept the character of this stony monument, using the intact wings to “meet the family”, the rather jolly Delavals. Seaton is just north of Newcastle, surrounded by former mining towns; this estate offers a community garden and green space among urban development.

In Vanbrugh’s day, country house visiting was an activity for wealthy friends and family. Now we are invited in to share the experience on new terms, giving our cultural and civic support to the survival of works of art that we know will never be matched. Go and meet him.