Latest news with #Cumnock
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Melbourne University sells historic Parkville mansion Cumnock
A landmark Parkville mansion once home to the University of Melbourne's vice-chancellor has sold, with industry sources tipping the final price landed north of $7.9m. Known as Cumnock, the historic Italianate estate at 160-162 The Avenue was designed in 1889 by Windsor Hotel architect Charles Webb and occupies a 1376sq m corner block directly opposite Royal Park. The impressive residence was listed for sale last month, and late last week was marked as under offer. Myer family reveal new look for $100m estate A property industry figure told The Herald Sun there had been strong and qualified interest in the address, particularly for its proximity to the Melbourne CBD. University of Melbourne Chief Operating Officer Katerina Kapobassis confirmed the divestment was underway at the start of May and said the property had previously housed a Vice-Chancellor and was used 'regularly for official University functions and activities.' 'A property within the University of Melbourne's portfolio is in the process of being divested. The University has adhered to relevant legislative requirements regarding the sale,' she said. The university purchased the home for $7.1m in 2017, but had left it vacant in recent months after declaring it surplus to requirements. Industry sources have suggested it has attracted an offer within its advertised price range of $7.9-$8.69m. Its listing earlier this year came shortly after the institution publicly committed to repay $72m in staff underpayments dating back to 2014. Handled by Nelson Alexander Carlton North's Stephanie Hawke and Nicholas West, who declined to comment on the result or buyer. At the time of listing, Mr West described the home as Parkville's 'crown jewel,' citing its scale, architectural significance and rare parkland setting. 'Most Italianate mansions of this scale are tightly packed into inner suburbs like Carlton,' he said. 'But here you've got open parkland across the road, minimal surrounding density, and incredible privacy, that's almost unheard of.' Originally built for stock and station agent George Howat, Cumnock remained in his family until 1919 before it was acquired by Anglican theological institution Ridley College. It was held for decades before being sold to developer Drapac, who then sold it to the university. Behind its grand Corinthian-columned facade, the home features a pressed-metal entry hall, formal dining and sitting rooms, a library, and a state-of-the-art kitchen with Miele appliances and custom cabinetry. French doors open to a leafy courtyard with a fish pond centrepiece. Upstairs, a rumpus leads to a wraparound balcony and turret with sweeping park views. The main suite features a marble ensuite, with three further bedrooms sharing a designer bathroom with a freestanding bath. The four-bedroom mansion includes eleven principal rooms, nine original fireplaces, a turreted viewing tower and wine cellar, and has long been considered one of Parkville's grandest private residences.
Glasgow Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
Tributes to owner of iconic Scottish bakery chain who died
The family of Bill Browning, head of Brownings the Bakers based in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, announced last week that he passed away. He was one of five children to Margaret and John Howie Browning, who started the company, known for "The Famous Kilmarnock Pie" - back in 1945, reports the Scottish Sun. READ MORE: New flagship supermarket set to open, marking a first for the local community Bill worked for a few bakeries learning his trade before joining the family business along with siblings Margaret and Matt. This is when he spent many hours working and baking with his dad at the old bakery in Hurlford Cross. In 1977, the bakery then moved to Galston Road in Hurlford. Bill's nephew John took to social media to talk about the baker's life. He said to the Scottish Sun: "This is when the company really started to be recognised with Bill passing all his great baking skills on to others, creating new and wonderful products to mostly sell in our own and many other shops throughout the Ayrshire area. "His attention to detail in making quality bakery products was second to none, and a tradition the company has always used since then. "In the Galston Road bakery, he grew his own large rhubarb patch and would often be found outside pulling it and making great tarts. "He also went about many homes in Hurlford swapping rhubarb from the gardens in exchange for his delicious cakes. "He had that sort of hunger and enthusiasm." "He won an award once for his delicious Eccles Cakes and never got fed up telling that story. "He didn't have to use scales to weigh ingredients, as a handful of this and that always worked for him. "Along with his brilliance at sugar rolls, Cumnock tarts, pies, rolls and many more it made the business what it is today with the company still using the same ethos. "Our thoughts at this very sad time go to his immediate family." He leaves son John Howie Browning Jr., daughter Beth, grandchildren Blair, Emily and Billy, as well as three great-grandchildren. READ MORE: Iconic cult classic heading Glasgow with live orchestra performance Following the announcement of his death on Facebook, many tributes flooded in for the beloved baker. One person said: "Amazing man, a true gentleman. "I had the pleasure of supplying potatoes for their tattie scones and fresh rhubarb when in season many years ago. "Love to the family." Another wrote: "Thoughts are with the family. "A terrific man, one of a kind. "Bill was a true and loyal lifelong friend." A third commented: "A great guy, who made friends with everyone he had dealings with in the baking industry. "He will be sadly missed." And a fourth added: "A man full of character, he will be sadly missed."
Scottish Sun
21-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Owner of iconic Scottish bakery chain dies aged 87 as tributes paid to ‘true gentleman'
Bill's nephew John took to social media to talk about the bakery owner's life BELOVED BAKER Owner of iconic Scottish bakery chain dies aged 87 as tributes paid to 'true gentleman' Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TRIBUTES have been paid to the owner of an iconic Scottish bakery chain who died aged 87. The family of Bill Browning, head of Brownings the Bakers based in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, announced last week that he passed away. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Tributes have since flooded in for the bakery boss since the announcement of his death Credit: Facebook He was one of five children to Margaret and John Howie Browning who started the company back in 1945. Bill worked for a few bakeries learning his trade, before joining the family business along with siblings Margaret and Matt. This is when he spent many hours working and baking with his dad at the old bakery in Hurlford Cross. In 1977 the bakery then moved to Galston Road in Hurlford. Bill's nephew John took to social media to talk about the baker's life. He continued: "This is when the company really started to be recognised with Bill passing all his great baking skills on to others, creating new and wonderful products to mostly sell in our own and many other shops throughout the Ayrshire area. "His attention to detail making quality bakery products was second to none and a tradition the company has always used since then. "In the Galston Road bakery, he grew his own large rhubarb patch and would often be found outside pulling it and making great tarts. "He also went about many homes in Hurlford swapping rhubarb from the gardens in exchange for his delicious cakes. "He had that sort of hunger and enthusiasm." UK bakery chain set to rival Greggs announces new product range and new stores - a looking behind the scenes He continued: "He won an award once for his delicious Eccles Cakes and never got fed up telling that story. "He didn't have to use scales to weigh ingredients, as a handful of this and that always worked for him. "Along with his brilliance at sugar rolls, Cumnock tarts, pies, rolls and many more it made the business what it is today with the company still using the same ethos. "Our thoughts at this very sad time go to his immediate family." He leaves son John Howie Browning Jnr, daughter Beth, grandchildren Blair, Emily and Billy, as well as three great grandchildren. Following the announcement of his death on Facebook, many tributes flooded in for the beloved baker. One person said: "Amazing man, a true gentleman. I had the pleasure of supplying potatoes for their tattie scones and fresh rhubarb when in season many years ago. Love to the family." Another wrote: "Thoughts are with the family. A terrific man, one of a kind. Bill was a true and loyal lifelong friend." A third commented: "A great guy, who made friends with everyone he had dealings with in the baking industry. He will be sadly missed." And a fourth added: "A man full of character, he will be sadly missed."
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
How the residents of the King's dream of a picture-perfect, car-free eco village are happy in their glorious isolation … even if it will never be finished!
Looking down from on high, the drone's eye view is unflinchingly spare. Far below is a tiny enclave of brightly painted homes, their perfectly aligned slate roofs glinting in the hot spring sunshine as they cling together against the vast expanse of notably undeveloped scrubland beyond. Each house is chocolate box pretty, the palette of styles moves from Georgian townhouse to crofters' cottages, making the whole tricky to date. Down at street level, by a road connecting two former mining communities in Ayrshire, the task is made easier by a foundation stone unveiled in May 2011 by the then Prince of Wales. This, then, is Knockroon – Charles's fabled vision of an 'eco-village' filled with sustainable homes built from stone using traditional arts and crafts. Had things gone to plan, the drone might have captured a very different picture with the surrounding 70-acre tract of boggy farmland filled with a thrumming, largely car-free community of shops and small businesses, all within a five-minute walk of everyone's front door. Furthermore, the 770-home development would provide a chance for local apprentices to learn traditional trades and building skills which, hopefully, would result in an elegant estate of more classically designed homes and fewer soulless, carbon copies like those found on many modern estates. The first phase of 250 royally approved houses on the edge of the former mining town of Cumnock should have been completed by 2017, with the remainder following within 15 years. The whole project was intended to dovetail with Charles's acquisition of the 2,000-acre Dumfries House estate, which he hoped would become a motor of regeneration for the entire community. The sale of houses at Knockroon was meant to help pay back loans used to buy the estate and, as the first homes went up, the first residents would recall fleeting sightings of the heir to the throne buzzing about checking on progress. Since the initial flurry of construction, however, Charles's dream village has stalled. Just 31 homes have been built and not a brick has been laid in ten years. And while the landscape around this model village has barely changed in the past decade, a sprawling 156-home development of modern bungalows and villas, which do not conform to Charles's traditional ideas on architectural design, has been thrown up in the fields directly opposite, dwarfing what exists of eco-friendly Knockroon. Its green credentials were squeezed further by a new £64million 'super-school' for 2,500 pupils at the foot of the hill. The quiet streets around Knockroon have become a magnet for parents waiting with car engines running to pick up their children at the end of the school day. There was controversy when the charity watchdog confirmed that it was investigating a property company over the purchase of 11 of the homes. A Sunday Times investigation published claims that Charles ennobled the businessman and owner of Havisham Properties after accepting millions of pounds in donations from him. So much time has passed without progress that even Charles has moved on to a new job. The King must fear his Midas touch has forever deserted him at Knockroon. And given the catalogue of setbacks which have befallen the place, one might expect its residents to have become embittered. After all, what has transpired is scarcely the vision they bought into. While it undoubtedly takes less than five minutes to cover every street in a settlement so small the name doesn't come up on Google Maps, the only facilities are a café and a dental surgery. Remarkably, though, from the rubble of broken dreams, a deep-rooted sense of community has blossomed. 'It's unfortunate the way things have worked out but, selfishly, I'm quite happy here in glorious isolation. It's so nice and quiet,' said Pat Harris, 65, a retired physiotherapist. She has lived in her terracotta-coloured three-bedroom home in Darsie Brae, Knockroon, for the past ten-and-a-half years. 'It's small but there's a really nice community here. We have a book group and folk will organise things and text and see if others want to come along. 'And for the Queen's jubilee we organised a street party and we had a party at my house for the King's coronation and the neighbours came along for that. 'I was never a monarchist but when I look at the work and the impact that the King has had in the local area, it's incredible.' Liz Conquer, who lives on the other side of the estate on Auchinleck Road with her retired police officer husband, David, admitted there were frustrations: 'There is no hub in the community and no green space. I wouldn't bring up a family here, but we were looking to downsize and it's perfect for us. We absolutely adore the place, and the people who own their homes rather than rent, we go to concerts, we have a WhatsApp group. And we have created our own community, those of us who are invested in it. 'It is just a stunning place to live. It would be nice if it was finished. It doesn't bother us that it's not, but it would be nice if it was.' For Mrs Harris, community also means family, as her 88-year-old mother, Pat Wallace, lives on the estate too, as does her daughter, Rebecca, and granddaughter Penelope. Mrs Wallace was the second to move there in 2011 and she showed Charles around the kitchen in her flat. Her daughter said: 'There are now four generations of us here, which is lovely. It lets me keep an eye on my mum. My other daughter lives in Auchinleck, so her three children come here for breakfast and then we walk down to school from here, which is really nice.' Stone pots filled with flowers brighten the pavement outside her front door and a stone wall shelters her back garden. On the other side of the wall, a plot where the final houses in phase one were meant to go stands vacant. 'A lot of the promised facilities haven't appeared, probably because of the size of the place,' she said. 'There are supposed to be houses going into the area next to me but we'll have to see.' She sounded unfazed by the lack of progress. 'I just don't know that anything will happen. It was a great idea at the time, but the house prices were incredible for the really high spec,' she said. 'We have deep skirting boards, there are no visible cables or pipes, we have sash-and-case windows. I just don't think any building company could sustain just how well built the houses were.' Retired couple Liz and Andy Doole bought their three-bedroom, three-bathroom Georgian-style townhouse off plan after moving from Spain because, as Mrs Doole, now 75, put it: 'I was homesick and I was bored. We popped into the show home and realised they were being built to a far higher standard than anything else we saw.' She and her husband, now 79, moved in while the builders were still constructing homes around them. 'The gardens were basically still rubble then, but we loved the house,' she said. 'And we have the nicest neighbours.' A sense of pride pervades the place. The streets are spotless and each garden is an oasis of calm. 'We all do litter picking to keep the streets tidy. It wouldn't look like this if we didn't. And we got the vacant lot fenced off to prevent dog mess,' said Mrs Conquer. University lecturer Yiorgos Vazakas, who lives on Jimmy Boyd Way with wife, Diane, and his son, Markos, said they bought their house five minutes after viewing it: 'We haven't regretted it, even though we had some problems in the beginning with the quality of the build. But it's quiet and scenic and we couldn't have asked for anything more really.' They all concede that Knockroon's modest size means the dream of a car-free community remains just that. 'There are buses on the doorstep to Ayr and Kilmarnock and a train station at Auchinleck within walking distance, but we have a Blue Badge for my mum as she's limited in how far she can walk,' said Mrs Harris. 'I know it's been compared to Poundbury, but I think you definitely need a car.' Ah yes, Poundbury, the King's other eco pilot in Dorset. Now extending to more than 1,000 homes, it was constructed on Duchy of Cornwall land on the edge of well-heeled Dorchester and it has proved a success. More than 30 years after building work began, there are 4,100 residents, 180 businesses and 2,000 people working in Poundbury-based jobs, while the few properties for sale rarely hang around for long. Charles saw an opportunity to repeat the trick when he led a consortium to buy Dumfries House for the nation in 2007, hours before its antique furniture and artworks were due to go under the hammer at Christie's in London. The late Marquess of Bute – former racing driver Johnny Dumfries – was seeking £45million for the mansion and its contents and, until Charles intervened, a campaign to put the property in public ownership had raised nothing like that. He borrowed the £20million shortfall from his Charitable Foundation, now based at Dumfries House, and the plan was to repay the loan by creating a Scottish Poundbury. But by 2014, the cost of buying a three-bedroom house in the former mining towns of Ayrshire was cheaper than anywhere else in the UK at just £72,500 and many were failing to sell. The asking price for Knockroon homes, by contrast, was £250,000 – later reduced to £190,000. Buyers also had to sign a contract ensuring they stuck to Charles's vision, banning them from putting up satellite dishes or repainting the colour of their home. With few sales by 2014, Dumfries House bought back some of the houses to use as staff accommodation. Eleven more were purchased as buy-to-lets by the Havisham Group, which is owned by David Brownlow, a millionaire pal of Charles. He also owns the Knockroon café Da Vinci's, the village's sole focal point. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator investigated Havisham over the deal after the Sunday Times published claims that Charles ennobled Lord Brownlow after accepting millions of pounds in donations from him. The matter led to Michael Fawcett resigning as chief executive of the King's Foundation. In January, the OSCR identified 'serious' failures in management of the charity, although the foundation said at the time the watchdog was 'satisfied with the improvements made by the King's Foundation in recent years'. Mrs Harris said house prices on the neighbouring estate have now caught up with where Knockroon was: 'They're very expensive actually – £300,000 to £400,000 for a three-bedroom home.' Having paused the project for review in 2019, the King's Foundation said last week it hoped to build up to 400 homes on the site with construction under way in the next three to four years. Executive director Gordon Neil said while the same build ethos and design code would remain, using local contractors and suppliers 'where possible', future development 'will benefit from increased outdoor space, which is a reflection of how the housing market has changed in the past 17 years'. In the strangest of ironies, thoughts of expansion may now face resistance from some current residents. 'People would get upset because there were meant to be so many more buildings around,' said Mr Vazakas. 'But I think, 'Why the hell do you want more people here? So you can have more trouble?' I am happy with this, how it is.'
Daily Record
23-04-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Shotts stung late yet again as Troon draw keeps side in relegation zone
John McKeown's men have had a bad habit of conceding costly late goals recently Shotts boss John McKeown watched his side concede yet another late equaliser on Saturday - but admitted the concession to Troon wasn't as sore as last week's late leveller by Cumnock. The Bonny are battling away at the bottom end of the West of Scotland Premier Division and sit just a point from safety after a 1-1 draw at home to Troon. The visitors netted in the 89th minute after Ally Martin's first-half penalty had Shotts on course to move out of the relegation zone for the third time in their last four games, only to concede a costly goal. A 1-1 draw at Cumnock last week was extremely painful with their equaliser coming in stoppage time, but McKeown admitted this week's didn't sting as much. He said: 'It was a wee bit different from the Cumnock game because I think Troon were chapping at the door. 'The goal was coming and they probably deserved it. They hot the crossbar a couple of times, had a wee penalty claim denied and we got a wee bit of fortune in the build-up to our goal, where there was probably a foul, so If I am being brutally honest, it wasn't as sore as recent ones. 'I thought we were maybe going to get away with and hang on for a massive three points, but Troon are an excellent side. They are probably one of the best teams we've played this season - they are right up there with Clydebank and Johnstone Burgh. 'I felt in the second half against Cumnock, we'd done enough to get the three points. On Saturday, I think if there was another five minutes played, Troon could have gone on to win it. 'But three points were well within our grasp so it is disappointing again. 'That is just the nature of this league. It is not a fluke when it starts to happen so often, it is just that these teams we are up against are so good that they tire you out, they have you sitting deeper and defending for your life until the final whistle. 'Last season [in the First Division] we were doing that to teams, hounding their boxes and scoring late on. 'This season we are on the receiving end, but we've got five games to go - four of them at home - so we just have to stay positive. 'We are taking points off of excellent sides with big resources, constantly, so we just need to stick at it.' Shotts now have a double-header this week with Johnstone Burgh visiting tonight followed by a trip to Hurlford on Saturday. McKeown added: 'We were very unfortunate not to take a point at Burgh the other week there [in a 2-1 loss]. They were down to 10 men and we have an effort cleared off the line, then they go and score at the end after a handball in the build-up. 'It is another cup final for us and we have to approach the game as if our lives depend on it.'
