Contrary to speculation, Greggs has not abandoned its plans to open in Folkestone town centre. The company has simply withdrawn its previous planning application in order to submit a revised one with additional proposals.

On 20 May 2025, Greggs submitted plans to convert the former Barclays bank at 67 Sandgate Road, Folkestone CT20 1RY into its first town-centre bakery. The 308-square-metre premises — situated in the heart of the pedestrianised precinct opposite the former Debenhams — has stood vacant since Barclays closed the branch in June 2023.

The original application received no public objections and included assurances that the changes “would not have any adverse impact” on the building’s appearance. However, on 3 June 2025, the application was formally withdrawn at the applicant’s request. A notice on the council’s planning register confirms:

“The above application was withdrawn from the statutory register on June 3, 2025, at the request of the applicant.”

While Greggs has not publicly explained the withdrawal, it is understood that a revised application is being prepared to incorporate additional details or alterations.

Ownership and linked charitable trust

Land registry data and news archives reveal that Philippe H. Edmonds and Christopher O’Connor purchased the Sandgate Road property in 2010. An auction listing shows the freehold was sold on 8 July 2010 for £1,310,000. Edmonds and O’Connor – long-time business partners – are now the registered titleholders. Strikingly, Charity Commission records show the same names as trustees of a small charity called the Savannah Charitable Trust (Reg. No. 1107483), which is based at 38a High Street, Tenterden, Kent TN30 6AR. That address is the trust’s principal address and is listed on filings as the location of its governing document. The charity’s recent accounts note that investment properties are registered at HM Land Registry in the names of “P H Edmonds (trustee)” (and a former trustee) on trust for the charity.

Thus, the Folkestone property has the same ownership names and a linked registered address as a local charitable trust run by Edmonds and O’Connor. The Savannah Charitable Trust’s stated objects are broadly philanthropic (supporting local Kent charities and disaster relief), but its accounts emphasize “a sound investment property portfolio in order to support its objectives“. Media reports confirm Edmonds and O’Connor as owners of the Sandgate Road bank building in 2010. In short, Edmonds/O’Connor bought 67 Sandgate Road for £1.31m, and run a charity at 38a High Street (Tenterden) with Edmonds listed as a trustee.

Philippe “Phil” Edmonds: cricket career and corporate ventures

Philippe-Henri “Phil” Edmonds (born 1951) is best known as a left-arm spin bowler for England. He played 51 Test matches between 1975 and 1987, and was part of England’s 1979 World Cup squad. By all accounts a charismatic and combative cricketer, he once famously told England captain Mike Brearley, “Get off my fucking back, Brearley, or I’ll fucking fix you”. After retiring from cricket Edmonds embarked on a City career. A Reuters profile calls him a “successful, albeit controversial, corporate executive”. He has served on many boards: for example, he became chairman of Middlesex Holdings (an insurance group), White Nile Petroleum, and Middlesex County Cricket Club. He also led CAMEC (Central African Mining & Exploration Company) Plc as chairman, before it was sold in 2009. In between, Edmonds co-founded and ran companies focused on African natural resources – for instance, White Nile Petroleum’s 2005 oil deal in Sudan briefly sparked a stock-market “bubble”, and in 2006 the AIM-listed CAMEC lent $100 million to Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwean regime. He has an estimated net worth in the tens of millions of pounds.

In short, Edmonds parlayed his sports fame into a career in African mining and oil. Underneath, however, press and investigators have long noted the elaborate structures behind his investments. Alongside partner Andrew Groves, Edmonds was called a “buccaneering City dealmaker” in Africa. The Times dubbed one company’s Congo investments “White Nile fever” when CAMEC rose on promises that later proved misleading. Edmonds’s own memoirs and interviews underline a ruthless pragmatism – he once said “Expediency is what rules – not nice liberal ideas”.

Global Witness’s The Deceivers: offshore bribes and kickbacks

Investigative group Global Witness published a 2016 report titled “The Deceivers”, exposing alleged corruption in Edmonds and Groves’s African deals. It relies on leaked emails and documents to map intricate transactions. The report highlights how corporate secrecy and offshore companies were used to siphon investor money. For example, Global Witness found that its document cache

“includes a spreadsheet listing bribes to top Liberian officials, messages orchestrating stock market scams through offshore companies, and a forensic report detailing [a] hacking operation”.

It accuses Edmonds and Groves of engineering “a multi-million-dollar heist on their own shareholders, funneling profits into offshore trusts”.

      

In concrete terms, Global Witness asserts that Edmonds-controlled firms Sable Mining Africa and others paid out hundreds of thousands in kickbacks. One section, headed “Liberia: The bribes”, shows $200,000+ paid by a Sable subsidiary to Liberian politicians by August 2010. Another part shows Edmonds longtime lawyer Philip Enoch facilitating deals: a nominee firm he owned (“Ely Place Nominees”) served as “the conduit in a $1.2 million kickback scheme”. Enoch and co. routinely incorporated BVI companies (via Nerine Trust) that sold assets secretly owned by Edmonds and Groves to their listed companies. Global Witness even traces instances of real estate and aircraft transactions in 2009–10 where Edmonds/Groves allegedly sold assets they controlled, skimming off millions.

All told, the report portrays a network of anonymous offshore entities (often in the BVI) used to channel bribes and insider profits to Edmonds, Groves and associates. For example, it explains how Edmonds and Groves “paid bribes to change” Liberia’s procurement law when it impeded their mining plans. It repeatedly notes the use of nominee companies: Global Witness writes that Edmonds/Groves “hide behind anonymous firms registered in tax havens” to execute deals. In short, the group claims Edmonds companies used offshore vehicles for kickbacks and to conceal related-party transactions.

Edmonds and Groves have denied any wrongdoing. In correspondence with Global Witness, they stated they are “committed to ensuring that all their business is conducted in a responsible and ethical manner” and “deny any allegations of wrongdoing”. (Global Witness was not sued over its report, and the claims remain untested in court.) The investigation was widely cited in media: e.g. The Guardian reported that Edmonds-run firms “paid bribes to African officials and have bought assets owned by secretive offshore structures”. But no legal finding has confirmed or refuted these allegations.

Unanswered questions on funding sources

Edmonds offshore dealings – along with the use of anonymous companies for bribes and kickbacks – raise a natural question about the Folkestone property and the linked charity. Could any of the money used in those deals have ended up funding the Savannah Charitable Trust or in the purchase of 67 Sandgate Road? There is no evidence publicly available to answer this (we are still looking). However, the coincidence of names (Edmonds and O’Connor) and addresses invites scrutiny of the charitable trust’s financing. For example, if the trust acquired property or invested in real estate, did the funds originate from Edmonds company profits? Likewise, was any offshore financing or loan involved in the 2010 acquisition of the former Barclays building?

The possibility that Edmonds routed gains through networks of companies remain open. But proving a direct link between any disputed payments and the Folkestone transaction would require forensic financial investigation. As of now, we’ve not yet uncovered a sufficiently strong enough paper trail connecting the known offshore payments to the trust or property. In the absence of concrete proof, the safety of charitable and property ownership rests on trust in Edmonds denials. Observers can only note that Edmonds history of opaque deals casts a shadow of doubt – prompting serious but unanswered questions about where the money came from to purchase 67 Sandgate Rd Folkestone CT20 1RY.

The Shepway Vox Team

Deliciously Delightful Dissent