The Leas – ShepwayVox Dissent is not a Crime

Leas Pavilion Developer Insolvency: How Offshore Owner Mylecke NV Left Folkestone with Eyesore Towers and Broken Promises

November 14, 2025 // 2 Comments

For 18 months the two stark concrete towers on Folkestone’s Leas have stood frozen – an unfinished gateway to a luxury apartment scheme that never arrived. In early [...]

Folkestone’s Leas in Crisis: Locals Fight to Save Historic Promenade from Neglect and Landslides

July 12, 2025 // 5 Comments

This is a Guest Post Big changes are coming to local government across Kent—and Folkestone & Hythe District Council will not be immune. By mid-2028, the current [...]

Falling for Folkestone: Landslides, Leas and a Council Playing on the Edge

May 19, 2025 // 1 Comment

In the town once nicknamed the “Brighton of the East,” the cliffs are crumbling faster than the council’s reputation for timely public works. Another chunk of [...]

Mylecke NV’s Surprise Over Leas Pavilion Sale Raises Questions

March 11, 2025 // 1 Comment

It should come as no surprise to Mylecke NV that the Leas Pavilion site is now listed for sale on Rightmove. The circumstances leading to this outcome are clear and [...]

Unsung Heroes & Heroines: 1 – John Barber of Folkestone Festivals

March 1, 2024 // 4 Comments

Where to begin is difficult as there are so many unsung heroes and heroines in our community. From Lydd to Lyminge, these unsung people beaver away behind the scenes making [...]

Michael Stainer makes surprise call to Old Timer’s Rally from behind bars

August 30, 2022 // 17 Comments

Yes he was there, if not in body, most definitely in voice, and heard by hundreds of people. At around 3pm yesterday at the Old Timer’s rally, on The Leas, Folkestone, [...]

Vermin scupper Sir Roger De Haan’s planning permission on The Stade

March 23, 2022 // 1 Comment

On July 2021, we wrote the post ‘Folkestone Harbour & Seafront Development Company pitches up on The Stade without Planning Permission‘, who wanted and did [...]

Who Bought The Grand? – The ‘Mystery Solved

August 14, 2021 // 14 Comments

After weeks of speculation, the ‘mystery’ of who bought the freehold of the Grand has been revealed. It was a company, the Grand (Folkestone) Residents Ltd set up by a [...]

Michael & Doris Stainer Charged with Fraud

May 1, 2021 // 5 Comments

Michael and Doris Stainer (pictured below) have been charged with failing to pay income tax and national insurance contributions amounting to over £400,000 under two [...]

A Grand Identity Crisis

March 21, 2021 // 7 Comments

So, who has really been in charge at the Grand since Michael Stainer ‘stepped down’ after his November 2018 bankruptcy? For a brief period, until he was unceremoniously [...]

Stainer Goes Bust and his Staff Turn on Him

March 10, 2021 // 5 Comments

“When it gets bad, it gets really bad.” That might sum up Michael Stainer today as he stares into his reality mirror. He might not do this very often, but in the last few [...]

The Fall of the Stainer Empire: Part 1

December 7, 2020 // 3 Comments

On October 13th, the two flagship suites at the heart of the Stainer holiday-let business went under the hammer at London auctioneers Barnard Marcus. The sale should have [...]

Grant Fraud at The Grand?

November 28, 2020 // 1 Comment

As time runs out on Hallam Estates, owners of the Grand, we hear of yet another cause for anxiety for its director Robert Moss (below left) , and shadow director Michael [...]

Stainer under Restraint?

October 29, 2020 // 4 Comments

Restraint isn’t the word that comes to mind when considering the much battered and bruised Michael Stainer as he fights to retain control of the Grand. Fifteen times in the [...]

The Long Read: The Leas Pavillion – The Way Forward

October 4, 2020 // 9 Comments

Following on from “The Long Read: Is our Heritage for Ransom?” we, the Friends of the Leas Pavilion, would like to let people see how things are from our point of view [...]

The Long Read: Is our heritage for ransom?

September 27, 2020 // 0 Comments

Updated 03/10/20 @9:48 After a decade of neglect and uncertainty and a 5-year campaign by Friends of the Leas Pavilion (FLP), the Leas Pavilion is finally looking set to be [...]

Message from HQ: Time to Stop Digging?

September 26, 2020 // 7 Comments

Updated Feb 8 2021 @16:32 What would make a good week for Michael Stainer? How about one in which three court cases don’t go against you. Or try this: one in which the [...]

The lady says no – and she’s not for turning…

September 14, 2020 // 8 Comments

Imagine how Amanda Blanc, appointed Aviva’s Chief Executive in July this year, would feel if she woke up to find that her insurer had refused to insure her home, and that [...]

Stainer’s Surrender?

September 6, 2020 // 2 Comments

Has Michael Stainer given up the ghost? Have those tired old fingertips clinging to the wreckage of the Grand finally lost their grip? Friday’s brief hearing before [...]

Stainer the false prophet

August 30, 2020 // 8 Comments

Like the biblical prophet some think he resembles, Michael Stainer has frequently prophesised the imminent collapse of part of the southern elevation of the Grand. As [...]

Stainer sent packing (again) in Tribunal humiliation

August 14, 2020 // 9 Comments

Update: 27 May 2021 @13:00 The latest full determination in a six-year saga of defeats in Tribunal and High Court hearings, was published on 11th August. The owners of the [...]

A Gaping Gap at the Grand

July 17, 2020 // 4 Comments

Almost five year after the infamous dawn raid that saw Michael and Doris Stainer and their general manager arrested, Robert Richardson has finally abandoned the beleaguered [...]

The Dog (HMRC) Ate My Homework

June 28, 2020 // 2 Comments

How many times when a schoolboy at Bedford School did Michael Stainer use the excuse “the dog ate my homework”? We will never know, but we do know that he has been using [...]

Knock, knock: bailiffs at the door is no joke

June 6, 2020 // 5 Comments

In yet another twist in the tortured tale of Michael Stainer’s activities, bailiffs turned up at the Grand on Thursday 4th June. They were looking for the “owners” or [...]

The Puppet Master Exposed…

June 5, 2020 // 4 Comments

When Michael Stainer “illegally” removed Henry Bolton in November 2018, as the new director of his various companies, and replaced him with “Robert Moss’, little did [...]

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