Who Bought The Grand? – The ‘Mystery Solved
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 [...]
The Leas
Michael & Doris Stainer Charged with Fraud
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
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
“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
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?
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?
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
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?
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?
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 moratorium on his [...]
The lady says no – and she’s not for turning…
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?
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
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
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 Grand, Hallam Estates, along [...]
A Gaping Gap at the Grand
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
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
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…
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 [...]
The Great Escape: the Remake
As Michael Stainer (again) and Hallam Estates, the company he set up in 1995 to keep control of the Grand, both slide towards insolvency under the burden of £500,000 of [...]
The case of the Barrister who was never Instructed.
As the Grand continues to veer between tragedy and farce, we can now report on the case of the barrister who never was. For this we must thank a series of emails between [...]
High Court Judge Slams Stainer for “Purporting” to be a Director
In the latest twist in the tale of Michael Stainer’s legal attempts to roll back the inexorable tide of litigation, he fell foul of Mrs Justice May in the High Court. She [...]
It’s High Noon at the Grand – Folkestone
A major confrontation between the Insolvency Service and the ‘new’ management of the Grand is brewing and could result in both civil and criminal proceedings. On one side [...]
It’s Business as “Normal” at the Grand ….
Depends of course on what you call normal! And one can only feel sorry for those public officials, the Insolvency Practitioners, charged with making sense of the complex web [...]
The Grand: “The Merry Go round stops”
With those words, Michael Stainer knew that his final appeal against personal bankruptcy was doomed. Appearing before Chief Bankruptcy Registrar Briggs in the High Court on [...]
A Grand History
Between April 1981 and September 1981 the residents of the Grand made six written requests for a summary of costs for service charges to Michael Stainer (pictured circa [...]