Sahara buys Oakley Court in UK for Rs 256 crore

LONDON: Indians have now bought another iconic building in Britain, popularly called the Dracula’s Den. UK’s most renowned Oakley Court — a gothic heritage country house in Windsor, which has been used to film ‘Dracula’ and ‘ Rocky Horror Picture Show’ — has been sold off to the Indian conglomerate Sahara Group.


The Lucknow-based business house has bought the property for 27 million pounds, or Rs 256 crore. The latest acquisition was confirmed to TOI by Sahara group chief Subrata Roy. In an exclusive interview, Roy said the property — which has 120 rooms, including 11 luxury suites, as well as substantial meeting and conference facilities — will be used by his business group as their UK headquarters.

“We won’t convert it into a hotel but will use it for our company headquarters in UK. The property is spread over 40 acres and is one of UK’s most iconic gothic buildings,” Roy said.

He had earlier made headlines after buying the fivestar Grosvenor House Hotel for 470 million pounds in one of UK’s biggest real estate acquisitions . Grosvenor House has 420 rooms, 74 suites and 27 meeting rooms.

Sahara had scooped up the deal even as London was agog with talk of some big Middle Eastern royal families planning to purchase the House that dated back to the early 19th century as the seat of the Grosvenor family, better known as the Dukes of Westminster. The purchase of Grosvenor in London’s Mayfair was Sahara’s first overseas hotel acquisition.

Oakley Court, which was built way back in 1859, was used as a hotel till recently and had been the location for some immortal films. It has a nine-hole golf course leading on to a private stretch of the River Thames.

The Court was originally built for Sir Richard Hall Say, who became the High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1864. Although built in the Victorian period, its gothic architecture was a big hit with filmmakers.

Most recently, it was home to several members of Team Great Britain during the London 2012 Olympic Games. In recent times, the hotel has also been visited by the Queen as well as members of the royal family.