Shropshire Star

Poundland founder's mansion near Bridgnorth finally 'sold for £4 million'

The founder of Poundland is believed to have sold his luxury 13-bedroom mansion in the Midlands for £4 million almost eight years after it first went on the market.

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Steve Smith at Hammer Hill House

Steve Smith, born in Willenhall, had originally asked for £6.5m for Hammer Hill House – a 13-bedroom home at Romsley, a small hamlet near Bridgnorth.

The lavish property attracting a lot of interest but no buyers and the asking price was initially cut back to £5.75m.

But now the mansion, which includes 14,000 sq ft and a pool, has been sold at an asking price of £4m after the price was dropped once again, according to reports.

Mr Smith, who set up the discount chain in 1990, said he bought the house for around £2.2m after selling Poundland in 2002 and went on to spend another £4m doing the property up.

Hammer Hill House
Inside Hammer Hill House

He told MailOnline: "It has been a long process but we finally sold the property six months ago for £4 million after paying £2.2 million for it in 2002 when we sold the business.

"Saying that we probably spent another £4 million on the property doing it up. We've bought a Grade II listed building not far from my dad's house nearby.

"It is a lot smaller now all our children have flown the nest. It was quite emotional moving out but it was literally the house that Poundland built."

The businessman purchased Hammer Hill House in the same year he sold his Poundland shares for £50m, with the property being set in more than 28 acres of countryside and boasting views of the Severn Valley.

The pool inside Hammer Hill House

The house was designed by Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis who is famous throughout the architectural world for creating Portmeirion, the popular Italianate tourist village near Portmadoc on the North Wales coast.

Mr Smith previously told the Express & Star that he and his wife wanted to downsize and the home, which was first put on the market in 2014, represented "value for money".

Inside Hammer Hill House

He said at the time: "We put it on and off the market off and on as we keep changing our minds about keeping it. Hammer Hill cost us over £6m to create so the price we are selling it for is value for money.

“When looking for a home like this it can take a long time before we brought this house my wife and I were looking for four years.

“All of our kids are grown up and have recently brought their own homes so I suppose just for my wife and I it is a bit big,” Mr Smith added.

Mr Smith set up Poundland in Burton upon Trent in 1990 and there are now 500 UK stores, selling everything from toys to toiletries and bread to biscuits.