Moves by Spurs to buy two historic buildings in Enfield revealed

Tottenham Hotspur entered into discussions with Enfield Council and Lee Valley Regional Park Authority over purchasing Whitewebbs House and Myddelton House respectively, reports James Cracknell

Whitewebbs House (top) and Myddelton House (bottom) are both sought by Spurs (centre)

Spurs have made moves to buy two historic buildings in the vicinity of the club’s Bulls Cross training base, emails seen by the Dispatch confirm.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (THFC) entered negotiations with Enfield Council about purchasing the freehold of locally-listed Whitewebbs House – currently occupied by Toby Carvery – between July 2024 and April 2025.

This move was then followed a year later with an approach to Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA) over a possible purchase of Myddelton House, a Grade 2-listed Regency villa surrounded by award-winning gardens – designed by renowned horticulturalist Edward Augustus Bowles – which is one of Enfield’s top visitor attractions.

While emails obtained under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) confirm that active discussions took place with THFC regarding both properties, these moves were ultimately unsuccessful and both the council and LVRPA have told the Dispatch they are not currently considering the sale of either building.

It remains unclear why THFC would want to acquire the buildings and what the club would do with them if any offer was accepted.

The Premier League’s bottom-placed club remains in a protracted legal battle with the council over the future of Whitewebbs Park, after a judge recently quashed the previous Labour administration’s decision to grant planning permission for a women’s training academy. THFC is now applying to appeal this verdict.

The club had previously struck a deal with the council to take control of around half of the park on a 25-year lease, worth £2million in total – although this was dependent on planning permission being obtained.

Partly-redacted emails seen by the Dispatch now show that less than 24 hours after Labour councillors voted to approve the Whitewebbs Park plans, an unknown person at THFC sent an email to senior people at the council – including current chief executive Perry Scott – asking for an update on a previous offer for Whitewebbs House that had been made in July 2024. The email states that the offer had been “at valuation level” but that Spurs had received “no response since”.

Later emails, in April 2025, show James Raven, the council’s then-director of property, responding positively to enquiries from THFC and suggesting they arrange “a time after Easter to meet up”. He also wrote: “Last place we left the Toby Carvery building was that you were going to ask the valuers to end a vacant possession value to their report. That was going to guide us on a potential marriage value between that and the valuation already provided.”

It was around this time that Mitchells and Butlers, the owner of Toby Carvery, cut down an ancient oak tree near Whitewebbs House without the council’s permission, sparking a high-profile controversy that ended a year later with an out-of-court settlement. The Whitewebbs oak felling is mentioned briefly in an email from THFC to Raven, as something they had “heard about”.

All of these conversations took place under the previous Labour administration, which was ousted from Enfield Civic Centre in May following the local election, when the Conservatives became the largest party.

Responding to the revelations about Whitewebbs House, a council spokesperson said: “Discussions took place between Enfield’s previous administration and Tottenham Hotspur in 2025. Since the change of administration in May 2026, no proposals have been presented to the cabinet, and no proposals are currently under consideration.”

Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre in Bulls Cross sits between Myddelton House Gardens to the east and Whitewebbs Park to the west

Further emails also show that THFC made a move earlier this year to buy Myddelton House, as part of a larger deal to acquire the freehold for the existing Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre, which borders Myddelton, from LVRPA.

However, it appears that LVRPA did not go as far as the council in negotiating a price for its own historic property, with an unknown official writing in one email to a colleague on 7th May: “Please note that in the context of our wider business the disposal of Myddelton House is not a priority currently. I just don’t want you at this stage to build expectations at THFC.”

A month earlier, it appears that a meeting took place between THFC and LVRPA, at which Spurs set out that “any freehold sale” of the training centre would “have to include Myddelton House and the gardens” with “the upkeep and liability passing on to the club to maintain and keep open to the public as and when required”.

An email from an unknown sender also noted that the local election was imminent and that “any decision to sell would most likely be after this date”.

LVRPA is a statutory body responsible for managing Lee Valley Regional Park, which covers a series of interconnected green spaces along a 26-mile corridor of land through Hertfordshire and North London. LVRPA’s board includes a number of councillors from the areas the park covers, including Enfield’s deputy leader Michael Rye.

An LVRPA spokesperson said: “Lee Valley Regional Park Authority is not considering the sale of Myddelton House or its gardens. The house is the headquarters of the authority.

“We lease some of our land to third parties that run leisure facilities, as is the case with THFC for its training ground at Bulls Cross.

“For context, we are regularly approached by interested parties seeking to work with us or acquire land and, working with our appointed councillor members, we give all enquires due consideration and, for those that progress follow public procurement requirements.”

Caroline Day, a campaigner with the Guardians of Whitewebbs group who obtained the Spurs emails under FOI and EIR laws, told the Dispatch: “These documents illustrate that Spurs is interested in acquiring as much property as possible in the Whitewebbs/Bulls Cross area, including valued heritage assets, and their development ambitions don’t end with taking Whitewebbs Park away from the public for their own private gain.”

THFC declined to comment.

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