Queen guitarist Brian May has confessed to feeling “devastated” and “angry” after flash floods in London left the bottom floor of his home in Kensington, West London, covered in a sewage overflow, resulting in his carpets, rugs and “precious” family photographs and memorabilia being submerged under “stinking sludge.”
In video posts on his Instagram account, the guitarist took his followers on a virtual tour of the basement of his home, showing the damage caused. “Great,” he can be heard muttering at one point, “just when you think you’re okay and can deal with life…”
“I’m devastated - this stuff is only ‘things’ - but it feels like Back To The Future when the photograph fades - feels like a lot of my past has been wiped out.”
Writing about the “sodden mess” he was confronted with yesterday (July 12), the guitarist stated: “It’s disgusting, and actually quite heartbreaking. It feels like we were have been invaded, desecrated.” He also directed his anger towards his borough’s Conservative-led council, claiming that they had ignored warnings about the potential side effects of granting planning permission to “selfish” residents drilling down to create basement extensions in their homes. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council are “responsible for all the misery that is going on in my neighbourhood tonight,” he raged.
“This devastation is a direct result of the infamous RBKC allowing the ruination of our quality of life. These are the same people who scandalously allowed the wrong cladding to be put on Grenfell Tower leading to the loss of so many lives. The same people who allowed a vast area at the end of Kensington High street historic buildings to allow the building of the - 1, Palace Gate monstrosity by developers - in spite of almost the whole population of Kensington objecting. The same council that has allowed selfish basement building bastards to ruin the lives of residents for endless years with the noise, pollution and destruction of our habitat by purely speculative basement construction. The RBKC have been called one of the most corrupt and negligent borough councils in England. I hold them responsible for all the misery that is going on in my neighbourhood tonight. It’s time they were held to account.”
A council spokesman denied May’s claims that the damage is linking to the granting of permissions for basement extensions.
“Flash floods have affected boroughs across London after sudden and torrential rainfall,” the spokesman said. “This is causing damage and disruption across the city, not just here in Kensington and Chelsea, and is not linked to basement building.”
