long-term partner, Ben Andersen, is embroiled in a dispute with his local council and London neighbours. The partner of the star purchased a new pub in November 2023, but has since faced complaints from local residents to Kensington and Chelsea council over safety and planning permission issues.
Despite the borough reportedly deploying its street enforcement team to inspect the premises, residents remain dissatisfied.
The Daily Mail reports that one local resident lodged a complaint with the council about external cellar doors being left open and bags of topsoil abandoned outside, stating: “This causes inconvenience for pedestrians and raises genuine safety worries.”
They further noted that the pavement outside the pub remains blocked and is being used to store construction debris.
The concerned resident implored the council to “treat this matter with utmost urgency,” expressing fears that school children could be at risk when passing the site during the school run, reports .
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One resident snarked that Kirstie was ‘losing track of her properties’ because she had too many (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
In addition to safety concerns, some locals are worried that not all works have been granted permission, with speculation that Andersen’s development company may be moving the kitchen into the cellar without authorisation.
One local vented their frustrations about suspect activity in the neighbourhood, claiming: “Over the Christmas period, I observed considerable quantities of topsoil and large concrete stones being removed from the site – activities strongly suggestive of basement excavation, despite the planning application failing to explicitly acknowledge such intentions.”
They continued to say that the situation left the community feeling as though “there is one rule for the Allsopps and another for the rest of us.”
Ben Andersen, who’s been with Kirstie for two decades, was accused of unsafe construction, unauthorised changes, and incorrect planning applications (Image: Google Maps)
In the latest development, Kirstie’s partner put forward a fresh planning application for additional work in December, with some neighbours asserting he’d completed it incorrectly. One cynically remarked: “Maybe Kirstie Allsop’s got so many places, she’s losing track of her properties faster than I lose socks on laundry day!”
This hasn’t been the only controversy for Kirstie and Ben with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC). Together, they raise two sons as well as Ben’s children from a previous partnership.
This past August, Kirstie disclosed on Times Radio that she had been reported to the council following revelations that she permitted 15-year-old Oscar to embark on a three-week interrailing journey with his 16-year-old mate.
Describing the incident, Kirstie mentioned: “It was a malicious call, made by someone who was obviously trying to upset me”. She further noted: “Social services should have recognised that and dealt with it, accordingly, malicious calls are actually an element with all social services.”
The presenter labelled the council service’s decision to call as “utterly bizarre”. Kirstie suggested that her celebrity status might have influenced the complaint, stating she didn’t believe social services would “have treated me in exactly the same way had I been an ordinary member of the public.”
Kirstie expressed her surprise at the response to Oscar’s trip, which was a celebration of his GCSEs. She lamented: “There’s generations of people who have travelled very freely all over the place, and now there’s this group of people, who are terrified and who are restricting their teenagers.”
Express.co.uk has reached out to Kirstie’s representatives for comment.