A magnificent 13-bedroom country mansion once owned by Poundland co-founder Steven Smith has had its asking price cut by £250,000 — the latest episode in a long-running saga of an extraordinary property that has repeatedly defied attempts to sell it at anywhere near its true perceived value.
Hammer Hill House, near Romsley in Worcestershire, is currently listed at around £4.75 million, down from £5 million in April 2026, as its current owners attempt to find a buyer for one of the Midlands’ most architecturally distinguished private residences. The property is being handled by estate agents Charwell Noble, who describe it as an “iconic country residence.”
The price reduction is a striking echo of what Smith himself experienced when he tried to offload the property years earlier — a process that became an object lesson in the difficulty of selling exceptional homes with exceptional price tags. Smith, who co-founded Poundland with Dave Dodd in 1990 and sold the business in 2002, had purchased the house that same year for £2.2 million before investing a further £4 million in renovations with his wife Tracey. He put it on the market through his own online estate agents in 2014 for £6.5 million, hoping to avoid paying commission. After sustained lack of interest, the price dropped to £5.75 million, then to £3.95 million in 2018. He eventually sold the property for £4 million — a significant loss given the £6.2 million he had spent in total.
Smith was candid about the outcome at the time. “We bought the house for £2.2 million in 2002 but we spent probably around £4 million doing it up so we are going to lose money,” he said. “Since the kids have grown up and moved out it’s just me and the wife and it’s a big place for both of us to live in.”
The businessman who bought it from Smith has now placed it back on the market — and is encountering strikingly similar resistance. The former owners are best known for founding the Poundland discount retail chain. Smith has recently been appearing on television series such as Rich House Poor House, reigniting interest in his life and the property.
The appeal of Hammer Hill House on paper is considerable. Now 103 years old and set within 28 acres of Severn Valley countryside, the property was designed by Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis — the architect behind Portmeirion, the idiosyncratic Welsh village that served as the backdrop to the 1960s cult television series The Prisoner. The interior runs to seven bathrooms, an indoor heated swimming pool, a games room, a private bar and a drawing room with a dancefloor. A bespoke kitchen hand-painted by Christians of Nantwich features an AGA cooker, and the grounds include four paddocks, an extensive garage, an office block and a greenhouse. A helicopter landing pad also features among the property’s amenities. Two matching three-bedroom gate lodges are included in the sale, which agents suggest could be used for staff accommodation, guest houses or rental income.
Whether the latest price reduction will be enough to break the property’s stubborn resistance to sale remains to be seen. What is clear is that Hammer Hill House — for all its grandeur — continues to challenge every owner who tries to put a final price on it.
