Guy Ritchie has sold his London pub.
The ‘Snatch’ director has relinquished his role as a landlord after offloading the 300-year-old Mayfair establishment – which was a favorite of his ex-wife Madonna while they were together – to investment company co-founder Alexander Langlands Pearse.
Friends revealed the 44-year-old filmmaker and his business partner Piers Adam had difficulties selling the Georgian building and were concerned a new buyer might change the traditional features of the pub.
A friend of Guy – who purchased the establishment for a reported $3.8 million in March 2008 – told the Mail on Sunday newspaper: "They were determined that the new people wouldn’t change its DNA."
While it is not known how much the ‘Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels’ director sold the pub for he could use some of the money to fund his latest project – the construction of a tunnel which leads from his house to a street five minutes away where he parks his cars.
Work has already begun on the 25-metre burrow from his £6 million central London abode – which he shares with fiancée Jacqui Ainsley – to the street where he parks his Range Rover and other motors.
A source told the Sun on Sunday newspaper: "The walk only takes five minutes as it is, but Guy clearly values his time. Plus it means he can get there without being recognized."
The tunnel will snake underneath a college, which will reportedly sacrifice a room due to the construction.
The source added: "To complete the work he’s had to ask the college to sacrifice a room.
"Students have been warned there may be some disruption due to drilling."