In July, Amazon bought Bray Film Studios outside Windsor from Mr Burke’s family company Farmglade for an undisclosed price. The most recent accounts for a separate group company for 2022 show that at the end of that year, the business had £45m in assets and owed £10m to creditors, some of which may have been Burke-owned companies.
Mr Burke bought the studios in 2014 for £7.68m according to a UK Land Registry filing. Close to Heathrow airport and 26 miles from central London, they have a star-studded history. The Hammer Horror series and Dracula were filmed there, while models for the film Alien were made and filmed there.
Music legends including Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and later, Radiohead and the late Amy Winehouse also rehearsed there. In 2019, the Oscar-winning Elton John biopic Rocketman was filmed there.
A proposal seen by this newspaper indicates that Amazon may invest £60m to transform the property, subject to planning, by adding up to four more sound stages to the current five.
Additional studio and supporting facilities as part of a film campus are also planned. The investment would facilitate up to £140m of production spending every year, supporting thousands of jobs, according to the proposal.
Music legends including Amy Winehouse rehearsed at Bray Film Studios. Photo: PA
The US giant also has a long-term production deal in place to film at nearby Shepperton Studios in Surrey, as does Netflix, with their investment in the UK making it the largest studio location outside of Hollywood.
“For 70-plus years, Bray Studios has held an important place in the history of British film making,” Mr Burke said in a statement released by Amazon.
“During our period of ownership, I, together with my family and team, have witnessed the rebirth of this iconic facility and we are extremely proud of the part we have been able to play in bringing it to renewed prominence.
“We are now genuinely excited to be handing the studios over to Amazon, who we believe share our commitment to quality and excellence and are perfectly suited to preserving the character of the studio while enhancing the first-class creative production spaces for generations of filmmakers to come.”
We are now genuinely excited to be handing the studios over to Amazon
Separately, accounts reveal that another Burke group company sold a property called Queens House at 64-65 St James’s Street in central London for £35m in November 2020.
The office block has since been extended and renovated. The new owner is marketing the building’s 16,000 sqft of offices across seven floors at No 65 with a ground floor retail unit. But the property’s most stunning new feature is a roof garden where all of the city’s most recognisable landmarks are within view.
Mr Burke previously founded specialist construction and drylining firm BDL Group in the 1970s, establishing it as a leading trade contractor, before it was sold to London-based Irish builders Carey Group in 2013.
According to Farmglade’s website, Mr Burke established that group in the 1990s. Having since become a landlord to the UK government and blue-chip companies, the business has a residential and commercial portfolio throughout southern England and prime central London, it states.