Koos Bekker has spent $334m to take over a Somerset town and residents are demanding a boycott

Castle Cary did not ask to become a billionaire's project. It simply woke up one morning and found itself becoming one.

South African billionaire Koos Bekker and his wife Karen Roos bought Hadspen House, a Grade II listed Somerset estate, for £12 million eleven years ago and converted it into The Newt, a luxury hotel where a night's stay now starts at £795. That was the plan. What followed was not. Bekker kept buying. The Creamery Cafe at the local railway station. A deli. A beauty parlour. Several high street businesses. Most recently, The George, a 600-year-old pub at the heart of the village, was purchased by Bekker and is set to close for refurbishment.

The Newt today spans 3,000 acres, nearly four times its original size, with 40 gardening staff tending 12 distinct gardens. To finance that expansion, a family trust linked to Bekker sold $184 million in Naspers and Prosus shares in 2024 and another $150 million in 2025, a total of $334 million directed at the project. The estate has drawn high-profile guests, earned top rankings on Britain's boutique hotel lists and put a town that barely registered on national maps onto the international luxury circuit. 

The economic results are real. The Newt project has brought 600 new jobs to Castle Cary. Local estate agent Giles Wreford-Brown confirmed that Bekker's investments have supported local trades and employment. But the benefits have not been distributed evenly, and the complaints have grown louder with each new acquisition. 

House prices in Castle Cary now sit 23.9% above the national average, a surge locals attribute directly to Bekker's expanding footprint. Local resident Mark Telling has urged fellow Castle Cary residents to boycott The Newt and The Creamery Cafe. "The Newt may be bringing money into the area, but it's pushing out the local charm. Support the local bakers and cafes," he wrote. 

Outgoing pub manager Pip Francis was blunter. "Give it five years: almost every other shop on the high street will have Newt branding," she said, adding that locals believe Bekker is "developing an unhealthy stronghold over the community." 

In Yarlington, a village of just 94 residents nearby, plans for holiday accommodation for more than 60 people have drawn intense local anger. A working organic farm in Shepton Montague now has permission for eight cottages sleeping 20 guests and a restaurant. The latest rumour circulating locally involves a cable car from the railway station. 

Local councillor Henry Hobhouse, whose family once lived at Hadspen House before selling it, acknowledged the tension. "It's making the area more desirable, but the community feel is being eroded," he said. 

Bekker has declined to be interviewed on the dispute. He has previously acknowledged a difficult start. "We were initially clueless," he admitted. He has also acknowledged that The Newt is not yet profitable, even after $334 million and more than a decade of investment. 

In Castle Cary, the question is no longer whether Bekker has changed the town. It is how much of it he intends to own.