RINGO's SURREY MANSION RETREAT TO BE DEMOLISHED

• It was home to Ringo and John and appeared in a film
• Sunny Heights has been a place of pilgrimage for fans of The Beatles 
• It's now set for demolition as oligarch Vladimir Scherbakov bought it
• He wants to bulldoze the famous home and build a new one in its place

It was once home to Ringo and John and even appeared in The Magical Mystery Tour – for decades Sunny Heights has been a place of pilgrimage for fans of The Beatles.

But Ringo’s former estate is now set for demolition after being bought by Russian oligarch Vladimir Scherbakov, 55, who wants to bulldoze the famous home and build a new one in its place.

After the drummer bought the Surrey mansion in 1965, it became where band retreated from the public eye. It even had its own bar on site, The Flying Cow, where Ringo would play host to his friends away from the limelight.

He bought the mock-Tudor mansion with his then wife Maureen Starkey for just £37,000 ($57,000). Just a short drive from both Lennon’s Kenwood mansion and George Harrison’s Kinfauns estate, it quickly became an important part of life among the Beatles.

Ringo, Maureen and his son, 1967

One of the scenes from their film The Magical Mystery Tour, when Starr projected images onto George Harrison’s face, was filmed in its extensive gardens. They also used it as the location for photo shoots.

Starr eventually moved out in 1968 and it was briefly called home by John and Yoko Ono, after they sold their nearby Kenwood estate, before it was sold itself the following year. Subsequent owners always appeared to respect the home’s musical legacy until Scherbakov bought it for £5.8million ($9million) in 2013, paying for it in full up-front.

The former deputy prime minister of the Soviet Union, reportedly worth £912million ($1.4billion), has now been granted planning permission by Elmbridge Borough Council to knock down the six-bedroom Sunny Heights and build a new mansion in its place.