Real Monopoly player who owns both ends of Oxford St | Markets & Analysis

Real Monopoly player who owns both ends of Oxford St | Markets & Analysis

I've always had a sneaking admiration for big-time property developers. I suppose it must stem from playing Monopoly as a child. I never knew which way to go - should I buy every square on which I land or play a waiting role, saving my cash and picking them off?

Whichever strategy I adopted, I invariably lost - either from buying rubbish and running out of cash or by not getting much at all as others piled in ahead of me. Waiting to meet Mike Hussey, I'm back, hunched over the familiar board, wondering what to do next.

Hussey, you see, plays Monopoly for real. He has done two deals this year that sound as though they could have come straight from Waddington's favourite game. His Almacantar property investment and development vehicle has bought Centre Point and the Marble Arch Tower - the landmarks at either end of Oxford Street.