05/06/2026
You don’t need millions to make this mistake. Peterborough City Council just proved you can lose £13m doing it.
But you can lose everything doing the same thing on a smaller scale.
Here’s the story.
On the riverside in Peterborough sits a half-built Hilton. 160 rooms. A prime spot in the Fletton Quays regeneration scheme. The kind of project that’s supposed to put a city on the map.
Back in 2017, the council agreed to lend £15m of public money to get it built.
Then the developer went bust. Construction stopped. And the building just… sat there. Empty. Unfinished. So overrun with pigeons it became a local punchline, the most expensive pigeon coop in England.
Last month, the council sold it.
For £2.8m.
Now here’s the part that should make every business owner wince. The building is around 80% finished, but it still has no lifts and no gym. Whoever bought it needs to spend roughly £14m more to actually open it.
Read that again: they sold a £15m project for £2.8m. To someone who now has to pour in another £14m.
Critics, including former council leaders, argued they should have finished it and run it to claw the money back. Instead it went out the door at a fire-sale price, and taxpayers swallowed a loss of more than £12m.
Whether you run a small business or you’re an IT professional thinking about going out on your own, the same four mistakes are sitting in this wreckage:
1. They bet big before the model was proven.
£15m committed to something that hadn’t shown it could finish. You don’t pour your biggest resource into an idea until it works at a small scale first. Test, then scale. Never the other way round.
2. No exit plan.
When it went sideways, there was no clean way out. Every smart operator asks one question before committing: “If this goes wrong, how do I get out, and what does it cost me?” If you can’t answer that, you’re not investing. You’re gambling.
3. They held on too long.
By the time they sold, the asset had rotted in value. Pride, hope, and “it’ll turn around” cost millions. Sometimes the most profitable decision you’ll ever make is cutting a loss early.
4. They forgot whose money it was.
When you’re spending borrowed money, the discipline has to go UP, not down. Most businesses don’t die from one bad idea. They die from a hundred small decisions made with money that wasn’t truly theirs to risk.
Here’s the truth most people won’t tell you:
You don’t need a £15m budget to make a £13m mistake. The errors are identical at any scale. Whether you’re building a hotel or your first side business, the principles don’t change.
The winners aren’t the ones with the most money.
They’re the ones who scale smart, plan their exits, cut losses fast, and respect every pound like it’s their last.
That’s the difference between a business and a very expensive pigeon coop.
💬 Small business owners and IT folks ready to build your own thing: which of these four have YOU been guilty of? Be honest. I read every comment.
🔁 Know someone who needs this reminder? Tag them.
👉 Follow the page for more real-world breakdowns of what NOT to do, so you keep your money where it belongs. In your business.
