Toon tycoon, Douglas Hall, has sold off a huge chunk of his country estate. The decision to sell 3,000 acres of Wynyard Hall Estate, for an estimated £10 million, is the latest in cost cutting measures for the Newcastle United vice-chairman. The exclusive Wynyard Hall development, is in Co Durham. The 8,000 acre estate includes a 500 acre business park, executive housing, hotels, golf courses and Wynyard Hall. Hall's company, Cameron Hall, has sold an undeveloped chunk of agricultural land at the Northern part of the estate. Newcastle commercial property firm, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, who handled the sale, said the price was confidential. But one expert told us the figure would be around £10 million. The only part of Wynyard now owned by Douglas Hall is the stately home and 800 acres of grounds. The Chronicle revealed in December that Cameron Hall was liquidating most of its assets to raise cash. A Chronicle investigation found Cameron Hall had pawned a fifth of Newcastle United to raise cash. Once the North East success story which built the MetroCentre, it is estimated the firm, known to have debts of £40 million, has raised £10 million using the Toon shares as security. The firm has a 22.6 per cent stake in United and most has been used to secure loans from Barclays Bank and also a £4 million loan from Douglas's dad, Sir John Hall, who built the firm to success. He retired in 1993 and passed control to Douglas. Documents obtained by the Chronicle show 13 companies of which Douglas Hall is a director, including Cameron Hall, are behind with their accounts. Work on holiday complexes being built by the company in Portugal has stopped due to a cash-flow crisis. Despite repeated requests by the Chronicle no one from Cameron Hall would comment. | 
