Ex-JUDAS PRIEST Guitarist K.K. DOWNING Seeks Permission To Put Up Marquees For Weddings

According to Shropshire Star, former JUDAS PRIEST guitarist Kenneth "K.K." Downing is seeking permission to put up marquees for weddings and other functions in the grounds of his home at Astbury Hall in Shropshire, England.

Downing, who owns 18- and nine-hole golf courses on the property, has permission for extensions to the hall to provide a hotel, use of a barn for holiday lets and the erection of 12 holiday lodges. However, he is presently not allowed to hold functions, including wedding receptions or barbecues, in open areas outside the hotel building without the prior approval of Shropshire Council and he wants to vary the conditions to allow marquees in three locations.

Chelmarsh Parish Council has objected and is concerned there would be noise nuisance and disturbance for residents.

In a 2009 interview with Shopshire Magazine, Downing admitted that it could be odd coming back to sleepy Shropshire after touring the world with JUDAS PRIEST.

"It is weird," he said. "I've been going and coming from this place all my life and every time it's like it's reinventing itself. I have to reintroduce myself to everything. I go to the cupboard and say, I'm sure I bought some sugar where is it?'"

Regarding his decision to buy a house not too far from his Midlands roots, he said, "It became common sense to buy a property of your own and a few of us acquired homes in the south of Spain. I came here in 1985 a long time. It was the house really that I liked. Before I came here I had a tiny semi in Bloxwich as my first house, but the deal was that there was bus stop outside it, and when we started doing 'Top Of The Pops' in the late '70s, people used to get off the bus and walk up the garden path for an autograph."

Downing recently slammed as inaccurate reports that he chose to quit JUDAS PRIEST to concentrate on his championship golf course.