Derek Quinlan walked into the Rolls Building in London at ten o’clock in the morning on Wednesday. The building, curvaceous and stretching to 11 storeys, is within a 20-minute walk of three of London’s finest hotels: Claridge’s, the Connaught, and the Berkeley. Quinlan, the son of an Irish army officer and a former tax official, had once co-owned the three luxury hotels after beating off a rival offer from a Saudi prince. A car park on Audley Street in Mayfair is a few minutes further away. Ripe for redevelopment, it too was owned for a period by Quinlan. Close by…

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