The demolition of Houston’s historic 130-year-old Kirby Mansion has sparked outrage among residents after the property’s $9.3 million sale was linked to convenience store and gas station company Brake Time Corner Market.

Public records indicate that Omair Bashir, the company’s president and co-owner with his brother Usman Bashir, was connected to OB Texas Properties LLC, which purchased the landmark around October 1.

By late October, the 36-room mansion at 200 Smith Street had been demolished. The Tudor Revival property was considered one of the last surviving homes of its kind in Houston.

The Bashir brothers’ business dates back to 2004, when their father opened his first Houston convenience store.

Omair joined the family business first, followed by Usman in 2014. At that time, the company operated about five stores, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The business has since grown to roughly 300 locations, including 48 CEFCO and 62 EG America stores acquired through expansion, the outlet reported.

In September 2025, Brake Time announced plans to open about 35 additional convenience stores by the end of the year, including three in Houston.

Plans filed in June with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation outlined a $2 million project by the company. The proposal included a site called “Braketime Smith Road” within the mansion’s former property boundaries, according to public records.

The plans call for a one-story, 6,143-square-foot convenience store on the 13,254-square-foot property, according to the Chronicle.

Hi Tech Auto Reality LLC filed the plans, listing Omair as a contact. The project is expected to be completed by October 2028.

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However, representatives for Omair had previously indicated that the mansion site was intended to be leased to law firms and used for office space, Preservation Houston told the outlet.

“We wish the owner had been transparent and honest about the plans for this property and willing to discuss preservation options,” Jennifer Kapral, executive director of Preservation Houston, told the Daily Mail.

“We offered to explore ways to give this building a future. We also asked for the opportunity to document it and discuss salvaging irreplaceable materials if demolition went ahead. We received no response. Houston deserves better than this.”

Jim Parsons of the nonprofit told the Chronicle that the mansion occupied only about a quarter of the property, adding that the new development “could have been built alongside the mansion.”

“But apparently not,” he added.

Kapral told Houston Public Media that the site will most likely be converted into a gas station.

‘We’re losing it to a gas station and convenience store, from what we can tell from all the permits,’ she told the outlet. 

Parsons told the Chronicle that the mansion being demolished for a gas station is ‘salt in the wound.’

The original home was built in 1894 by JS Price, who later sold it to lumber mogul John Henry Kirby. Kirby then rebuilt the property into the home that is currently being destroyed, Houston Public Media said. 

It stood as one of the last remaining remnants of the old South End neighborhood. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Brake Time Corner Market for comment. 

Estate agents may be disappointed: the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appear to have abandoned plans to buy a country house of their own.

The couple, who returned to Britain from California in late August, were reportedly prepared to spend as much as £10million on a property.

Instead, I understand that Harry and Meghan have moved into a home belonging to a friend.

The Sussexes relocated the weekend before taking an overseas holiday during the school half-term break for their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.

Since arriving in Britain, the family had been staying with the friend, a wealthy businessman based in the Cotswolds.

‘They were living in the main house,’ a friend of the businessman tells me. ‘They have now moved to a property on the estate.’

The businessman became acquainted with Prince Harry through their shared support for military charities. He is reportedly content for Harry, Meghan and their children to remain on his estate.

The Sussexes have kept their £19.5million Montecito mansion following their move to Britain. The California property includes a wine cellar, cinema, gym, spa, swimming pool, tennis court, wood-fired stove, barbecue and 13-and-a-half bathrooms.

I revealed in 2024 that the couple had purchased a coastal property in Portugal, close to the home of Harry’s cousin Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank. Both properties are at the CostaTerra Golf & Ocean Club, an exclusive development of 300 seaside homes in Melides, south of Lisbon.

The Sussexes were believed to be seeking a Cotswolds property with extensive grounds, no public rights of way and at least nine bedrooms.

£350million India has an utterly frightful wedding!

Now that’s a wedding designed to give its guests the creeps!

Soho heiress India Rose James marked her marriage to Mexican-American musician Daniel Vildosola, 40, with a Halloween celebration.

India, 34, the granddaughter of the late pornographer and property magnate Paul Raymond, sliced into a wedding cake trimmed with black ribbons at the candlelit reception at Oakley Court in Berkshire. The venue famously served as Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s castle in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

India, whose wealth with her half-sister Fawn is thought to exceed £700million, wore an ivory dress featuring black ribbon bows that echoed the cake’s decoration.

The couple had already held their first wedding ceremony in Las Vegas over the summer.

Adolescence star Ashley Walters once performed as a rapper with hip-hop group So Solid Crew, but his musical tastes have since become more mellow. ‘My younger self would not imagine Ashley being a classical music or jazz fan,’ the 44-year-old actor says in Big Issue magazine’s Letter to my Younger Self feature.

‘But it comes from age – I just can’t listen to drill any more. I need music to calm me down and focus me.’

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Olivia’s just Wilde about British men

Olivia Wilde is a big fan of all things British – including our men!

After going out with pop superstar Harry Styles, 32, the American actress and director, 42, is now involved in a relationship with art dealer Caspar Jopling, 34.

He’s the Eton-educated ex-husband of pop singer Ellie Goulding.

‘I’ll be spending more time in the UK,’ Olivia says during an In Conversation talk at the BFI Southbank in London.

‘I’m on week three of a film we’re making here in London. It’s a Christmas comedy and I love it so much. I’m building the North Pole right now on a sound-stage and it’s insane.’

Stella on ‘weird’ life touring with Macca 

Touring with a pop superstar would have been a dream for most teenagers, but not so for Sir Paul McCartney’s daughter Stella.

‘I was kind of angry when I was 18 because I was building friendships and getting into the swing of my own thing,’ admits the fashion designer, 55. ‘I was like: “What, really? We have to go on a world tour?”‘ Stella, whose mother Linda died in 1998, recalls the contrast between the family’s quiet farm life in Scotland and her parents’ extraordinary fame.

‘Mum was cooking, dad was shearing sheep and writing songs,’ she says. ‘And then we were on tour with, like, 200,000 people screaming at your parents… it was trippy and weird and surreal.’

She now insists, however, that travelling the world was ‘one of the biggest privileges’ of her upbringing, adding: ‘Everything that my mum and dad did came from a place of love.’

 Lotus star raises a glass to booze

Gen Z’s obsession with clean living has failed to win over The White Lotus star Sam Nivola, who thinks his generation would benefit from a few more boozy nights out.

The 23-year-old son of British actress Emily Mortimer and American actor Alessandro Nivola laments that young people drink less than they used to. ‘It’s kind of terrible, honestly, that we don’t drink as much,’ he says. ‘We’ve gone soft.

‘It’s tied in with the health movement. So much of advertising and the products in the world are about wellness.’

Sam, who is dating US actress Iris Apatow, 24, adds: ‘Drinking, of course, it’s terrible for you. It’s poisoning your body. But also, I think it’s worth poisoning yourself a little bit once a week to meet someone new and kiss that girl that you like.’

The actor also warns that young people’s obsession with self-care can slip into ‘selfishness and narcissism’. He says: ‘Not everything revolves around you.’

Michael Douglas, who reveals in his new memoir an affair with Kathleen Turner while filming Romancing The Stone, has advice for the next generation. ‘A lot of actors make the mistake early in their career of having a relationship with their leading lady,’ he said at the Royal Festival Hall in London. ‘What they forget is that you can break up. They’re having to perform these love scenes, and they hate each other. We’ve all made that mistake, and I try to warn people.’

Tom Cruise’s awkward backstage compliment 

Riz Ahmed, who appears in Tom Cruise’s comedy film Digger, was disturbed by the star’s relentless cheeriness.

‘Tom Cruise is so nice and positive and sweet that as a British person it’s very uncomfortable,’ admits the Londoner, 43. ‘We were about to go on stage for the royal premiere and Tom turned around and said: ‘Riz, your mom – I love your mom, she’s fantastic. Beautiful, inside and out.’

‘I was like: “ok”.’

A celebrity has failed in a High Court attempt to prevent the publication of allegations involving sexual abuse.

In an unusual legal argument, the high-profile figure claimed he would take his own life if the allegations were made public.

The man, identified in court as PPT, is accused of abusing his position to engage in “inappropriate and exploitative sexual activities” involving “a large number” of women and girls over several years.

PPT sought an injunction against ITN and The Guardian, which told the court that their investigations had included interviews with more than 100 people familiar with the alleged misconduct.

Mr Justice Nicklin rejected the application, although he ordered that the celebrity’s identity must remain protected for the time being.

The judge said: “I am dismissing the claimant’s application and refusing the injunction. It must be made absolutely clear that nobody may identify [the celebrity], because the reporting restriction remains in force.

“[The celebrity] has repeatedly stated that he plans to take his own life if the allegations are published. Those warnings must be treated seriously, especially in light of his past conduct. However, they do not prove that suicide is unavoidable or that medical treatment could not lower the risk.

“Granting the injunction would impose an exceptionally serious limit on freedom of expression. It would stop [the media outlets] from reporting the findings of their investigations and prevent sources from sharing their accounts.

“That restriction could also remain in place for an uncertain period, potentially indefinitely.”

Mr Justice Nicklin acknowledged that the danger of the celebrity taking his own life was “genuine, grave and closely connected to the court’s decision”.

“I accept that publication would cause the claimant acute and potentially lasting psychological distress. His vulnerability and the probable psychiatric impact are matters of profound seriousness,” he said.

But the judge concluded that NHS psychiatric care was sufficient to meet the state’s duty to protect the celebrity’s life. That duty, he said, did not extend to preventing news organisations from publishing reports.

“I have concluded that the court is neither legally obliged nor entitled to restrain the [media outlets’] publications,” he said.

He added that the accusations against the star were “serious” and could make an important contribution to public discussion, while stressing that his ruling did not decide whether the allegations were true.

The celebrity’s barrister, Sara Mansoori KC, suggested that he could appeal. She told the court that he was “very vulnerable” and had been “not in a position to give us instructions”.

Mr Justice Nicklin gave the celebrity until November 9 to submit an appeal. He said the case raised significant questions about the courts’ responsibilities when a person says they may take their own life, particularly under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Unlike earlier privacy cases involving public figures, the man argued that publication would threaten his life and subject him to inhumane or degrading treatment in breach of Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR.

Ms Mansoori told the court last week that her client had made two suicide attempts since discovering the allegations. One was said to have occurred in July, when he left a secure clinic without permission. She said he is now receiving hospital care.

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“The [media outlets] intend to publish allegations of wrongdoing that he denies, despite clear evidence that doing so is highly likely to result in his death or serious psychological harm,” she said.

‘They say they have a duty to publish because it’s substantially in the public interest, but their assessment of the public interest is wrong. A newspaper does not have the right publish information at the cost of an individual being killed or maimed.

‘They only way [publication] wouldn’t be fatal is if the claimant is locked up and prevented from taking his own life.’

Ms Mansoori accused the media outlets of being determined to publish the stories ‘regardless of whether he dies or spends months in psychiatric detainment’.

The court heard that when PPT was told about the allegations in May, his ‘body language completely changed’ and he went into a state of ‘extreme panic’.

‘He started saying that he wanted to kill himself and would seek to do so,’ said Ms Mansoori. ‘Publication of these allegations would lead to a very substantial increase in suicidal ideation and suicidal acts on the part of the claimant.

‘He attempted suicide in May when he was first notified of the defendants’ intention to publish, and again in July, on that occasion absconding from secure hospital to do so.’

Gavin Millar KC, for the media outlets, described PPT’s argument as ‘unprecedented’ and risked dragging the courts into ‘assessing the causes of suicidal ideation, which are for professionals and not for a judge’.

‘His contention is that if the allegations are published he will commit suicide, and the state’s duty requires this court to restrain [the media] from publishing them,’ he said.

‘If the state owes a duty to PPT, it is discharged by NHS mental health services and practitioners. The obligation falls on the hospital to keep him safe, and that’s that.

‘There is a strong public interest in publishing these allegations which are credible and which [the outlets] believe to be true.’

He added the journalists’ research suggested the celebrity had ‘abused his power…to prey on young women for sexual purposes over an extended period’.

‘[Publication] would make a valuable contribution to a debate of public importance about men using their power to be able to misconduct themselves against women,’ he said.

‘Some of the allegations are sufficiently serious to justify a criminal investigation. Young women may remain at risk while this information remains unreported.

‘Several of [the journalists’] sources were traumatised by how they were treated by [the celebrity], having suffered serious mental health crises and other mental illness as a result.’

Last week, Mr Justice Nicklin said the injunction PPT wanted could set a precedent ‘almost without limit’.

He suggested that it could oblige courts to block prosecutors from charging suicidal individuals with crimes, or prevent children from being taken into care if abusive parents threaten to kill themselves.

A psychiatrist who assessed PPT said his mood disorder was treatable and it would be ‘significantly safer’ for him to remain in a secure hospital if the allegations were published.

After the hearing, criminal defence solicitor Marcus Johnstone, who specialises in representing people accused of sex crimes, said: ‘While I am extremely sympathetic to those whose lives are severely damaged by unproven claims, a different decision in this case would have risked setting a dangerous precedent.’