Carlyle Trips Chasing Blackstone in Diversification Push

Thirty miles south of London, residents of Tunbridge Wells are disgusted.

Their ire is directed at Carlyle Group LP, which with Bellhouse Joseph Ltd. bought a dilapidated movie theater in 2011 and then failed to develop the site. Ben Chapelard, a member of the local government, described it as the area’s greatest “grot spot,” and more than a fifth of the town demanded the theater be torn down. Two months after demolition, the lot sits empty, surrounded by blue construction boards.