you pass all these other doors that say HSBC, KPMG
and what have you. And then I saw my door. There
was this lovely wave of euphoria as I stood there and
thought, “How the f*** did that happen?”Alfie Jr
Being a Romany was just ... it was who we were. I was
surrounded by heritage and family. Certain codes we
lived by. I know there are sections of society that have
a problem with Gypsies, but it was never a problem for
me. Who I am has always been something positive.
I knew that Dad had started early in business and
I definitely wanted to follow in his footsteps. I never
seemed to enjoy learning and I stopped going to school
at 11. Like any kid I had all these ideas and was telling
people about how rich I was going to be, but the real
picture was different. Business-wise I knew what I was
doing, but I couldn’t read or write and that sometimes
caused a few problems. Some people might have let
that hold ’em back. Not me. If Dad needed one of the
lorries moving I would jump in the driver’s seat. Yes,
I was only 12 or 13 but that’s how it was back then. You
couldn’t do that these days, it’s all health and safety.
Dad didn’t take any rubbish from me and my sister.
If I pissed him off I would get a slap. But that wasn’tPORTRAIT BY PAUL STUART
STRANGE
HABITS
Alfie on Alfie Jr
He never lets
me forget he’s
got more money
than I had at
his age. I tell
him, “Life’s a
marathon not
a sprint”Alfie Jr on Alfie
When we go to a
coffee shop, Dad
asks what I want.
I say cappuccino,
then he says,
“Get them in.”
Every time!anything out of the ordinary. If I pissed my dad off
today I think he’d still give me a slap!
Once my dad started making a bit of money I used
to get introduced as Alfie Best’s son. I didn’t mind that,
but I remember thinking, “I want to be known for what
I’ve achieved and I want to be richer than my dad.”
My first big business thing was investing £60,000 in
a nightclub when I was 16. I thought I could turn it
around and jumped in head-first, learning on the job.
Not a good idea. It did all right in the end, but only just.
We do argue a lot about business, but I’m my dad’s
son, the apple don’t fall far from the tree. That said, Dad
ain’t a big fan of social media, but I look at it as a giant
advertising hoarding. I’ve only got 105,000 followers,
but that’s an instant customer database, right there.
The main thing Dad taught me is “don’t be afraid to
dream”. When I was a kid he took me to Las Vegas and
I told him that, one day, I was going to buy a casino. We
went back there a few years later and I talked about
giving up on that dream and he was well annoyed. He’s
right. There’s no problem with dreaming. If I tell you I’m
going to make more money than Jeff Bezos and I end up
only making half as much, that ain’t too bad, is it? ■PAUL STUART FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE Interviews by Danny Scott
The Sunday Times Magazine • 45