The Sunday Times Magazine – 7 May 2017

Rich List 2017 501-750

trusts own the separate London-based Eskmuir Properties,

whose net assets fell to £124m in 2015. Laing donated £10,000 to

the East Anglian Air Ambulance service. 2016: £160m, 640=

692= £ 161 m ■

MARTIN GEORGE AND FAMILY

Food

The George family’s wealth came from Weetabix, which the late

Sir Richard George turned into staple breakfast fare for millions.

In 2003 the business was taken over in a deal that made the

family £128m. The running of the Northamptonshire-based flour

milling enterprise Whitworths Holdings has passed to his brother

Martin, 74. It showed £52.3m net assets in 2015-16. New entry

CHRIS WHITFIELD

Property

UK Land Estates owns and operates 25 commercial estates in

Gateshead. Showing assets of £87.6m in 2015, it is worth at least

£200m. Whitfield, 52, has a stake of more than 78%. New entry

694= £ 160 m ■

ALFIE BEST

Leisure

Best, 47, left school at 12. A Romany, he owns 47 caravan parks,

plus houses in Hampstead and Mayfair. His Harrow-based Best

Holdings showed £49m assets in 2015. His son, also Alfie, was 16

when he bought a Hertfordshire nightclub. 2016: £160m, 640=

ROGER AND GILES BRACEWELL

Pet food

Lancashire-based GA Pet Food Partners employs 350 people

and has annual sales of more than £85m. Profits hit £16.1m and

assets grew to £50.2m in 2015. Chairman Roger, 56, owns more

than 97% of the £160m firm with brother Giles, 52. New entry

TOM AND RUTH CHAPMAN

Fashion

Matchesfashion.com sells clothes from more than 400 designers

including Stella McCartney. It was founded as a Wimbledon shop

by Chapman, 53, and wife Ruth, 55, whose online operation now

generates 95% of sales. A £200m float has been mooted, which

would value the couple’s stake at £150m. 2016: £150m, 685=

PHILIP DOYE AND FAMILY

Business services 2016: £160m, 640=

LORD FINK

Hedge fund and hotels 2016: £150m, 685=

GUY HARWOOD AND FAMILY

Car sales and horseracing

Cars made Harwood, 77, wealthy but horses are his passion, with

winners including Dancing Brave coming out of his Coombelands

stables. The family firm Harwoods, established in 1931 in West

Sussex, has a network of dealerships and in 2016 the operation

made £17.2m profit on £612.6m sales. 2016: £105m, 936=

JAMES HOOK AND FAMILY

Poultry

Oxfordshire-based PD Hook (Hatcheries) can produce 10m

day-old chicks and 6m chickens a week. In 2015 the firm saw its

profits hit a record £22.8m on £169.3m turnover. Chairman Hook,

61, and his family own the £145m business. 2016: £130m, 766=

SIMON KARIMZADEH AND FAMILY

Property 2016: £160m, 640=

TONY AND BARBARA LAITHWAITE

Wine

Laithwaite founded Reading-based Direct Wines in 1969. Trading

as Laithwaite’s, it has 12 stores and runs a lucrative online delivery

service. With £52m net assets, the firm is owned by Laithwaite, 71,

his wife, Barbara, 70 , and family trusts. 2016: £110m, 885=

RIC LEWIS

Finance New entry

IRINA MALANDINA

Divorce 2016: £160m, 640=

JOHN MARSTON AND FAMILY

Property and hotels 2016: £145m, 721=

GED MASON

Recruitment

Mason is the chairman of Morson Projects, which provides

engineering services to the aerospace and energy industries. The

Manchester-based business’s parent is worth £150m. Mason, 53,

part-owns Sale Sharks rugby union club. 2016: £104m, 978=

SIR KEITH MILLS

Loyalty cards

Brentwood-born Mills, 67 next Monday, is the lead backer of Sir

Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup campaign. The Olympic medallist

competes in the event in Bermuda this summer and avid sailor

Mills wants the UK public to get behind the contest. He made his

money from loyalty cards : first, Air Miles, taken over by BA in

1994, and then the Nectar card, which he sold in 2007, netting

£160m. He has settled a claim against the private bank Coutts,

in which he had £73m tied up in AIG bonds. He recently invested

£2.5m in the video messaging app Wordeo. 2016: £160m, 640=

BRENDAN O’MALLEY AND FAMILY

Construction 2016: £105m, 936=

BRIAN SCOWCROFT AND JANET LEFTON

Insurance and property 2016: £160m, 640=

Jones, whose wife, Linda, died a year ago,

has been spotted dining with Priscilla

Presley, saying they have been friends

since 1968. Prompted by his son Mark —

pictured with his parents in 1967, and now

his manager — Jones had counselling to

help cope with the loss after 59 years of

marriage to his teenage sweetheart. He

also threw himself into work, explaining:

“Time off would be the death of me.”

Jones’s touring schedule this year

comprises 29 gigs in 13 countries, and his

TV career is back on song after the BBC

reality show The Voice dumped him

overnight in 2015. Rehired when the series

moved to ITV, the Pontypridd-born singer,

76, says his experience was a lesson to

young artists on the programme in how to

cope with setbacks: “There’s a knockback

right there, at my time of life.”

Jones earned a reported £1m a series at

the BBC, though we can see only £976,000

net assets for 2015 in his Valley Music

company. He has sold well over 100m

records since his fi rst hit, It’s Not Unusual,

in 1965. 2016: £155m, 670=

694= £ 160 m £ 5 m ▲

SIR TOM JONES

Music

TOM AND RUTH CHAPMAN
GETTY; ALAMY Entry 694=, £160m

The Sunday Times Magazine • 121