Page 30 - Yorkshire Rich List 2017

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Jonathan and Lesley Wild £160m
2016
Position: 34 £160m
Be ys & Taylors – the Harrogate business behind the world famous tearooms and the Yorkshire Tea brand – can trace its roots back 98 years.
Now it’s in the hands of husband and wife team Jonathan and Lesley Wild, both 64. Lesley chairs the business, while Jonathan – who retired from the company in 2011 – is in charge of a major environmental charity effort to plant and protect trees.
The first Be ys tearoom was opened in 1919 in Cambridge Crescent in Harrogate by an orphan Swiss confectioner, Frederick Belmont, who had arrived in the country with li le English and li le money. He found himself on a train to Yorkshire by accident, and decided to stay.
His tearoom formula of Swiss patisserie, stylish decor and friendly service made it an immediate hit, and more Be ys tearooms were opened throughout Yorkshire during the 20s and 30s.
Expansion continued and in 1962, under
the management of Frederick’s nephew Victor Wild, the firm merged with long-established tea merchant Taylors.
Nearly 100 years a er being founded the firm continues to thrive, employing more than 1,400 people in six Be ys Cafe Tearooms, a cra bakery, a cookery school and an online shop as well as the Yorkshire Tea and Taylors of Harrogate tea and coffee brands.
The business turns over more than £170m a year and has net assets of £115m. It made a £9.3m pre- tax profit in 2016.
York-born Lesley Wild, the daughter of a Wolds farmer, joined the business in 1979 a er training as a lawyer. She was the inspiration behind the cookery school which opened in 2001. She is also the author of A Year of Family Recipes and works closely with the University of York, where she was a pro-chancellor until 2015.
Jonathan Wild, who trained as a teacher, retired as chief executive in 2011 to concentrate on the firm’s Trees for Life initiative and the Rainforest Project. He is currently working with the National Trust on a project in the Yorkshire Dales, planting 20,000 trees to restore natural habitats and play a part in flood protection.
TEA AND TOAST: Lesley and Jonathan Wild, the husband and wife team behind Be ys & Taylors of Harrogate.
2016
Position: 35 £155m
DOCKLANDS VISION: Sir Robert Ogden was originally in the quarrying and demolition businesses.
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Sir Robert Ogden £155m
Bradford-born Sir Robert Ogden, 81, was originally in the quarrying and demolition businesses before investing in property.
He was one of the first developers to see the potential of the London Docklands, which was offering vacant land close to the heart of the city. In 1983 he completed the first development in the area – a 90,000 sq industrial scheme. He went on to develop computer centres for Merrill Lynch, Bloomberg and The Stock Exchange.
Ogden Group is also involved in industrial and warehousing projects in Leeds and Bradford.
A er leaving school in Bradford, aged 15, he went to work on a farm before doing his national service. When he returned he started a company supplying road-laying material to farms. He built up a business processing and washing coal, and sold that for £24.5m in 2006.
His Ogden Group property company has carried out office, industrial, leisure and retail projects
all over the country, but it is his investments in
the Docklands that have brought in much of the business’s money. He owns or backs other property
companies in Yorkshire including Harrogate- based Luga Properties. His Ogden Estates property company shows net assets – largely investment properties – of £46m. The Ogden Group is involved in the development of the Centre 27 business
and leisure park in West Yorkshire. He also owns Condor Aviation, a specialist aircra engineering company based in Selby.
He is one of the country’s leading owners of National Hunt horses as well as horses for the
flat at his Sickling Hall Stud. His star horses from his string include Cheltenham winner Exotic Dancer. He was knighted for his services to charity, particularly cancer care. The £8m Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre at Harrogate District Hospital provides cancer treatments and support.
He has worked closely with Leeds University and funded scholarships for less well-off students. He also helped establish an autistic school in Barnsley.
His 55-metre super yacht, La Masquerade, tours the world and is tracked by yacht enthusiasts.
He lives at Sicklinghall Grange, set in a 107-acre estate, near Wetherby.
30 THE YORKSHIRE POST TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28 2017
www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
GARY LONGBOTTOM ADRIAN MURRAY