Page 31 - Yorkshire Rich List 2017

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Stephen and Paul Harrison £155m
New entry
Brothers Stephen and Paul Harrison own and run the flourishing Leeds-based housebuilder Harron Homes.
Stephen, 48, and Paul, 46, have seen the business do well of late, with sales more than 55 per cent up and profits growing rapidly. Harron Homes turned over almost £146m in 2016 and made record pre- tax profits of £21.3m, up from £16.2m the previous year.
Harron Homes prides itself on its house design- and-build quality, and a ributes its success to these values.
The business is acquiring sites throughout Yorkshire, but has also built up a significant presence in the north Midlands, particularly No inghamshire and Derbyshire.
The business has a healthy order book and a good supply of high-quality land.
Meanwhile housing shortages are driving demand and prices up. The Government’s Help to Buy scheme is also helping the market.
Current developments include Farriers Cro in Linley, Amberwood Chase in Dewsbury, Manor
Farm in Snaith, DEvonshire Gardens in Crich and Moorbank Lea in Shelf.
Harron Homes was set up by the brothers
in 1992. It has grown consistently since being established and is hungry for more development land.
The company sponsors North Yorkshire-based racing driver Max Coates and supports local charities, schools and community groups.
Harron Homes turned over almost £146m in 2016 and made record pre-tax profits of £21.3m.
DESIGN QUALITY: Stephen Harrison, who runs the housebuilder Harron Homes with brother Paul.
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Barbara Taylor Bradford OBE £150m
2016
Position: 38= £148m
Yorkshire-born literary legend Barbara Taylor Bradford is concerned at research which shows that there is a sharp drop in girls’ creative writing as they get older.
So earlier this year she launched the second of her ‘The Write Stuff ’ competitions with The Sunday Times to help discover the next generation of
young female writers. Girls were invited to submit 1,000-word short stories. Research by the National Literacy Trust, of which she is an ambassador, revealed girls aged eight to 11 are twice as likely to enjoy creative writing as girls aged 14 to 16.
Barbara Taylor Bradford’s career in the world of words began when she was 15 and worked in the typing pool at the Yorkshire Post.
She moved up the newspaper’s ranks quickly, becoming a reporter by the time she was 16 and became the paper’s first woman’s page editor two years later. Fleet Street beckoned and she moved to London to become a columnist for the Evening Standard and fashion editor of Woman’s Own magazine.
She started writing fiction when she was just
seven, and her first published work was a short story which she sold to a magazine for 7/6d.
Her latest book, The Secrets of Cavenden, just published, continues her Cavenden Hall series, this time set in 1949 in austere post-war Britain.
It is her 39th book. Her first novel, A Woman of Substance, was published in 1979. It was a huge bestseller, remaining on the New York Times list of bestsellers for 55 weeks and selling more than 30 million copies worldwide. Ten of her books have been turned into TV drama series or films.
She was born in Leeds and went to the same nursery school as Alan Benne in Upper Armley. Her father, Winston Taylor, was an engineer who lost a leg serving in the First World War.
She holds five honorary doctorates of le ers from universities in Leeds, Bradford, Connecticut, Loudonville and New York. She was awarded the OBE for her contribution to literature in 2007.
Aged 84, she has been married to film and television producer Robert Bradford for almost 53 years. She met him on a blind date in 1961. They live in Manha an. She took US citizenship in 1992.
STORY TELLER: Barbara Taylor Bradford began her career in the world of words at the Yorkshire Post.
www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28 2017 THE YORKSHIRE POST 31
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