John Hargreaves | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 1944 (age 81) Everton, Liverpool, England |
| Known for | Founder and chairman, Matalan |
| Children | 3 |
John Hargreaves (born January 1944) is a Monaco-based British businessman, the founder and chairman of the UK out-of-town discount clothing and homeware chain Matalan.
John Hargreaves was born in January 1944 in Everton, the son of a docks labourer, one of eight children who all shared one bedroom in a Liverpool terrace house. [1] [2]
Hargreaves left school at 14, went into the retail business when he was 16, and opened the first Matalan store in Preston in 1985. [1] Matalan has over 200 stores in the UK, and employs over 16,000 people. He resigned as chairman of Matalan in November 2007, less than a year after taking the company private. [3] His daughter Maxine purchased British womenswear retailer Fenn Wright Manson for an undisclosed sum on 28 March 2012.[ citation needed ]
According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2025, Hargreaves' net worth was estimated to be £350 million. [4]
Hargreaves married aged 19 and has three children, Jason, Jamey and Maxine. [1]
Hargreaves resides in Monaco with his wife. Alleging non-residence in the UK from March 2000, he claimed that he was not liable to capital gains tax on a gain of £231 million arising on the disposal of Matalan shares in May 2000. This claim was resisted by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the matter was litigated. [5] Hargreaves subsequently accepted that he was not in fact non-resident in 2000/01 and his appeal was dismissed. See John Hargreaves v HMRC [2022] UKUT 00034 (TCC). This meant he could be liable to pay up to £135 million. [6]