Bill Archer (businessman)

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Bill Archer is a businessman who is responsible for creating the British company Focus DIY and nearly destroying Brighton and Hove Albion FC.

In 1987 Archer and a former business partner acquired Choice DIY, a small DIY company with 6 stores in the midlands and the north of England. In 1988 the Focus DIY company was bought by Archer and all stores were re-branded Focus DIY. Between then and 1998 the chain rapidly grew to 72 stores nationwide.

Archer was also a leading figure in the controversial 1997 sale of the Goldstone Ground, the former home of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. for conversion into a retail park, without having secured an alternative site for a stadium..he was also included in the popular old Sussex refrain, Build a Bonfire, which is regularly and heartily sung at football matches in the county and further afield.