| Lord Dave West of the Manor of Hollesley | |
|---|---|
Dave West |
|
| Residence | London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Net worth | £100 million |
Dave West is a British entrepreneur. He started off his working life as a market trader barrow boy in the East End of London. West built a family tobacco business in Belgium with his wife and children. In the 1980s Dave founded a wholesale business on a double decker bus in Calais selling cheap alcohol and cigarettes. His business moved to permanent premises and was named EastEnders, which is now a part of the largest British owned cash and carry group in Europe. It also has its own house wine label, "The Dogs Bollocks".
He is the owner of the Mayfair night club HeyJo[1] and the Abracadabra restaurant, both located on Jermyn Street. West became the subject of a BBC documentary in 2005 about this project, called 'Trouble at the Top'. West describes himself as a libertarian and is an active protester of the smoking ban: in August 2007 he hired Cherie Blair [2] in his bid to challenge the ban (introduced by her husband and Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair). He declared the ban was an infringement of his customers’ rights to smoke in his club and restaurant.
The following year he paid more than £100,000 to attend David and Victoria Beckham's charity World Cup party,[3] and said that he was subject to such an unwelcoming pre-party briefing that he chose to boycott the event. After winning the bidding for the two tickets in an online auction, he was instructed to sign a confidentiality agreement, as well as being banned from handing out his business cards to guests or taking his mobile phone and camera to the party. According to The Independent newspaper, he said: "The confidentiality agreement would mean that, had I signed it, I couldn't talk about the party even to my friends."
In 2006 West purchased the title "Lord of the Manor of Hollesley" after it was advertised on eBay. The title means West is now known as Lord Dave West of the Manor of Hollesley.[4]
West has a number of businesses in addition to Eastenders including Ultimate Characters Talent Management and Abracadabra Photostudio. He also has stakes in PR firm Forbidden London, Archie Eyebrows shoes, Bloomsbury Ballroom, the Pigalle Club and Granite World, as well as lap dancing/ gentlemen's club Mandy's, which claims to be the oldest in London.[5][6]
In 2009 West was charged with the assault of a 14 year old girl in his flat above the HeyJo club.[7] At the conclusion of the case, all charges were dropped and West was awarded £37,000 in costs.