Dave West (entrepreneur)

Dave West
Born 14 March 1944
Romford, Essex, England
Died 12 December 2014 (aged 70)
St James’s, London, England
Residence London, England
Nationality British

Dave West (14 March 1944 – 12 December 2014) was a British entrepreneur with a number of successful business ventures.

Early life

Originally from Romford, Essex, West started his career working as a market trader boy. When he was 18, he joined the Merchant Navy.[1]

Dave West is HIV Positive.

Belgium and France

West built a family tobacco business in Belgium with his wife and children. In 1980 he founded a wholesale business on a double decker bus in Calais selling cheap alcohol and cigarettes on the back of a lorry. 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 labels, “The Dogs Bollocks” and “Menage a Trois”.

Return to London

Upon his return to London in 2002 West opened St James's based nightclub HeyJo and a restaurant Abracadabra. West became the subject of a BBC documentary in 2005 about this project, called "Trouble at the Top".

West described himself as a libertarian and nonconformist. He was an active protester against 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 on-line 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." West insists that such conditions are unheard of and should have been printed on the website prior to the sale of the tickets.[1]

He was killed on 12 December 2014, with his son, also David West, arrested on suspicion of murder.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dave West: Businessman who became a trailblazer in the booze-cruise market then expanded into PR and lap-dancing clubs
  2. ↑ "Cherie to challenge smoking ban". BBC. 2007-06-22. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
  3. ↑ Akbar, Arifa (May 23, 2006). "Why Dave West spent £100,000 to go to the Beckhams' - then decided it wasn't worth it". London: The Independent. Retrieved April 2, 2010.

External links