Mark Simpkin (born 18 September 1972,

Ashton Ashton may refer to: Names *Ashton (given name) *Ashton (surname) Places Australia * Ashton, Elizabeth Bay, a heritage-listed house in Sydney, New South Wales *Ashton, South Australia Canada *Ashton, Ontario New Zealand * Ashton, New Zealand ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

) is an English

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

and an entrepreneur with a diverse business portfolio encompassing product supply and distribution, property development, luxury travel business and England’s largest private natural burial ground.

Lockers & Furniture

Simpkin began his career selling Lockers and changing room equipment to public and private sector clients. His “Simply Group” products now include the UK's widest range of Locker specifications, cupboards, shelving and other storage products as well as a wide range of specialist café furniture, cycle/smoking shelters and walkways. Customers include Kurt Geiger,

UGG Australia UGG is an American fashion company primarily known for its sheepskin boots, founded in 1978 by Australian surfer Brian Smith in Santa Monica, California. After putting on his pair of Australian sheepskin boots after a chilly late-night surf in ...

, Westfield Shopping Centre, Rothchilds,

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

, Strictly Come Dancing and

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

Property

Simpkin's property portfolio includes completed complex projects in conservation, greenbelt, and protected areas. Projects completed include a large former gamekeepers cottage and a significant barn and farmhouse conversion in the Cheshire plains. Simpkin's company also obtained planning permission to develop the local St Johns Church in Bollington in to 13 apartments. It was originally set to be completed in 2018 but continued economic downturn and the covid pandemic led to the site falling into disrepair. A new planning application has been submitted in 2022. Most recently Simpkin obtained planning permission for England's largest private natural burial ground in Adlington,

, in conjunction with the historic

Adlington Hall Adlington Hall is a country house near Adlington, Cheshire. The oldest part of the existing building, the Great Hall, was constructed between 1480 and 1505; the east wing was added in 1581. The Legh family has lived in the hall and in previ ...

estate. This opened in Autumn 2016 and serves surrounding parishes and all faiths with burial and cremated remains plots in response to the significant shortage in more traditional Churchyards and crematoriums.

Travel

Simpkin set up "Simply Luxury Travel", with his wife

Tricia Penrose Patricia "Tricia" Penrose (born 9 April 1970) is an English actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Gina Ward in ITV's long-running 1960s drama '' Heartbeat'', a role she played continuously for 17 years from 1993 to 2010. She ha ...

specialising in luxury holidays for footballer, celebrity and high net worth clients. The company won "The Cruise Club" 'highest selling newcomer to cruise' award in their first year.

Media

Simpkin was a presenter for an ITV1 programme called ''I Want That House'', about buying property abroad. He presented over 100 shows, including 15 live shows from Florida. He presented GMTV's ''

Fashion Police ''Fashion Police'' is an American television series that premiered on September 10, 2010, on E!. It was originally hosted by Joan Rivers and featured panelists George Kotsiopoulos, Giuliana Rancic, and Kelly Osbourne commenting on celebrity fash ...

'' and ''

LK Today The following details are for the programmes that GMTV (Good Morning Television) broadcast on ITV. GMTV is the former breakfast television franchise for the UK's ITV network. It began broadcasting on Friday 1 January 1993 and finished on Friday ...

'', and ITV's '' This Morning'', where he presented a property segment called ''Property Police''. He also presented regular reports from around the world for BBC1's ''Holiday''. Having missed out on a place in boy band ''

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singe ...

'', he went into acting, appearing in ITV1's long-running soap ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'' as the character Craig Brennan. Simpkin had roles in Zig Zag, an educational children's series on BBC2, a live reporter on the youth show ''The Totally Friday Show'',

the Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

Carlton Food Network Carlton Food Network (later known as Taste CFN from May 2001) was a British pay television digital terrestrial channel, owned by Carlton Television. It launched at midday on 1 September 1996 and closed on 1 December 2001. It was part of a grou ...

Manchester United TV MUTV (Manchester United Television) is a premium television channel owned and operated by English association football, football club Manchester United F.C., Manchester United. The channel first broadcast on 10 September 1998. MUTV offers Manche ...

and the Granada Regional Newsroom, where he trained. Simpkin hosted a nationwide series of youth conferences with

Sir Alan Sugar Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician and political adviser. In 1968, he started what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics com ...

for

Lloyds TSB Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exten ...

. The road show promoted entrepreneurialism in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. He still works closely with local schools advising pupils interested in starting their own business.

Family

He was married to actress and singer

. They have two sons, born in 2003 and 2008. Tricia and Mark had a wedding renewal ceremony on their 10-year anniversary.

References

External links

Simply Luxury Travel

Adlington Memorial Park

Simply Lockers

Simply Tables & Chairs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpkin, Mark English businesspeople English television presenters 1970 births Living people