Stefan King (born 1962) is a Scottish entertainment and nightclub
magnate
The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
who founded
G1 Group.
Early life
King was born in Glasgow
to a working class catholic father named George who was a
bookmaker and then an alcoholic drinks retailer.
His Jewish mother Cynthia was a shop owner before going into business with George King.
King received a private education,
finishing high school in 1980, aged 18 years.
Career
In 1981, King launched Ildon Limited, before changing the travel company's name to Kwik Travel,
which was successful until 1987 when it went bankrupt.
King then opened two sandwich shops, both named No 1 Sandwich Street, before opening gay-nightclub Club X on
Royal Exchange Square
The Royal Exchange Square is a public square in Glasgow, Scotland. The square lies between Buchanan Street and Queen Street, opening out Queen Street and Ingram Street to the south of George Square. It is also easily accessible from Buchanan ...
, Glasgow.
His company was called King City Leisure, before later changing the name to
G1 Group.
Next King opened gay bars Delmonicas, then Cafe Latte and Polo Lounge.
King then opened
Archaos
Archaos (Cirque Archaos) is a French contemporary circus created by Pierrot Bidon in 1986. It began as an alternative, theatrical circus without animals, featuring dangerous stunts like chainsaw juggling, fire breathing, wall of death, etc. The ...
nightclub, before selling it and opening the Corinthian pub, club and restaurant and then Arta restaurant.
During his time of ownership of Archaos, King was accused of breaching the
Race Relations Act by the
Commission for Racial Equality, with regards to the club's refusal of entry to asian men during a
Glasgow Sheriff Court case about the matter.
King called the claims "farcical"
and the claims were rejected by the court in 2000.
In 2011, King bought the
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...
former headquarters.
Wealth
King is one of the wealthiest people in Scotland,
and was the 1,673rd wealthiest person in the United Kingdom in 2009, according to the
Sunday Times Rich List
The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...
.
His company,
G1 Group, is Scotland's largest hospitality enterprise.
Personal life
King lived with his mother in 1999
and was aged 58 in 2020.
King was described in ''
The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'' newspaper as an unlikely pub magnate, as he does not drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, nor gamble.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Stefan
* John Porter
''The Hot Scots Power 40: Stefan King, G1 Group'' 21 Feb 2013, ''
The Caterer
''The Caterer'' is a weekly UK business magazine for hospitality professionals. It covers all areas of the hospitality industry (including restaurants, hotels, foodservice, pubs and bars) providing news, analysis and features about senior industry ...
''
1960s births
Businesspeople from Glasgow
Scottish company founders
Nightclub owners
Drinking establishment owners
Scottish restaurateurs
Living people
20th-century Scottish businesspeople
21st-century Scottish businesspeople