Abbeystead Estate owners Duke of Westminster and Grosvenor family named second richest in north west

Cheshire-based Hugh Grosvenor, 31, the 7th Duke of Westminster, lost the number one spot on the North West Rich List after a fall in the asset value of his family’s vast property operation Grosvenor Group.

Westminster’s family fortune is now £9.726 billion, down £328 million from last year.

Hugh Grosvenor became the 7th Duke of Westminster and Britain’s youngest billionaire, after inheriting his title at the age of 25 when his father Gerald died in August 2016.

The Newcastle University graduate oversees his family’s property empire, which includes 300 acres of Mayfair and Belgravia as well as land in more than 60 cities around the world.

Among the property is the 23,000 acre Abbeystead Estate near Lancaster.

The Duke was once the world’s richest person under 30.

Preston-born hedge fund manager Michael Platt, who lives in Switzerland, is the richest person in the north west of England.

The co-founder and chief executive of BlueCrest Capital Management is now worth £10 billion, ranking him equal 11th with Alisher Usmanov among the wealthiest people in the UK.

Tom Morris, 68, the founder of flourishing Liverpool-based retailer Home Bargains, is £766 million richer with a family fortune which now stands at £5.127 billion.

Brothers Fred, 79, and Peter, 75, Done, who own the Warrington-based betting business Betfred and Manchester-based human resources outfit Peninsula, are now jointly worth £1.476 billion, an increase of £241 million on last year.

The 68-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine, out this weekend, reveals the wealth of the 250 richest people in Britain in its 34th annual edition.

There are a record 177 billionaires in the UK this year, up six from 2021.

The list is based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. It excludes bank accounts, to which the paper has no access.

The complete list will be available to the paper’s digital subscribers and will be online at https://thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist