DUNCAN BANNATYNE
Dragons’ Den star on TV show about the forgotten Scots tycoon Sir Thomas Lipton
DUNCAN Bannatyne has called for a monument to be erected to honour one of Scotland’s biggest-ever tycoons. Sir Thomas Lipton was born in Crown Street in Glasgow’s Gorbals and was buried at the Southern Necropolis in the city – beside his mother, father and five siblings.
Between his birth in 1848 and his death in 1931, Lipton conquered the world, creating a business empire which would become the template for the modern supermarket.
He also founded a tea business which remains one of the biggest in the world.
In addition, Lipton was a talented sailor, who tried five times, without success, to win the America’s Cup.
But he won the hearts of the American public with a crowdfunding campaign led by Hollywood star Will Rogers, which saw him presented with a solid gold loving cup.
Awarded the freedom of Glasgow in 1923, Lipton left his fortune to charity when he died but his story has been lost to generations, including entrepreneur Bannatyne.
The former Dragons’ Den star, who grew up in Dalmuir, near Glasgow, narrates a new BBC documentary about Lipton called The Man Who Charmed The World. He admits he had never heard of him but now that he has, he wants the world to take notice.
Bannatyne said: “There should be a monument to him near the Gorbals.
“People should be reading and learning about him – especially in Scotland and Ireland – to know what can be achieved by one person. What he did was just phenomenal. I knew nothing about Lipton until the producers approached me. When I read his story, I was fascinated, particularly as he started out in the Gorbals, not far from where I was brought up. I told them, ‘We have to tell this story, this is an amazing man’. “He entertained kings and queens but got on well with normal hardworking people, too. Everybody tuned into Tommy, he was a joy. He would be one of the UK’s billionaires, in the top one per cent of the rich people in the population, if he had done it today but he is more or less unknown.”
Lipton was born when the Gorbals was one of the biggest slums in the
Everybody tuned into Tommy, he was a joy
DUNCAN BANNATYNE ON SIR THOMAS LIPTON
world. It was overcrowded, with poor sanitation and a pall of ironworks smog hanging over it. All five of his siblings died before the age of 30.
His parents were Ulster Scots who had moved to Glasgow to escape the famine and he retained strong links with Ireland, describing himself “an Irish Scotsman”.
His first job was as a deck hand on a Glasgow to Belfast freighter and the stories he heard from sailors inspired him to head to America when he was 15.
He got a job in a New York grocery store, learned the trade and how to sell it with some American razzmatazz.
He returned to Glasgow, opening his first shop at 101 Stobcross Street on his 21st birthday.
But as he expanded, he went back to his family’s Northern Irish roots and imported butter, eggs and other products direct from Lisnaskea market in Fermanagh.
It gave him his own supply chain but it wasn’t just smart business sense which made him a success, he also knew how to sell, opening each new store with a huge fanfare, flooding the area with posters and a parade. It brought crowds of customers to his shop and he always made sure he opened after pay day.
He made shopping fun, putting on stunts such as getting an Irish jester to drive pigs to his shop, causing chaos and drawing a crowd of potential buyers.
Once he had conquered the UK grocery market, and become a multi-millionaire, he set his sights on America, where he identified the lucrative meat-packing industry and then the growing tea industry, acquiring estates in Sri Lanka to trade exclusively with his stores. He was the first to package tea in small, convenient tins to keep it fresh.
Bannatyne, 69, said: “I can’t understand how he built the business up. I have a chain of health clubs and can check the computer to look at income and turnover. He had no computer. He didn’t even have the road network we have now.
“I can’t understand how he managed to open the best supermarkets at the lowest prices.
“It couldn’t have been by underpaying staff as they were very happy and supportive of him. What his secret was I have no idea, except his charisma. People loved him and loved working for him.
“He would then make his shops known to the world by the way he opened them. To then go to America, build a tea empire, to float on the stock exchange, it’s all quite surreal. I would love to ask him how he did it.”
They would have plenty to talk about.
Bannatyne said: “We were both born into poverty. Some people say he achieved greatness despite his poor upbringing, I say he achieved it because of his upbringing.
“I had nothing in my life until I was 30 when I started in business and realised I was quite good at it and I liked it. “Tommy might have had the same drive. He wanted to do something with his life and achieved an awful lot.” ● The Man Who Charmed The World is on BBC2 on Tuesday at 9pm.