Alfie Best

Alfred William Best, better known as Alfie Best (born 1970), is a British Romanichal businessman and philanthropist who is the current chairman of Wyldecrest Parks, a mobile home park company.

Alfie Best
Born
Alfred William Best

1970 (age 52–53)
Leicester, England[1]
NationalityBritish
OccupationCEO & founder
EmployerWyldecrest Parks
TelevisionBBC: Britain's Spending Secrets S1E1 (2015)[2]
Channel 5: Eamonn & Ruth: How The Other Half Lives (2016)
Websitealfiebest.co

Best's businesses in the UK include 95 residential mobile home parks, seven holiday mobile home parks and a golf course in Herefordshire, along with a 50% share in 15 sites in the US, totalling £700 million,[1][3] as well as a motor home rental company called Vaaroom[4] and East Thurrock United Football Club and its ground.[5]

In August 2021, Best featured in the 1st episode of ITV’s Undercover Big Boss.[6][7][8][9][10]

Early life

Best was born in a caravan at the side of a road in Leicester to a poor Romanichal Gypsy family.[1](registration required) He left school at the age of 12 and started his first business at 14 years old, buying and selling cars and vans.[11]

Career

In 1990, aged 20, his car business almost collapsed so he got a job at a phone shop earning £70 a week. Three weeks later he started his own mobile phone shop then 18 months later with the help of a bank loan, he had thirteen stores in London. He later sold the business and moved to property investing.[11]

In 2001, he bought his first mobile home park in Romford, Essex, the Lakeview Residential Park.[12] He has since begun businesses in the hospitality, leisure, events, trading and finance industries. In 2018 he purchased a golf course in Herefordshire.[1]

In October 2011, Best accepted a police caution for an alleged physical assault on one of his residents at Scatterdells Park, Bovingdon. The resident was protesting alterations to the park. She later pressed charges, with police offering Best either a caution or go to court.[13]

In July 2015, he and his business Wyldecrest Parks were shortlisted for both Entrepreneur of the Year and Retail & Property categories at the 2015 London Loves Excellence awards.[14] Wyldecrest Parks won Retail & Property Business of the Year.[15] In November 2018 Best was voted the 48th most influential person in the 2018 Essex Power 100 list, and ranked at number 11 in Leicestershire's rich-list.[16][17]

In 2019, Best featured in the Sunday Times UK rich list[18] and in 2020 he was #382 in the Sunday Times 2020 UK rich list with a net worth of £341 million, an increase of more than £100 million from last year.[19] He purchased East Thurrock United F.C. in June 2022, saying that "I believe that it [the football club] has the opportunity to be the lifeblood of the community".[20] The club folded in September 2023.[21]

Personal life

In 2013, Best and his son Alfie Jnr appeared on the Channel 4 television programme My Big Fat Gypsy Fortune.[22] In 2018 he played a small cameo in the British crime film Once Upon a Time in London.[23]

In 2018, Best set up a charity called Wyldecrest Parks Charity, funding staffing and running costs himself.[24]

Between 2016 and 2018, Best donated a total of £10,000 to the Conservative Party through his Shelfside (Holdings) Limited firm.[25][26][27]

References
  1. Watts, Robert (9 September 2018). "Caravan king Alfie Best's empire hits £140m". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  2. "Anne Robinson BBC One Britains Spending Secrets". BBC. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  3. "Delight as golf club saved from closure". Worcester News. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  4. Kelly, Liam (21 June 2020). "Hermione needs some magic in these markets". The Times. The News Building, London. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  5. ""We are hoping to build the club to bigger and better things" - new owner Alfie Best's promise to East Thurrock United". Thurrock Nub News. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  6. "Self-made millionaire gypsy from Leicester goes on ITV's Undercover Big Boss". ITV News. Leicester: Independent Television News. 5 August 2021. Archived from the original on 7 August 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  7. O'Sullivan, Kyle (5 August 2021). "Gypsy millionaire gives employee life-changing reward after undercover ordeal". Daily Mirror. One Canada Square, London: Reach plc. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  8. Fletcher, Harry (5 August 2021). "Undercover Big Boss: Gypsy millionaire slams trolls abusing him for £6m house". Metro.co.uk. Northcliffe House, London: DMG Media. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  9. "Self-made millionaire gypsy from Leicester goes on ITV's Undercover Big Boss". ITV News. London: Independent Television News. 5 August 2021. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  10. "Undercover Big Boss - Series 1 - Episode 1". ITV News. London: Independent Television News. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  11. Ellington, Edwina. "Gipsy Alfie Best reveals how he made his first million in Ilford". Ilford Recorder. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  12. "Interview with Alfie Best – The Reign of The Gypsy King | Mogul in the Making". mostmogul.com. 30 April 2018.
  13. House of Commons, Communities and Local Government Committee (20 June 2012). "Monday, 19 March 2012". Park Homes: First report of session 2012–13. Vol. 2. Westminster: Stationery Office. pp. 55–56. ISBN 9780215045607.
  14. Duggan, Joe (19 October 2015). "Wyldecrest Parks bags prestigious London business award". Olive Press News Spain. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  15. "Alfie Best, Chairman – Wyldecrest Team". wyldecrestparks.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 September 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  16. Watts, Robert (15 August 2023). "Best office ever: a beach in Barbados". The Times.
  17. Ldn-Post (25 November 2018). "Alfie Best EXCLUSIVE: Wyldecrest Parks, future plans and a little word of advice!". London Post. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  18. "The Sunday Times Rich List 2020".
  19. "Alfie Best net worth — Sunday Times Rich List 2023". The Sunday Times. 15 August 2023.
  20. "ALFIE BEST ANNOUNCES PURCHASE OF FORMER PEGASUS SPORTS CLUB". www.eastthurrockunited.co.uk. 23 June 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  21. "Neighbours step in with offer to Rocks fans but angry words and bitter recriminations roll on over closure of club". Thurrock Nub News. 3 September 2023. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  22. "Best's Media Appearances and Reach profile". alfiebest.co. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  23. Hardie, Beth (23 September 2018). "All you need to know about Absolutely Ascot star Alfie Best Jr". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  24. Bona, Emilia (29 April 2018). "Gypsy multi-millionaire on why he wants to help Alder Hey". liverpoolecho. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  25. Sommerlad, Nick (4 September 2020). "Millionaire Tory donor pushes US-style caravan parks to solve housing crisis". Daily Mirror. One Canada Square, London: Reach plc. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  26. "Donation summary - Conservative and Unionist Party (Great Britain), Cash (C0256054)". The Electoral Commission. Bunhill Row, London. 23 November 2016. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  27. "Donation summary - Conservative and Unionist Party (Great Britain), Cash (C0399746)". The Electoral Commission. Bunhill Row, London. 28 November 2018. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
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