Paul Gregg
Encyclopedia
Paul Gregg is an English
multi-millionaire businessman and entertainment impresario, who built Apollo Leisure Group into the UK's biggest theatre owner.
After selling Apollo to SFX Group in 1999, and leaving new owners Clear Channel
, he was a large stake holder in Everton F.C.
, before falling out with former friend Bill Kenwright
in 2004, and selling his stake in October 2006 to Robert Earl
.
, after buying the Ardwick Theatre in Manchester
, Paul Gregg went on to build Apollo into the UK's biggest theatre owner.
Paul Gregg built their empire by taking over struggling venues and turning them round. The Liverpool Empire Theatre
, which was losing £750,000 a year under the Derek Hatton
led council, was leased to become a home to big musicals. Gregg also reopened the Lyceum
in London
in the 1990s at a cost of £14 million, after the theatre had been closed for 10 years. Andrew Lloyd Webber
's revival of "Jesus Christ Superstar
" ran for two years, followed by Disney's "The Lion King
". On 28 September 1982 in association with friend Bill Kenwright
, Gregg co-produced a production of "The Mikado
" at the Cambridge Theatre, London.
On 20 November 1995 Ogden Corporation acquired 25% of Apollo
The eventual portfolio of venues included The Point Theatre in Dublin, the Sheffield Arena and Wales National Ice Rink
in Cardiff
; as well as 23 theatres nationwide including: Hammersmith Apollo
, the Apollo Victoria and the Lyceum
in London
; the Bristol Hippodrome
; the Edinburgh Playhouse
; the Old Fire Station and Apollo
in Oxford
; Royal Theatre in York
; the Opera House, Palace and Apollo Ardwick in Manchester
; the Liverpool Empire and the Floral Hall in Southport
. Apollo also owned Tickets Direct, which sold around £6 million theatre and concert tickets in 1999.
On 6 August 1999 Apollo accepted a takeover offer from the American entertainment corporation SFX for £158 million, because: "We were running a family business and suddenly we realised there were 5,000 people in the family." Gregg and his family owned 80% of the company, and received between them £126 million worth of shares and loan stock in SFX. SFX also agreed to acquire The Barry Clayman Corporation, 50% owned by the shareholders of Apollo, which promotes concert and entertainment events, and whose European tour artists include: Riverdance
, Michael Jackson
, Neil Diamond
, Barbra Streisand
, Shirley Bassey
and Tom Jones
.
Paul Gregg stayed on, becoming European Chairman of the enlarged SFX group. Paul Gregg approached producer David Ian
to head up the theatre division, but Ian refused. After the SFX Entertainment division was acquired by Clear Channel
in 2000. Gregg eventually persuaded Ian to join the group by absorbing Ian's joint venture with actor Paul Nicholas
, and made Ian head of the European Theatre group before he left. Ian took over Gregg's role as European Managing Director of Entertainment in a Clear Channel.
chain from Clear Channel for £23 million, before the European theatres were spun out into sister company Live Nation
. Apollo instantly became the largest independently owned UK cinema chain, operating from 13 locations and having a total of 78 screens; and four bingo halls.
Apollo also announced plans to open London's first West End multiplex cinema for a decade, with a new 5 screen complex part of a £70 million scheme set to enhance lower Regent Street
. Four more new regional complexes under development.
Together, cinemas and bingo generated pre-tax profits of about £1.5 million on turnover of £12.2 million in the year to 25 March 2004. From this, the Paul Gregg took £240,000 in dividends.
in 2000 from former Chairman Peter Johnson
. Gregg first came to the attention of Everton fan's, when he became the main driver behind the King's Dock scheme, promising to plough in an additional £30 million to get the project moving.
. The company have just recently completed a successful application in Middlesbrough
and are short listed for licences in Bath
and Milton Keynes
.
for chronically ill children. In 1998, Gregg was made a fellow of the University of Central Lancashire
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
multi-millionaire businessman and entertainment impresario, who built Apollo Leisure Group into the UK's biggest theatre owner.
After selling Apollo to SFX Group in 1999, and leaving new owners Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
, he was a large stake holder in Everton F.C.
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
, before falling out with former friend Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright CBE is a leading West End theatre producer and film producer.He is also the Chairman of Everton Football Club, an English professional football club from the city of Liverpool....
in 2004, and selling his stake in October 2006 to Robert Earl
Robert Earl
Robert Earl may refer to:* Robert Earl * Robert Earl * Robert Earl * Robert Earl , Chief Judge of the NY Court of Appeals 1870 and 1892...
.
Apollo Leisure Group
Paul Gregg made his fortune with Apollo Leisure. A career executive, he gradually worked his way up through Apollo Theatres until he founded Apollo Leisure in 1977, aged 36. After setting up a Social Club for car workers at Cowley, OxfordCowley, Oxford
Cowley in Oxford, England, is a residential and industrial area that forms a small conurbation within greater Oxford. Cowley's neighbours are central Oxford to the northwest, Rose Hill and Blackbird Leys to the south, New Headington to the north and the villages of Horspath and Garsington across...
, after buying the Ardwick Theatre in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Paul Gregg went on to build Apollo into the UK's biggest theatre owner.
Paul Gregg built their empire by taking over struggling venues and turning them round. The Liverpool Empire Theatre
Liverpool Empire Theatre
Liverpool Empire Theatre is located on the corner of Lime Street and London Road in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The theatre is the second to be built on the site, and was opened in 1925. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain and can seat 2,350 people...
, which was losing £750,000 a year under the Derek Hatton
Derek Hatton
Derek 'Degsy' Hatton is a broadcaster, businessman and after-dinner speaker. He won celebrity status as a local politician in Liverpool during the 1980s, where he was deputy leader of the city council, and a supporter of the Trotskyist Militant Tendency.-Early life:He attended Liverpool Institute...
led council, was leased to become a home to big musicals. Gregg also reopened the Lyceum
Lyceum Theatre (London)
The Lyceum Theatre is a 2,000-seat West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand. There has been a theatre with this name in the locality since 1765, and the present site opened on 14 July 1834 to a design by Samuel Beazley. The building was unique...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the 1990s at a cost of £14 million, after the theatre had been closed for 10 years. Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
's revival of "Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
" ran for two years, followed by Disney's "The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
". On 28 September 1982 in association with friend Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright
Bill Kenwright CBE is a leading West End theatre producer and film producer.He is also the Chairman of Everton Football Club, an English professional football club from the city of Liverpool....
, Gregg co-produced a production of "The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
" at the Cambridge Theatre, London.
On 20 November 1995 Ogden Corporation acquired 25% of Apollo
The eventual portfolio of venues included The Point Theatre in Dublin, the Sheffield Arena and Wales National Ice Rink
Wales National Ice Rink
The Wales National Ice Rink was an ice rink in Cardiff, Wales. It was the former home of the Cardiff Devils ice hockey team. The WNIR was opened in 1986 and was demolished in September 2006....
in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
; as well as 23 theatres nationwide including: Hammersmith Apollo
Hammersmith Apollo
Hammersmith Apollo is a major entertainment venue located in Hammersmith, London. Designed by Robert Cromie in Art Deco style, it opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace cinema, being re-named the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962...
, the Apollo Victoria and the Lyceum
Lyceum Theatre (London)
The Lyceum Theatre is a 2,000-seat West End theatre located in the City of Westminster, on Wellington Street, just off the Strand. There has been a theatre with this name in the locality since 1765, and the present site opened on 14 July 1834 to a design by Samuel Beazley. The building was unique...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; the Bristol Hippodrome
Bristol Hippodrome
The Bristol Hippodrome is a theatre in the centre of Bristol, England with seating on three levels giving a capacity of 1,951. It frequently features West End theatre shows when they tour the UK as well regular visits by Welsh National Opera, and an annual pantomime.- History :The theatre was...
; the Edinburgh Playhouse
Edinburgh Playhouse
The Edinburgh Playhouse is a former cinema in Edinburgh, Scotland which now hosts touring musicals and music concerts. Its capacity is 3,059, making it the UK's largest working theatre in terms of audience capacity....
; the Old Fire Station and Apollo
New Theatre Oxford
The New Theatre Oxford is the main commercial theatre in Oxford, England and has a capacity of 1,800 people....
in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
; Royal Theatre in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
; the Opera House, Palace and Apollo Ardwick in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
; the Liverpool Empire and the Floral Hall in Southport
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...
. Apollo also owned Tickets Direct, which sold around £6 million theatre and concert tickets in 1999.
On 6 August 1999 Apollo accepted a takeover offer from the American entertainment corporation SFX for £158 million, because: "We were running a family business and suddenly we realised there were 5,000 people in the family." Gregg and his family owned 80% of the company, and received between them £126 million worth of shares and loan stock in SFX. SFX also agreed to acquire The Barry Clayman Corporation, 50% owned by the shareholders of Apollo, which promotes concert and entertainment events, and whose European tour artists include: Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
, Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
and Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
.
Paul Gregg stayed on, becoming European Chairman of the enlarged SFX group. Paul Gregg approached producer David Ian
David Ian
David Ian Lane , is a former actor and now a theatre producer who The Stage has called "the most powerful man in UK theatre".-Biography:...
to head up the theatre division, but Ian refused. After the SFX Entertainment division was acquired by Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
in 2000. Gregg eventually persuaded Ian to join the group by absorbing Ian's joint venture with actor Paul Nicholas
Paul Nicholas
Paul Nicholas is an English actor and singer who has had considerable success on stage, screen and in the pop charts.-Biography:Nicholas was born as Paul Oscar Beuselinck in Peterborough, England...
, and made Ian head of the European Theatre group before he left. Ian took over Gregg's role as European Managing Director of Entertainment in a Clear Channel.
Apollo Cinemas
In 2004, Paul Gregg bought back the Apollo CinemasApollo Cinemas
Apollo Cinemas is a locally focused, independently owned multiplex cinema operator in the United Kingdom. Its stated mission is to welcome, engage and delight local audiences with a variety of onscreen entertainment and well designed, comfortable cinemas...
chain from Clear Channel for £23 million, before the European theatres were spun out into sister company Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
. Apollo instantly became the largest independently owned UK cinema chain, operating from 13 locations and having a total of 78 screens; and four bingo halls.
Apollo also announced plans to open London's first West End multiplex cinema for a decade, with a new 5 screen complex part of a £70 million scheme set to enhance lower Regent Street
Regent Street
Regent Street is one of the major shopping streets in London's West End, well known to tourists and Londoners alike, and famous for its Christmas illuminations...
. Four more new regional complexes under development.
Together, cinemas and bingo generated pre-tax profits of about £1.5 million on turnover of £12.2 million in the year to 25 March 2004. From this, the Paul Gregg took £240,000 in dividends.
Everton F.C.
Paul Gregg invested £7 million in True Blue Holdings Ltd, which took the majority share holding in Everton F.C.Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
in 2000 from former Chairman Peter Johnson
Peter Johnson
Peter Robert Johnson , is a Birkenhead based business man and football investor.The son of a butcher, Johnson helped build the family business into Park Foods, the leading supplier of Christmas hampers in the early 1990s. From this base, Johnson took Tranmere Rovers from the foot of the Football...
. Gregg first came to the attention of Everton fan's, when he became the main driver behind the King's Dock scheme, promising to plough in an additional £30 million to get the project moving.
Apollo Resorts & Leisure
Gregg's company recently won the first new large casino licence to be awarded in the UK winning the new licence for Manor Mills, HullKingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
. The company have just recently completed a successful application in Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...
and are short listed for licences in Bath
Bath
Bath is a city in the ceremonial county of Somerset in the south west of England. It is situated west of London and south-east of Bristol. The population of the city is 83,992. It was granted city status by Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1590, and was made a county borough in 1889 which...
and Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
.
Personal life
Gregg has invested time and energy in charitable projects, such as the Make-A-Wish FoundationMake-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501 non-profit organization founded in the United States that grants wishes to children who have life-threatening medical conditions. The charity now operates in forty-seven countries around the world through thirty-six affiliate offices.The president & CEO of this...
for chronically ill children. In 1998, Gregg was made a fellow of the University of Central Lancashire
University of Central Lancashire
The University of Central Lancashire is a university based in Preston, Lancashire, England.The university has its roots in The Institution For The Diffusion Of Useful Knowledge which was founded in 1828. In 1992 it was granted University status by the Privy Council...