Personality Profile

be done It can

The man behind the Balfour Winery near Staplehurst, Richard Balfour-Lynn, has done many things in his life but he’s never had a proper job or worked for anyone as he explains to Simon Finlay…

Even at 68, Richard Balfour-Lynn is something of a restless soul for whom four words sum up his thirst for life and success: “It can be done.”

The man who is known as the face of the Hush Heath drinks brand, Balfour, at a winery set nuzzled in the English countryside near Staplehurst, is the living embodiment of that simple maxim.

Richard is a former footballer, airconditioning unit maker, property accumulator, hotelier and shop-owner, albeit that ‘shop’ was Liberty in London. Serial and successful entrepreneur, in short.

What started as a hobby vineyard at the Balfour Winery to keep him out of mischief as he wound his working life down, evolved into a global multi-million pound brand which not only jumped on the comet-like rise in English wines, it has blazed its trail.

This year is the Balfour Winery’s 20th anniversary.

Born in London to a family full of doctors in 1953 (‘this made me a hypochondriac’), he attended the 500-year-old Westminster public school whose alumni include A A Milne, Shane MacGowan, Louis Theroux and Nick Clegg. Academia was not his destiny, surviving only because of his ability to play sport.

Richard and Leslie where the magic happens

“In fact,“ he says, “Putting the word academic and my name in the same sentence is definitely not appropriate. I had great fun at school, meeting many lifelong friends, socialising, playing sport and doing lots of things not connected to school and homework.”

He did come to the attention of Chelsea Football Club, who signed him young in the days of Ron “Chopper” Harris and FA Cup winning goal scorer, David Webb. But he didn’t make it at Stamford Bridge.

“I was good – but not good enough.”

Perhaps this was an early sign. If you cannot make it to the top, to be the very best, then move on to something else.

His father, a GP, had a fierce entrepreneurial streak and from whom he inherited his four-word life mantra, and the young Richard soon discovered he understood commerce and money.

“After leaving Westminster, I went to the City of London Business School, where fortunately I discovered I had a financial mind, which was great news and somewhat unexpected.

“My father was extremely entrepreneurial within the medical profession both creating private hospitals initially in London, then

So, what is it about English wine that makes it so popular these days?

Richard’s theory is rather more prosaic than one might imagine.

He says: “We could never have expected English wine to have taken off in the way that it has – perhaps in response to global warming and the changing climate but also there is a more professional approach.

“I’d argue that prosecco has helped the spectacular rise in the popularity and has brought a much younger drinker into the market who are prepared to experiment.

“Add to this consumer interest in buying authentic, local food and drink, and a recognition of environmental issues such as local transport as opposed to international transport and its increased carbon footprint. Whilst Brexit remains a controversial issue it has undoubtedly focused everyone’s attention on buying British. So, all in all, a good opportunity for English wine.”

‘I have never had a proper job and never worked for anyone…’

nationally and finally internationally as well as advising various Labour and Conservative health ministers on the National Health Service. He had grown up in East London with no financial means and, ultimately, created an international private healthcare business.”

Naturally, Richard’s first business was in the medical field with a diagnostic centre based in Harley Street in London before moving, as you do, into air conditioning (the niftily-named Polar Bear Air) and thence to a residential development company called Warwick Balfour Properties.

A merger later and the property-based PLC Marylebone Warwick Balfour Group was conceived and then branched out into the classy boutique hotel chains Malmaison and Hotel Du Vin. Additionally, the company started a major national, serviced office business called MWB Business Exchange as well as acquiring the Liberty store in London.

This prompts an anecdote (he’s evidently a good and well-practised raconteur) about the Rolling Stones rocking up to his shop after midnight asking for it to be opened especially for them. He duly did and received a personal cartoon from guitarist Ronnie Wood for his trouble.

Alongside the MWB Group he formed another company to buy hotels and associated businesses, including De Vere hotels and golf courses, Greens health and fitness centres, Village hotels , Greenall Gin and Searcy catering.

He gleefully summarises: “I have never had a proper job and never worked for anyone.”

But clouds were forming on the horizon. A world which had never heard of sub-prime mortgages saw massive banking organisations and the businesses which depended on them falling like nine-pins in 2008.

The saying that ‘all money is global now’ never rang truer than in the few unsettled years that followed.

“In 2012, I effectively retired from that business life, having suffered financial losses in the hospitality sector resulting from the financial meltdown in 2008 - 2010 which led to the demise of both HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland ) and Royal Bank of Scotland who were the major financiers of our companies.”

So what do you do? Having already set up home at the manor house on the Hush Heath estate some years before, he and his wife of 31 years, Hawaiian born Leslie, decided to buy some nearby land and become wine-makers with the one-line business plan – “If we can’t sell it, we’ll drink it.”

The Hush Heath brand has steadily, yet very quickly, become a by-word for quality, affordable and drinkable wines initially produced on five acres – now 200 and rising by 30 acres annually – with an enviable reputation. Around 450,000 bottles are produced each year with a projected growth to 750,000 per annum. In parallel, the company has acquired nine pubs with rooms and a share in a brewery to produce ales.

So, if Hush Heath was meant to be a hobby vineyard, how has this massive expansion happened?

“I’m naturally restless and I do things that I really enjoy,” explains Richard, “I love entertaining people and meeting customers – wine is the entertainment business, wine should make you smile.

“Success is making people happy and hospitality should be a great experience. The French produce some of the best food in the world but don’t want to give it to anyone but when Italians give you a £1 bowl of pasta they give you the whole show. That’s what it is about.”

Photography by Chris Lawson

Although Richard is often the face of the Balfour brand, no decision is passed without the say-so of wife Leslie.

Together they planted their first vines in May 2002 on land around their home, Hush Heath Manor.

Richard says: “However, having bought the land around us Leslie suggested we plant a small vineyard on a grubbed up apple orchard in front of our home. And that was it.

“All our wines are branded Balfour with individual wines named after Leslie, our children (Skye, Luke, Jake and Jessie Nannette), Hush Heath Manor’s date, 1503, and our Dalmatian, Liberty.

“Our first wine was Balfour Brut Rose and today we make 25 different still and sparkling wines.”