In Conversation

IN CONVERSATION WITH

LORD CHARLES ALLEN

David Birley

Labour Peer, industry heavyweight and now Milborne Port resident, Lord Allen of Kensington is the co-owner of the imposing Ven House and the village’s award-winning Clockspire restaurant.

DB: What was your childhood like?

CA: I was born in Lanark in Scotland, the youngest in the family. My mother was forty when she had me, my brother was 12 years older than me and my sister 19 years. We were a very working-class family – my father was a hairdresser. I had quite a happy childhood and I was lucky that, though we were relatively poor, we had a good lifestyle. We didn’t have any extravagances, but I wasn’t impoverished from an emotional perspective at all – I was very close to my mum. Memories of home and school life are pretty positive. I felt very fortunate that I went to the local primary school and did reasonably well. Sadly, my father died when I was 14 – my brother and sister had left home, and we had to sell the business and the house and move into a council house. My mother, who was then in her 50s, had to go out and work for the first time in her life – this was as a waitress in the directors’ dining room of British Steel which is how I got my first job. She was serving the personnel director and heard him talking about a pregraduate programme and told him I was a bright boy – maybe I could get an interview. Although I had been offered places at Edinburgh and Glasgow universities and my mum desperately wanted me to go, I knew the family could not afford it, so I started my career with British Steel.

DB: What did you do?

CA: British Steel was losing a fortune in those days, but the training was amazing. You worked in different departments such as frontline, personnel and accounting for six months.

DB: How did your career progress?

CA: Aged 21 I was the youngest middle manager in British Steel, which was unusual. I had an old clapped-out Mini when I saw an ad for an operational auditor with car. I got the job which was working for Gallaghers in Scotland and then they moved me to London and I started looking for other jobs. Aged 23 I went to the Middle East to work for Grand Met. I then became chief exec of Compass Vending and then chief exec of Compass. Next, I joined Granada as chairman and CEO of the leisure division, which included motorway services and nightclubs. I then asked to go to Granada TV, my boss said, ‘You don’t know anything about TV.’ I replied, ‘Take a chance on me.’ During my time we bought 15 different companies and by pulling off a regulatory coup to stop the merger of Carlton and United, we created ITV and I was the chief exec. When I reached 50 I thought of retiring – my dad had died when he was 57 – and I had this thing in my head that you don’t go on forever. I thought of buying a vineyard in South Africa, but my partner said I would drink the profits! My subsequent roles have included being chairman or having a senior role in EMI, Virgin Media, Goldman Sachs, the Home Office, the Commonweath Games, the 2012 Olympics and the British Red Cross. I am currently chairman of Balfour Beatty and Global Media and Entertainment which includes LBC, Classic FM, Capital, Heart, Smooth and other stations.

DB: Why do you think you have been so successful?

CA: I think that is down to two things of which tenacity is the most important. I am driven more by fear of failure than the need for success. Given the choice of a more difficult or easy option, I will always choose the harder one like when I chose the media side of Granada. Secondly, I am very focussed on people and like to build up relationships with people – it is people who make massive differences. I spend a lot of time >

mentoring chief execs on listening to people and how to make a difference – that’s what gives me a kick.

DB: Looking back, is there a message you would give your younger self?

CA: I think I was never confident enough – because of my background I did not feel secure. I would say to my younger self, ‘Believe in yourself more.’ Recognise that the abilities you have can make a difference.

DB: Do you have any regrets?

CA: Many, specifically things I could have done better. You can’t rectify regrets but you can do things better. If I have failed or made a mistake, I have sorted it out quickly. A good example being the Granada consolidation when tenacity kicked in – I was not going to lose the battle so we fought back and won.

DB: You have seen a lot of changes in business and society, what have particularly struck you and have they been for the good?

CA: We have never experienced anything like the last 18 months with the pandemic. What has really changed is people thinking about how they want to live their lives. My yearly life was climbing up the greasy pole of corporate success, whereas young executives now don’t want to live the lives their parents did in the sense that it was all work – not because they are lazy but because they want to lead a different life. Coming out of the pandemic there is going to be a lot of change, which is the biggest difference I will have seen in over 40 years of business. Of the companies I am involved with six out of 10 people would want to go back to ‘normal’, two are not quite sure and the other two are saying we want to live differently. I think this is a fundamental change for corporate Britain – we have never seen anything like it before. Various companies are handling this differently and some don’t know how to as there is no rule book for this and I find it fascinating. How we create the new model requires a different mindset. The best job ever was when I was mayor of the Olympic Village in 2012, which I found very motivational because you saw the dedication of the competitors. I have also recently taken on the role of chairman of the Invictus Games – the competitors’ tenacity humbles me.

DB: Do you have further ambitions?

CA: I hate the word retirement. I am 64 and left full-time employment, in the sense of one job, aged 50 so for the last 14 years I have been doing plural things. I will never stop. I talk about refocussing rather than retirement. The more challenging and interesting things that I don’t know about appeal to me. I am still learning and enjoy it.

DB: What brought you to Milborne Port?

CA: My partner! I have lived in London for 34 years. Having come here I love it. London can be very anonymous and you may not know your neighbour. This is a special place and we really enjoy being part of the local church and community and being accepted by them. We are also involved with the local school and opened their extension building.

DB: What made you decide to open the Clockspire?

CA: We drove past the old school and I thought it was an amazing building but completely rundown and it had asbestos problems but we thought it could be a restaurant. We teamed up with friends who have a restaurant and bid for it at auction and then invested substantially in it. We have a great young team who are doing a very good job and it is getting great reviews for its food and for its ambience. What I love about the restaurant is that a lot of the ingredients come from our garden here.

DB: What do you do in your down time?

CA: Down time is very important and coming to Ven I can completely relax whereas London is still pretty hectic. We are also fortunate enough to have a boat which we keep in Majorca. Ven is great for entertainment and we can spend quality time with friends. We don’t do groups, just a few couples for a weekend. We love simple pleasures like walking our dogs who also love going on the jet ski of our boat!

DB: Do you have a personal wish?

CA: I think as you get older the only wish you should have is for your health. In the last 18 months I have lost both my brother and sister to cancer. It doesn’t matter what you have materially unless you have the good health to enjoy it and I think the pandemic has heightened that for many people. Also, to retain our friends and family for as long as possible.

DB: Do you have a wish for our area?

CA: I think there is great potential to put it on the destination map. Places like the Newell, Hauser and Wirth, the Clockspire are helping to change the perspective of the area. This hopefully will bring more people to the area and to appreciate it and stay in it rather than just through it. Sherborne is such a great place with very good shops. More people coming would be great for both jobs and development.