RICH LIST 2019: These are the 20 richest families in the North West

1. The Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family - £10.1bn (Up £136m)

2. Tom Morris and family £3.59bn (Up £100m)

3. Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora £2.26bn (Down £40m)

4. John Whittaker and family £1.95bn (Down £300m)

Property king’s business interests have mushroomed

REPUTEDLY East Lancashire’s first billionaire, John Whittaker has been a mainstay of the Sunday Times Rich List in the north west.

His property interests, through Peel Holdings and Intu, have incorporated the Trafford Centre, Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Manchester Ship Canal.

Even Blackburn forms part of his reach, with Peel behind the leisure park off Lower Audley Street which boasts the Vue cinema and Nandos.

The father-of-four, whose empire also encompasses Doncaster Sheffield airport, originally hails from Edenfield but now lives in the Isle of Man.

Until last December Peel also had control of Durham Tees Airport, before Mayor Ben Houchen bought up their interests for £40million.

His contribution to the likes of Rawtenstall Chamber of Commerce, in previous years, has also been recorded.

Last winter, after a protracted potential buyout of Intu Properties by Whittaker, he was prompted to release a statement reaffirming his commitment to the Trafford Centre overseers.

He said their “portfolio of super regional and prime city centre shopping centres” was trading strongly and benefitting from the various rationalisation processes being carried out on the high street.

“Physical retail continues to play a key role in all successful multi-channel retailer sales strategies and Intu’s national portfolio of centres enjoys some of the highest customer footfall in the country, “ he added.

Whittaker also signalled his belief that there was under-utilised land within their grasp which could be developed for residential use, hotels or offices.

5. Fred and Peter Done £1.25bn (Down £100m)

6. Henry Moser and family £1.228bn (Up £218m)

7. Lord Grantchester and Moores family £1.206bn (Up £4m)

8= Philip Day £1.2bn (No change)

8= Mohsin and Zuber Issa £1.2bn (Up £100m)

Worldwide success story

Fairly soon it will be almost impossible not to be within five miles of a Euro Garages service station.

The first venture undertaken by the Blackburn-based Issa brothers, Zuber and Mohsin, pictured right, was in Bury in 2001.

Before too long they had set their sights on a number of other East Lancashire locations.

The Beehive site, a stone’s throw from their Guide headquarters, was quickly joined by a number of others.

An international expansion gained momentum when they united with the European Forecourt Group (EFR) in 2016.

They had acquired 1,100 petrol station and convenience stores in France and neighbouring countries previously.

Originally their union was known as ‘Intervitas’ but they rebranded as the EG Group in September 2017.

Before the end of that year the group had moved on 1,000 service stations belonging to Esso in Germany.

Meanwhile their first major foray into the United States, at the start of 2018, saw 800 more stores added to their portfolio, for $2.15billion.

Within weeks the EG Group had also moved on further Esso assets, snapping up 1,200 across Italy.

Another 97 locations, this time in the Netherlands, were added to their roster the following April.

Their worldwide expansion has also had an East Lancashire flavour.

Earlier this year a series of openings were undertaken by their partners, including KFC, Spar, Totally Wicked and Greggs, at Frontier Park, off junction six of the M65 at Whitebirk.

And work is still progressing on a new EG site off the Barracks roundabout in Burnley, which will include the town’s first Starbucks.

READ > RICH LIST 2019: Billionaire brothers add £100m to pot

10. Mahmud Kamani and family £1.163bn (Up £163m)

11. Trevor Hemmings £1.025bn (Up £25m)

12. Peter Jones and family £1bn (Up £100m)

13. Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell £750m (Down £70m)

14. Lawrence Jones and family £700m (Up £385m)

15. Michael and Chris Oglesby and family £667m (Up £80m)

16. Bill, Will and Richard Ainscough and family £616m (Up £50m)

17= John Hargreaves and family £600m (Up £100m)

17= Matt Moulding and family £600m (Up £50m)

E-commerce websites certainly pay off for Colne entrepreneur

NOT content with being part of one success story, Matthew Moulding put his own name up in lights with the creation of the Hut Group.

Working alongside telecoms guru John Caudwell, with the Caudwell Group and Phones4U, didn’t do the Colne-born businessman any harm.

He founded Hut, so the story goes, after purchasing a CD online. When his then-bosses declined to back his idea, Moulding branched out on his own.

Partnering with co-founder John Gallemore, they have built up an enterprise with more than 100 e-commerce websites, employing more than 3,000 at a £120million premises in Warrington.

Last month the company announced it had secured a $1million banking facility to support investments in beauty and technology sites.

19. The Sheppard family £571m (Up £81m)

20. The Warburton family £550m (Up £5m)

The 2019 Sunday Times Rich List – contained in a 156-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine – is the definitive guide to wealth in the United Kingdom, published on Sunday, May 12. It charts the wealth of the 1,000 richest people in the UK. The list is based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. It excludes bank accounts, to which the paper has no access. The magazine includes several interviews and features, focused on some of the leading players and personalities among the richest 1,000, as well as a full ranking by order of wealth.  The Young Rich List details the 50 individuals with the biggest fortunes aged 30 or under.