Sir Tim Martin, 69, was born in Northern Ireland in 1955. His father worked for Guinness and he soon followed in his father's footsteps. Despite studying law at Nottingham University and qualifying as a barrister, Sir Tim decided to go into the hospitality sector.
Believing that he could run his own pub, he first bought one in north London at the age of 24. It was 1979 and the pub was based in the upmarket area of Muswell Hill; the pub, originally named Martin's Free House, was soon renamed to Wetherspoon. While Muswell Hill would have been a nice area in the 1980s, the area is now even more desirable being only five miles from central London but still providing a leafy, suburban feel.
The high street boasts independent restaurants and good shops for residents to enjoy. Homes in the Muswell Hill area can fetch up to £2.5 million for a five-bedroom family home ; the most affordable property on sale at the time of writing in the area is a one-bedroom ground-floor apartment that costs £275,000.
On average, properties in Muswell Hill had an overall average price of £1,018,365 over the last year, according to Rightmove. As Sir Tim's success grew, more pubs opened up across London, which enabled him and his now wife, Felicity, to expand their family unit. Going on to have four children together (the pair now have 10 grandchildren between them), there might have been an even bigger incentive to make sure Wetherspoon thrived.
In 1992, JD Wetherspoon floated on the stock exchange a.