8 MONEY
THE SUNDAY TIMES
the sundaytimes.co.uk/money
07.07.13
Richard Stanton
FAME AND FORTUNE
MARTIN MILLER TALKS TO SARAH EWING
I have no
interest in
possessions
The antiques, gin and property entrepreneur
likes hotels so much, he lives in five of them
MARTIN MILLER, the serial entrepreneur,
has been coming up with offbeat business
ideas since he was 14, but his main passion is
property.
Over 30 years ago, Miller co-founded the
Miller’s Antiques Price Guide, which sells
more than 100,000 copies a year. He sold his
stake in the business for £2m in 1994.
I got married to my first wife at 18 and
had my first child a year later. When we were
first married, we managed to rent a flat in
Worthing for £4 a week. We were able to sublet two of the rooms for £3, which paid for
our weekly food budget.
developer and someone who could secure
funding, so off we went.
What’s the most extravagant thing you’ve
ever bought?
There was no plan and for the first few
years it was a very slow burn because we
didn’t have masses of capital. Now, things
have really taken off.
I bought a wonderful 18th-century Venetian
chair when I was 19 for £140, when I was
earning virtually next to nothing and was a
new father. I had to scrape around for money
for the next few months to live on, but I still
own it more than 35 years later. It is probably
worth about £3,000 now, but its sentimental
value is sky high.
Do you own a property?
And the worst?
No. I live out of my hotel chain, which is
The 66 year old also bought his first hotel owned by my business. I bought Miller’s
in 1984 and now owns five properties,
Bistro and Hotel in Porlock, Somerset, three
including the “luxury bed and breakfast”
years ago for about £400,000 because my
Great Brampton House in Madley,
daughter, who’d been running bars in Peru,
Herefordshire, where he currently lives.
was coming back to England and I wanted to
get something for her to run.
As well as hotels, he launched Martin
Miller’s Gin in 1999, which generated
What was your first job?
revenues of 13m last year.
Funnily enough, I don’t feel I’ve ever had a
Miller was born in Worthing, Sussex and proper job, apart from when I was a paperboy
started his entrepreneurial streak at 14 by
at 14. At the same age I also wrote a dating
breeding hamsters and writing a dating guide. guide for blokes called Success With the
Fairer Sex. I printed it on a duplicator and I
He has five children - Kirsty, 31, Cara,
sold it through a small print ad in Exchange
33, Natasha, 39, Tanya, 41 and Samantha, 45 - and Mart, and for two years I sold 50 to 100 a
from his previous marriages and lives with his week.
third wife Ioana, 51.
Are you better off that your parents?
How much money do you have in your
wallet?
Oh yes. Mum looked after Dad and he looked
after her in turn, through his nice, easy job as
Very little, maybe £200-£250. I occasionally
an insurance agent.
have a handful of euros if I’ve just been
abroad.
Do you invest in shares?
I’ve done some things that I’ve only run with
a month before deciding they weren’t going
to work.
I like to start off low-key, whereas many
people splash out on a nice office, proper
desk, posh telephone systems, because they
think it will reel people in. But then they find
they don’t have enough to cover the basics,
like wages.
My biggest hit was when I lost £20m in
the recession in the late 1980’s, when the
value of my commercial property firm
plummeted.
We had a company in Kent where we
built things like Waitrose stores and office
blocks, and virtually overnight the market
crashed and the banks decided they didn’t
want to lend any more. The company was
wound down a few years later.
Do you have advice for buying antiques at
auction?
Always take a good look at the items in the
auction before it starts. If you have an indepth knowledge of the quality of every item,
you’ll know which ones are going cheap and
will have a much better chance of picking up
a bargain.
What aspect of the tax system would you
change?
If you could start from scratch, I’d make it
less complicated as it’s a complete mess now.
The one area I’d change first is inheritance tax
because everyone pays taxes during their life
and then, when they die, their family is
lumped with another big tax bill.
What is your financial priority?
Thankfully, I’ve always got another ideal
lurking. I don’t live in the past.
Continuing to build my hotel portfolio, with
my next aim of taking dozy seaside hotels
What credit cards do you use?
No. I’m not interested. I like to have more
Do you manage your own financial affairs? into the 21st century. A lot of the places that
control. I know plenty of people have done
catch my interest are tucked away and not
I do everything by card - I’m really good at
well in the stock market, but it’s not
While I have accountants, I do everything on a necessarily the obvious choice, but they’re in
keeping on top of things that way. I currently something of which I have any real
day to day basis. Every morning, I get a daily great locations.
have a Barclaycard Premier credit card, but I
knowledge.
report from all of the hotels and I check the
really could be more aware of the benefits.
figures meticulously. That comes from
What’s the most important lesson you’ve
What’s best for retirement, property or
experience of letting those things slide when I learnt about money?
Are you a saver or a spender?
pension?
was young, and the hassle of dealing with the
aftermath if you’re not on top of things.
Don’t take it for granted. You have to assume,
I have no interest in possessions, I don’t even Property, as the returns are fantastic if you
without being too negative, that you are going
own my personal property. I do own a lot of
look at them as a long term investment I go through the detail of each invoice
to hit a brick wall somewhere, so you have to
things within my companies that I can use for much more so than the returns on a pension
because you’d be amazed what slips through
be ready for it when it comes.
personal reasons, like my five hotels, which I pot over the same period. A the end of the day, the net, because I see it as my money.
float between.
I feel more comfortable with something
tangible from which I can derive pleasure.
What did you earn last year?
What’s been your best investment?
Visit Miller’s Hideaway at Great
Even though the companies are expanding,
Brampton House, Herefordshire.
I’ve taken virtually no money out. I pay
Definitely launching Martin Miller’s Gin in
basic-rate income tax.
1999. After drinking rubbish gin and tonic in
Stay at Martin Miller’s collection of
a pub in the mid-1990’s, I got the germ of an
Have you ever been really hard up?
idea to launch a super-premium smooth gin
hotels, including The Anchor,
made with extra-pure Icelandic water - crazy,
Porlock Weir.
Yes, on many occasions. Having decided I
perhaps, as it was the era of vodka.
didn’t want a regular job, I went a bit crazy at
Experience Martin Miller’s Gin
school and got the world’s worst
At the time I had just sold my upmarket
qualifications.
social-diary business and was looking for
another project. I knew a good brand
AT THE AGE OF
14, I WROTE A
GUIDE CALLED
SUCCESS WITH
THE FAIRER SEX
Article © Sunday Times 07.07.13