Jamie Oliver drops off Sunday Times Rich List 2018

Jamie Oliver has dropped off the Sunday Times Rich List for the first time in eight years.

The celebrity chef, whose net worth was estimated at £150m in the 2017 edition, is no longer ranked among the UK’s 1,000 richest people or families.

It follows a difficult few months for Oliver’s UK restaurant group, which has closed 12 of its 37 Jamie’s Italian sites since January after posting £9.9m losses in the last financial year.

In April the chef’s Australian restaurant business was also sold to a new franchise partner after entering voluntary administration.

Last month the Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group announced a 10-year partnership with Aramark that will see it expand in to universities, workplaces and hospital catering in a bid to turn around its fortunes.

Wider list

Topping the overall Rich List was Jim Ratcliffe, who co-owns Home Grown Hotels – the company behind The Pig restaurants with rooms.

Ratcliffe made his estimated £21.05bn fortune after founding chemical firm Ineos, and is the first UK-born person to top the list since the Duke of Westminster in 2003.

He is also behind the Limewood Hotel in the New Forest, which features a restaurant created by chefs Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder.  

BrewDog founders James Watt and Martin Dickie were new additions to the list, with fortunes of £262m and £228m respectively.

The Scottish brewer is now estimated to be worth over £1bn after selling a 22% stake to a US private equity firm in 2017. It also acquired the 14-strong Draft House bar group this year.

Other hospitality entrants include MARC restaurants owner Marlon Abela (£320m), JD Wetherspoon owner Tim Martin (£448m), The Ivy restaurateur Richard Caring (£650m), and Pret A Manger and Itsu founder Julian Metcalfe (£164m).