Duncan Bannatyne: From an Ice Cream Van to a Health Club Chain
Duncan Bannatyne
Duncan Bannatyne was born on 2 February 1949 in Clydebank, Scotland, served in the Royal Navy, and did not start in business until his thirties, when he bought a second hand ice cream van for a few hundred pounds.
He grew that round into a small fleet, sold it, and moved into care homes with Quality Care Homes, then into nurseries with Just Learning, before the health clubs that carry his name.
Building the Bannatyne Group
Bannatyne Fitness became one of the larger independent health club operators in the United Kingdom, and the wider group has also taken in hotels and spas.
The repeated move of building in an unglamorous sector, selling, and reinvesting the proceeds is the shape of his whole record, and it is why he talks about businesses in terms of whether anyone would ever buy them.
Ten years at the table
He was one of the five original dragons when the British series began in 2005, and stayed for a decade before leaving the panel in 2015, which covers a long stretch of the seasons catalogued on this site.
He was appointed OBE in 2004 for services to business and charity, and has written a number of books about starting out, among them Anyone Can Do It.
Products Duncan Bannatyne backed in the Den
