Sunday Times Rich List 2023: The five richest people in Yorkshire and the North East - and what they are worth

A 68-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine details the wealth of the 350 richest people in Britain. It notes that there are 171 billionaires in the UK recorded this year, down six from 2022 – the first fall for 14 years. The combined wealth of those billionaires is a staggering £683.9bn, up £30.7bn – or 4.5 per cent – on the total wealth of the billionaires featured in last year’s Rich List.

Sharing his insight into the fortunes of the country’s wealthiest individuals and families, Rich List compiler Robert Watts said: "This year's Sunday Times Rich List shows a golden period for the super rich is over. For the first time in 14 years we've seen the number of UK billionaires fall. Two years ago, we raised concerns about an unsettling boom in the fortunes of the very wealthy that continued unchecked during the political instability around Brexit and the pandemic. This is not a crash – but there are household names who have lost vast sums over the past year.

"The bursting of the tech bubble, the end of rock bottom interests and the jitters creeping through the banking industry have all taken their toll. The super rich don't exist in a vacuum. Many small investors lost money in some of their overblown stock market floats. Many people also work for their businesses. Financial losses for billionaires can have implications for us all."

The Rich 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.

According to the 2023 list, David and Simon Reuben are now the wealthiest people in the North and North East. The India-born brothers teamed up with Saudi investors and the British financier Amanda Staveley last year to buy Newcastle United from Mike Ashley. The pair own 10 per cent of the Magpies, with David’s son, Jamie, serving as a director of the Premier League club. David, 83, and Simon, 81, came to Britain in the 1950s and are currently worth an estimated £24.4bn. The key sources of their fortune are property and online businesses, with their combined wealth said to have risen by £2.13bn over the past year.

Second on the regional list is Andy Currie, co-owner and director of chemical giant Ineos, who saw his estimated fortunes rise by £7.06bn over the last year to reach £9.18bn. Ineos has grown exponentially since energy prices rocketed and Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. Andy, who is from Doncaster, has been at the top of the business since 1999 and owns almost 20 per cent of the £40bn company.

Close behind him is Sunderland-born John Reece, a fellow Ineos co-owner who serves as the chemical giant’s chief financial officer. A key lieutenant of Ineos chief executive Sir Jim Ratcliffe, he owns nearly 20 per cent of Ineos – and a superyacht. His total wealth is estimated to be £9.13bn, having risen by £7.02bn in the last 12 months.

Malcom Healey and his family occupy the fourth spot on the region's Rich List, with a combined wealth of £1.6bn – up £250m since last year. Born in Hull, Malcolm started his career working in the family's paint firm. He acquired the Hygena kitchen brand, which he sold for £200m in 1982, and went on to found Wren Living – now known as Wren Kitchens – in 2009. He also owned technology retailer eBuyer, which was bought out by investor Mark Reed and industry veteran Rich Marsden last month.

Taking the final spot in this year’s top five are DFS co-founder Robert Miller and his daughter, Princess Marie-Chantal, who is married to the new head of the Greek Royal Family. Their combined fortune took a £617m drop to £1.58bn – the biggest fall in the region and the only fall among the region’s top five wealthiest people. Robert was born in America but qualifies for the list thanks to his ownership of the 36,000-acre Gunnerside Estate in North Yorkshire, one of the largest sporting country estates in Great Britain. He amassed much of his fortune through DFS – or Duty Free Shoppers – which sells high-end goods to travellers free of import taxes in airports. His other sources of wealth include fashion and finance.

The full Sunday Times Rich List will be published in the newspaper’s May 21 edition and is available to read online now.