Tony Gallagher is the founder and former chairman of Gallagher Estates and Gallagher Developments, who has amassed his fortune via smart buying and preparing of land plots for residential and commercial development. He has also been successful with investments in retail parks.
He currently lives in Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, at Sarsden House, a grade II listed mansion that he purchased from the former MP Shaun Woodward.
He was 140th on the Sunday Times rich list, with a personal wealth estimated at £1.25 billion
Tony Gallagher has spent over 30 years acquiring land and property assets like housing plots, retail parks and industrial sites. This has led to his two businesses, Gallagher Estates and Gallagher Developments, having a massive portfolio of land that's under development in the UK, alongside one of the UK's largest retail park portfolios estimated to be more than three million sq ft across sites in England, Wales and Scotland.
The two companies were involved with schemes across the UK, working with over 50 different local authorities on development and regeneration projects. They have been responsible for over 250 residential schemes, producing over 100,000 residential homes and developing more than 25 retail parks.
In 2017, My Gallagher sold the strategic land business, Gallagher Estates, for £525M. It was acquired by a housing association called London and Quadrant housing trust. The sale included control of plots of land estimated to have the potential for 42,500 houses, predominantly across the South of England and South Midlands.
He did not sell Gallagher developments, his retail and property investment & development business, where he is using the proceeds from the sale of Gallagher Estates to continue purchasing prime commercial land.
One key deal for the Gallagher Development group was the Warwick Gates Business Park, offering offices and business properties of all sizes, plus it comes with tree-lined boulevards and a lake.
Through a combination of personally donated funds and those given by his companies, Mr Gallagher has given over £3M to the conservative party, including £1M since Boris Johnson was first installed as prime minister. He is well known to have hosted the 50th birthday party for the then prime minister David Cameroon at his Oxfordshire home, having known Mr Cameroon since he was an MP.
He was knighted as part of the 2020 Birthday honours list for services to land development and the property business.