Stephen Fear

Stephen Raymond Fear (born 27 August 1953) is an English entrepreneur and businessman with an established property empire and business interests in many industries, such as green technology, I.T. care homes, hotels and manufacturing.

Fear is also notable for being Entrepreneur in Residence at the British Library, a position formerly held by the late Dame Anita Roddick and more recently the former Dragon's Den panellist Rachel Elnaugh.

Early life

Fear was born in Bristol and brought up on a Council Estate in a suburb of the city. He was the youngest of four children, having three older half-sisters. He attended Henbury School in Bristol for the first six weeks of his education; however, his formal education only lasted for a total of approximately three years including attending school in Malmesbury for AbOUT a year from age twelve. Fear is essentially self-educated through his lifelong love of reading, something he still does and believes in to this day.

Fear started in business at the age of 16, having left school, by creating a company called Easy Clean, which specialised in commercial oven cleaning.

Showing very early entrepreneurial skills, Fear bought a cleaning formula from an American company advertising in the Exchange & Mart, originally intended for domestic use and adapted the product himself in a lock-up garage and later selling commercial cleaning services to large bakeries.

His first major business deal was achieved over the phone using the now famous Red Telephone Box on the Council Estate in Bristol where he was brought up.

Fear later sold this business for £100,000 and invested the money in property, which was to be the start of his property empire.

Later being a business partner of the late Norwegian shipping magnet and mountaineer, Arne Naess, who married singer Diana Ross in 1985 and was famous for having led the first Norwegian expedition to Mount Everest in 1985 with British mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington CBE, Fear invested in many businesses in the UK and America; however, the bulk of his career has been spent in the property and corporate sectors focusing on property investment and development as well as company takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, resulting in a multifaceted business empire under the umbrella Fear Group, which he runs with son and business partner Leon Fear.

Fear is also a Patron of the registered charity for the Armed Services called Heropreneurs.

Capel le Ferne

Together with Naess (Diana Ross) and a third party, Fear created the first major work camp for the new Channel Tunnel Project in Capel le Ferne Kent at a time of very high unemployment which housed three hundred unemployed men and their families on a previously used Spitfire Airbase during World War Two and which had subsequently become a caravan park and helped them find work on the project. Fear and Naess set up and ran their own employment help centre on site and assisted men who had been unemployed for more than three years from all over the UK find work on the building of the new tunnel. The facility existed for the duration of the build.

After listening to Margret Thatcher being interviewed on ITN news at Ten where she insisted that despite huge opposition and the fact that Napoleon failed she was going to make it happen! Fear got up the following morning at 4am and drove straight to Kent where he set up an office in The Great Danes Hotel and proceeded to try and buy land and property; knowing that there would not be anywhere near enough accommodation locally to house the huge influx of workers for such a major scheme and after the Tunnel had been built and matured there would be a requirement for industrial and distribution estates which would inevitably increase all land values in the area.

Fear succeeded in buying a caravan park set on 18 acres before adding another 10 acres a year later. He then placed adverts in the Liverpool/Dublin & other newspapers where there was high unemployment offering both accommodation and help with finding work on the project. The park was full within the month!

Personal life

Twice married and with a daughter and son, Fear now lives in his native city of Bristol as well as spending considerable time in both France and America.

Fear is known for having a love of Bentley motor cars, having owned many over the years, including a Bentley 8, a Mulsanne and a Flying Spur amongst others.

He is a lifelong supporter of Manchester United Football Club, being a season-ticket holder. He also supports local charities by offering days out at Old Trafford and is in the process of creating a foundation to help disabled and underprivileged people.

Fear is also a Patron of the registered charity for the Armed Services called Heropreneurs where he helps people who find themselves facing a new life and entry into the world of business.