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MY BIG FAT GYPSY SELL OFF
I’ve sold supercars & £4.5m chopper to quit UK for new life abroad but Mrs is staying says Gypsy Billionaire Alfie Best
His swanky new pad overlooks the Formula One Grand Prix track
GYPSY billionaire Alfie Best has enjoyed the highlife in recent years - with homes worth up to £7million, a fleet of supercars and a yacht worth £10milllion.
But while life in Blighty has been good to Alfie, 54, he has now made the shock decision to QUIT Britain to live as a tax exile in Monaco.
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Before driving to the tiny principality last week, ahead of the new tax year which began at the weekend, he went on a selling spree.
The UK's richest Romany gypsy sold off eight supercars worth millions as well as his prized £4.5million seven-seater Airbus ACH130 helicopter, styled by Aston Martin, which boasts the production number 007 and registration G-YPSE on the fuselage.
Alfie is renting a two-bedroom apartment in Monaco overlooking the famous Formula One course until he gets residency in the millionaires’ playground, where residents don’t pay tax.
But the Gypsy billionaire, who was born in a caravan at the roadside in a snowstorm, is certainly not on his uppers.
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He still owns a £7million house near Ascot, a £4million Knightsbridge town house and a £10million yacht moored at Cannes.
In an exclusive interview with Sun Online, Alfie reveals why he quit the UK for life abroad.
Alfie says: “Look, I love Britain through and through but it seems we've lost our way and we're chasing our business entrepreneurs out the front door.”
He reels off a list of tycoons who are no longer based in the UK: “Sir Jim Radcliffe's left, Sir James Dyson said he’d never leave but he went, Richard Branson's left, too.
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“The list goes on. They can't all be wrong.”
Bugattis worth £3m
Alfie, who owns more than 100 residential home parks in the UK, is guarded about how much tax he will save by moving to Monaco.
I suggest that as he is already worth £1billion how many more billions does he need?
He says: “In my opinion £5million pounds is all the money you need in the world. That gives you more than enough to do everything that you want in your life.
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“If you’re asking do I have a billion pounds in the bank? No I don't. It's in assets and businesses
“What do I go to work for? I'm going to work, actually, to make a difference. I would love to continue to grow the business worldwide. But we're going to be doing it where I see better opportunities.”
To prepare for the move to Monaco, Alfie has sold his entire supercar collection, which includes two Bugattis – a 300mph Chiron and a 250mph Veyron - together worth in excess of £3million.
He also flogged off a Porsche, a Bentley, a Rolls-Royce convertible, and two Mercedes G Wagons. "I'm cutting all my ties," he says.
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How did it feel to see those amazing cars go off the forecourt of his gated home in millionaire’s row near Ascot, where Arab sheiks and rock stars are his neighbours?
Alfie says: “Listen, I love Bugattis but cars are just props, and that’s the truth. Those types of cars are bought as a business asset to earn money, because they go up in value.
“Sometimes I feel a little bit emotional about it. But I'm going to be really honest with you. It more of a difficult decision to leave the country that you love.”
He adds: “This isn’t a knee-jerk reaction. It’s been on the cards for the last 18 months or so."
Last week he drove his £100,000 Range Rover to Monaco and a new life, where he will only be allowed to back to the UK for 45 days a year, rising to 90 later.
He says: “I've rented an apartment in Monaco. I have applied for residency and then what I will do is look to buy one.
“If I don't settle in Monaco, I'll go to Dubai. The doors are now open in so many other countries that you can go to that are welcoming.
“You've got Italy, Cyprus, Dubai, Switzerland and the USA who want entrepreneurs and business people to invest in their countries.”
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Leaving family behind
Alfie was born in a gypsy caravan on the side of the road near Leicester in a snowstorm.
He quit school in Broxbourne, Herts, age 12, because he had already been working for two years, hawking Tarmac door-to-door with his dad.
By the time he was 17 he became a car dealer after selling a Ford Escort for £1,100 before moving into vans and mobile phones.
Nearly 25 years ago, aged 30, he set up Wyldecrest Parks, buying his first 120-mobile home site near Romford, Essex, for £1.7million.
Today the company has more than 16,000 residents at over 100 sites from Inverness to Lands End employing 400 people.
The company recently expanded into the USA where US tycoon Warren Buffett – the fifth richest person on the planet – is a rival park owner.
I love Bugattis but cars are just props, and that’s the truth
Alfie Best
Alfie also owns Wyldecrest Events, which owns some of the most expensive hospitality boxes at venues in the UK, and he is launching Best Wealth Network for aspiring tycoons.
In May, the next edition of the Sunday Times Rich List is expected to record Alfie’s fortune at £947million. If he sold his company tomorrow he would get more than a billion for it.
His wife Emily-Jane, son Alfie Jnr and daughter Elizabeth, who sits on the company’s board, will continue to live in the UK when the tycoon moves to Monaco.
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He says: “My wife is staying. Obviously she will come out there to see me. Or when I'm working in different countries she'll go there. I'll be flying back here for monthly board meetings.”
Eying new yacht
Father-of-two Alfie had high hopes when Chancellor Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister in 2022, but says he is still pining for a Thatcher-style leader to truly fly the flag for business.
He said: “As Margaret Thatcher said, we are a country of shopkeepers. We're born and bred as business people and virtually everybody in the UK has got an entrepreneurial spirit.
“You don't throw water on the fire, you know, when the fire's already going out. What you do is you fan the flames a little bit.
“Not to fan the flames for business, I think is a shame."
Labour say they want to build up relationships with business and I ask Alfie if he would not be better waiting until after the General Election before disappearing into tax exile?
If I don't settle in Monaco, I'll go to Dubai. The doors are now open in so many other countries that you can go to that are welcoming
Alfie Best
He replies: “I'm somebody that doesn't vote Labour, doesn't vote Conservative and doesn't vote Lib Dem. If I'm voting, I vote for the man.
“I can't sit here and tell you that I know one of Keir Starmer’s policies."
While he's sold his fleet of cars for the new move, Alfie's new home in Monaco is a short drive to France, where he can stay on his £10million yacht, ‘Wyldecrest’, on the Cote D’Azure.
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But now he's freed up some cash he is thinking about an upgrade.
He says: “While I’m there I might even buy a bigger yacht. I’ve got my eye on one 112metres long for £25million. Who knows?”
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