Lord Forte was Britain's greatest hotelier, who started his career as the owner of a London milk bar to become the head of a worldwide empire of hotels and restaurants. Although he was of Italian origin, his name and that of his company Trusthouse Forte (THF) were an indelible part of British life, like bacon and eggs, tea and crumpets or Marks and Spencer. He was synonymous with the multi-class hotel and the quick lunch, with more than 800 hotels worldwide, including top establishments in Paris, Geneva, Madrid and London, and a similar number of restaurants and fastfood outlets. In Britain alone he employed about 70,000 people.
A man of diminutive stature, only 5ft 4ins, he moved through the international business world like a dynamo for more than six decades, retiring from the position of chairman of THF in 1992 to be succeeded by his only son Rocco. He maintained his links with the company as its president until its eventual takeover by Granada in 1996. In 1981 he accepted a peerage from Margaret Thatcher's government, having turned one down from Labour's Hugh Gaitskell 38 years previously.
Charles Forte was born in the small hillside village of Monforte, near Rome, on November 26 1908. It was more accurately called Mortale but because most of it has been owned by the Forte family for generations, it has taken on the family's name. The family's fortune went into decline towards the end of the 19th century and gradually they drifted away. Charles's father Rocco first tried his luck in Pittsburgh in the United States but eventually moved to Alloa, in Scotland, where he set up a cafe. He prospered and bought other cafes in Scotland and a small hotel in Alloa. Charles went to Scotland from Italy with his mother when he was four and went on to attend Alloa Academy and Dumfries College as a boarder. He was then sent to Rome for two years before rejoining his family, who by then had moved to Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, where his father was running a cafe with two cousins.
Charles was 18 when he entered the family business, running a restaurant. He did well and the business progressed through a series of seaside resorts. When he was 21, Charles was put in charge of a run-down seafront cafe, the Venetian Lounge in Brighton. Within 12 months he had turned it into a profit-making outlet. But he had his sights set on London and tried to buy himself into a milk bar in Fleet Street. The deal did not work out but with just £400 to his name, loans of £2,000 from his family and a further £2,000 bank loan, he bought his own milk bar in Upper Regent Street. Known then as The Meadow, it was the stepping stone Forte needed. In later years the cafe became the Four Seasons Restaurant and it was the one site he would never sell.
By 1938 Forte owned five milk bars in London. He then joined forces with Eric Hartwell who sold kitchen equipment and their chain of Strand milk bars expanded. A year later, their plans suffered a temporary delay with the outbreak of war. Forte was interned on the Isle of Man because of his Italian nationality and Hartwell joined the army. But Forte was released three months later and became an adviser to the Ministry of Food. Much to his humiliation at the time, his application for naturalisation made before the outbreak of war came through only when it was all over. In 1943 he married Irene Chierico, a Venetian who bore him five daughters and a son. The post-war years also saw an expansion in the Forte business, first buying the former Lyons tea room off Picadilly Circus followed by the nearby Monico site which housed the Criterion Theatre.
In 1958 he bought his first hotel, the Waldorf. The acquisition was a landmark, not just in the company's dealings, but in the history of the British hotel and catering industry. Until then it was a business dominated by the Americans, with chains such as the Hilton, but Forte changed all that. In 1970 Forte Holdings Ltd merged with Trust Houses and two years later fought off a take-over bid by Allied Breweries.
The company interests included the Cafe Royal, Forte's personal favourite acquisition, almost 250 hotels in Britain and Ireland, Henekey Inns, Quality Inns, Kardomah Coffee Houses, the TraveLodge chain of motels in America, Canada, Mexico and Tahiti, motorway service stations, catering at 24 airports in Europe as well as the Lord Mayor's Banquet in London, the Edinburgh Festival and the United Nations in New York. Among its other investments, it bought Thorn-EMI's entertainment interests in 1981, which included three West End theatres, the Empire at Leicester Square and pier shows at Blackpool Tower.
Forte also owned the publishing company Sidgwick and Jackson, a world into which he and his wife made personal forays - Lord Forte wrote his autobiography and Lady Forte wrote a cookery book. There was only one apparent issue where the powerful Lord Forte did not get his way, and that was over the Savoy Hotel Group. His attempts to buy the group were continually thwarted - his chief adversary being Sir Hugh Wontner. He received a medal from the French for what his firm had done at its Paris hotels, the George V, the Plaza Athenee and Tremoille, and the Spanish gave him a medal for his work at the Ritz in Madrid. It rankled him that in Britain he was unable to gain control of the prestigious Savoy Group.
Even when his son Rocco took over the chairmanship of the company, Forte remained a member of the THF board, unlike his predecessor Lord Thorneycroft. But as well as the business being a habit of a lifetime, he maintained a very Italian attitude to the company, regarding it as a family - and he was its patriarch. His attitude to his family was also distinctly Italian, despite his undoubted patriotism to Britain and the house in Belgravia and estate near Guildford in Surrey. His children lived at home until they were married and he expected to see them at least once a week for Sunday lunch. He also maintained strong links with the village of Monforte, usually returning there once a year.
A man of diminutive stature, only 5ft 4ins, he moved through the international business world like a dynamo for more than six decades, retiring from the position of chairman of THF in 1992 to be succeeded by his only son Rocco. He maintained his links with the company as its president until its eventual takeover by Granada in 1996. In 1981 he accepted a peerage from Margaret Thatcher's government, having turned one down from Labour's Hugh Gaitskell 38 years previously.
Charles Forte was born in the small hillside village of Monforte, near Rome, on November 26 1908. It was more accurately called Mortale but because most of it has been owned by the Forte family for generations, it has taken on the family's name. The family's fortune went into decline towards the end of the 19th century and gradually they drifted away. Charles's father Rocco first tried his luck in Pittsburgh in the United States but eventually moved to Alloa, in Scotland, where he set up a cafe. He prospered and bought other cafes in Scotland and a small hotel in Alloa. Charles went to Scotland from Italy with his mother when he was four and went on to attend Alloa Academy and Dumfries College as a boarder. He was then sent to Rome for two years before rejoining his family, who by then had moved to Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, where his father was running a cafe with two cousins.
Charles was 18 when he entered the family business, running a restaurant. He did well and the business progressed through a series of seaside resorts. When he was 21, Charles was put in charge of a run-down seafront cafe, the Venetian Lounge in Brighton. Within 12 months he had turned it into a profit-making outlet. But he had his sights set on London and tried to buy himself into a milk bar in Fleet Street. The deal did not work out but with just £400 to his name, loans of £2,000 from his family and a further £2,000 bank loan, he bought his own milk bar in Upper Regent Street. Known then as The Meadow, it was the stepping stone Forte needed. In later years the cafe became the Four Seasons Restaurant and it was the one site he would never sell.
By 1938 Forte owned five milk bars in London. He then joined forces with Eric Hartwell who sold kitchen equipment and their chain of Strand milk bars expanded. A year later, their plans suffered a temporary delay with the outbreak of war. Forte was interned on the Isle of Man because of his Italian nationality and Hartwell joined the army. But Forte was released three months later and became an adviser to the Ministry of Food. Much to his humiliation at the time, his application for naturalisation made before the outbreak of war came through only when it was all over. In 1943 he married Irene Chierico, a Venetian who bore him five daughters and a son. The post-war years also saw an expansion in the Forte business, first buying the former Lyons tea room off Picadilly Circus followed by the nearby Monico site which housed the Criterion Theatre.
In 1958 he bought his first hotel, the Waldorf. The acquisition was a landmark, not just in the company's dealings, but in the history of the British hotel and catering industry. Until then it was a business dominated by the Americans, with chains such as the Hilton, but Forte changed all that. In 1970 Forte Holdings Ltd merged with Trust Houses and two years later fought off a take-over bid by Allied Breweries.
The company interests included the Cafe Royal, Forte's personal favourite acquisition, almost 250 hotels in Britain and Ireland, Henekey Inns, Quality Inns, Kardomah Coffee Houses, the TraveLodge chain of motels in America, Canada, Mexico and Tahiti, motorway service stations, catering at 24 airports in Europe as well as the Lord Mayor's Banquet in London, the Edinburgh Festival and the United Nations in New York. Among its other investments, it bought Thorn-EMI's entertainment interests in 1981, which included three West End theatres, the Empire at Leicester Square and pier shows at Blackpool Tower.
Forte also owned the publishing company Sidgwick and Jackson, a world into which he and his wife made personal forays - Lord Forte wrote his autobiography and Lady Forte wrote a cookery book. There was only one apparent issue where the powerful Lord Forte did not get his way, and that was over the Savoy Hotel Group. His attempts to buy the group were continually thwarted - his chief adversary being Sir Hugh Wontner. He received a medal from the French for what his firm had done at its Paris hotels, the George V, the Plaza Athenee and Tremoille, and the Spanish gave him a medal for his work at the Ritz in Madrid. It rankled him that in Britain he was unable to gain control of the prestigious Savoy Group.
Even when his son Rocco took over the chairmanship of the company, Forte remained a member of the THF board, unlike his predecessor Lord Thorneycroft. But as well as the business being a habit of a lifetime, he maintained a very Italian attitude to the company, regarding it as a family - and he was its patriarch. His attitude to his family was also distinctly Italian, despite his undoubted patriotism to Britain and the house in Belgravia and estate near Guildford in Surrey. His children lived at home until they were married and he expected to see them at least once a week for Sunday lunch. He also maintained strong links with the village of Monforte, usually returning there once a year.
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