And finally…Scots butcher leaves £20m fortune

Ian Galloway
Ian Galloway (Image: Glasgow University)

A Scottish butcher who started working as a teenager behind the counter in the small chain of Glasgow butcher shops, and died having built the business into a multi-million-pound empire with more than 700 staff, left a personal fortune of £20m million, it has emerged.

Ian Galloway began work as a boy working in shops run by his father and grandfather when he joined the family business of JW Galloway as a 16-year-old straight from school in 1956.

His father had been concerned about his own health and wanted his son to gain as much hands-on experience as possible.



However, not only did Mr Galloway learn the ropes in Glasgow, a couple of years later his father sent him on a round-the-world trip to understand the industry in its widest possible terms.

And to make sure he concentrated on business, he was sent alone in the hope this would compel him to spend his time with the industry people he met.

History would suggest that it worked, as Mr Galloway’s experiences abroad quickly led to the firm building the first driven-line meat-processing plant in the UK, and, in 1962, Scotbeef, a wholly owned subsidiary of JW Galloway was founded.

By the mid-1970s the firm of J W Galloway had 56 shops throughout Glasgow and the Central Belt.

And, after 50 years of Mr Galloway’s stewardship, Scotbeef is now the country’s largest red meat processing firm, boasting a £300m-plus turnover and supplies supermarket giants such as Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Harrods.

Mr Galloway, from Buchlyvie, Stirlingshire, died in February last year aged 75. His recently published will has revealed he had an estate valued at £19,921,405.

His wealth was made up of £18.4m worth of shares in family firm J W Galloway, the parent company of Scotbeef, and properties in Scotland and London.

He also had a luxury car collection which included a 1963 RollsRoyce saloon valued at £68,800, a Bentley Arnage worth more than £18,000 and a £56,000 Range Rover Vogue.

He left instructions that his estate should be left to his widow Avril and their two children.

Mr Galloway was awarded a CBE in the 2001 New Year’s Honours List and received an honorary degree from Glasgow University in 2009.

Paying tribute to Mr Galloway following his death, Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers (SAMW) president Alan McNaughton said: “Ian was always an innovator, pioneering product traceability long before it became fashionable, while also being one of the first to develop strong and direct processor/retailer links.”

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