RETRO: Peter Stringfellow's rise from tie salesman to club magnate

He's without doubt one of Sheffield's most famous sons.

Peter Stringfellow, the former potted meat factory worker who went on to become a multi-millionaire nightclub magnate made his name in the Steel City.

At the age of 13, Peter worked at the Wicker Cinema, before becoming a tie salesman at Austin Reed.

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He also spent three days as a trainee barber before spending two years sailing in the Merchant Navy, as a kitchen galley boy.

But in 1962, Pitsmoor-born Stringfellow found his calling.

It all started with the Black Cat Club in 1962, which was a church hall he rented out,.

He booked many bands to play there – most notably, a little upcoming group called The Beatles, in 1963.

Stringfellow returned to the building in City Road in1994 – pictured here – to pay homage to it.

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Other clubs soon followed including the King Mojo Club. Pictured here, Stringfellow held the club’s Christmas party at the Leadmill club in 1984.

Among the groups that Stringfellow has attracted to play in Sheffield over the years include The Who, Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd, Elton John and Jimi Hendrix.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, Peter and his brother Geoff – pictured here in 1981 with Peter’s Rolls Royce – expanded into an empire, with more c lubs in Leeds and Manchester before taking on London, New York and the world.