Biographies

 Charan Gill MBE

Harlequin Leisure Group

Charan Gill is the face and mastermind behind the hugely successful Glasgow based Harlequin Leisure Group, which incorporated Harlequin Restaurant Group, the largest Indian restaurant chain in the UK.

Often revered as 'Glasgow's Curry King' by the media over the

last 19 years, Charan has turned the Glaswegian passion for curry into a thriving empire of 17 restaurants across Scotland...and that's just for starters! In 1998, Charan was awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours List for his outstanding contribution to the food and catering industry.

It's fair to say Charan's achievements have been phenomenal.  So what is the secret of his success? Rather than being born with the silver spoon syndrome, on the contrary, Charan's childhood was tough.  He arrived in Glasgow from the Punjab, India in 1963 at the age of 9 with little knowledge of English or indeed the western culture. Denied a university education, he started his career as a turner and fitter at Yarrow's Shipyards on the Clyde in 1969.

By 1974, he was a married man with a young child, living in a room and kitchen on the south side of Glasgow. To supplement his meagre income in the shipyards, Charan worked as a waiter in his friend's restaurant, the Ashoka West End, in the evenings - and this is when his entrepreneurial flair began to flourish. He had a vision.

In 1984 when the opportunity arose to purchase the restaurant, Charan begged and borrowed to secure the deal. Through grim determination (amid at times desperation), he applied his innate ability to turn ideas into innovative concepts - and the Harlequin Empire was born. In March 2005, Charan successfully sold the Harlequin Restaurant Group and is now concentrating on Harelquin Properties and Harlequin Developments, focussing on luxury conversions and new build properties across west central Scotland.