Scot went from car salesman to boss of a $2billion business

Scottish Sun

29-05-2025

'My first job was at the Toyota garage down in Cameron Toll. They used to push me out in front of the old, posh customers, because I could 'speak posh'
TOP GEAR Scot went from car salesman to boss of a $2billion business
CHARLIE MACGREGOR quit private school at 16 to become a trainee car salesman – and found the drive to build a European hospitality empire.
The businessman revealed he was 'crap' in the classroom and couldn't wait to join the working world.
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Charlie started out life as a car salesman and now is CEO of The Social Hub.
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The Social Hub Glasgow is the biggest hotel in Scotland.
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Charlie relaxing in one of his hotels and the sort of activities guests can enjoy.
His first job after leaving Merchiston boarding school in Edinburgh was flogging motors at Western Toyota in the city's Cameron Toll, where he used his privileged background to woo posh buyers.
Growing in confidence, he later joined the building trade before turning his attention to hospitality.
Charlie — whose dad, Charles, built Scotland's first student digs in 1980 for Edinburgh University — now owns 21 hotels in eight European countries under The Social Hub banner. They provide a mix of short and longer stay accommodation, plus co-working and event spaces.
Through his Dutch-based firm, the entrepreneur last year opened his first UK venue — the £90million, 494-room, 4star Glasgow Social Hub.
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Charlie, 49, from Haddington, East Lothian, recalls: 'I found school quite hard. I later discovered I was dyslexic before dyslexia was a thing.
'I was being told all the time that I was crap at everything and ended up leaving as early as I could.
'My dad was not so happy with me leaving school at 16, so told me to start earning a living.
'My first job was at the Toyota garage down in Cameron Toll. There was an old guy there who used to push me out in front of the old, posh customers, because I could 'speak posh', according to him. He told me to put on the 'posh school boy act' and I played up to it.
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'That helped build my confidence, but I guess I really found my mojo working on a building site.
'I discovered quite early on that I wasn't afraid of work the way I had been at school — it's just in the classroom I didn't understand what the hell was going on.
'But I worked like a dog and loved being part of a team. At work, I was the happiest I have ever been and have worked and worked since then.'
Dad-of-four Charlie built his venues — which provide around 10,000 rooms — after raising almost £1.5billion from investors.
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All are based on the same philosophy of offering luxury rooms for leisure and business travellers, as well as students and extended-stay guests.
They also feature turntables and table tennis with bars, some with rooftop pools, restaurants, function rooms, a laundry and a gym.
The most recent addition to the chain is Social Hub in Rome.
Charlie reckons the key to his success is giving people more meaningful social experiences on a greater scale than they would get in the street or over a coffee.
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He says: 'Bringing all these people together is only what we all experience on a bus or in Starbucks. Hotels seem to focus on one group or another, like, 'This is a business hotel, this is a leisure hotel, this is a health hotel'. And God forbid the locals are not allowed in there because they're just gonna disrupt the place, right?
'So we've come along and, with no hotel experience and in our naivety said, 'Hey, let's just bring everybody together and let's make sure the locals are part of it, too'.'
Charlie's idea for Social Hub came after he got into the student accommodation business like his dad, opening his first Student Hotel in the Netherlands in 2006.
He says: 'I grew up thinking, 'Jeez, these places don't really motivate good behaviour'. But build a space where their parents could come to stay — well, it naturally makes you behave better.'
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Charlie believes other hotels need to 'rip up' the rule book if they want to follow in his footsteps.
He says with a sigh: 'Do you know that in the big hotel chains, there's a standard operating procedure on how staff should sneeze? We have a reverse philosophy where the front of house staff — cleaners, receptionists — they're at the top of the tree, with me as the CEO at the bottom, because they really are frontline staff who are there to make your stay the best it can be.'
Charlie would now love to expand his Social Hub accommodation into other parts of Scotland and Britain.
He revealed it is 'really heartwarming' to see the concept working, and is particularly proud of his Glasgow venture.
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However, he cautions: 'I wouldn't recommend to my own children to leave school at 16, but for me, getting out into the workplace really was the best thing I could have done.'