{{Short description|English entrepreneur}} {{EngvarB|date=June 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}{{Use British English|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox person | name = Asif Aziz | image = | caption = | birth_name = Asif Haroon Aziz | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1967|01}} | birth_place = Blantyre, Malawi | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | alma_mater = British American College London | employer = Criterion Capital | occupation = Businessman | title = CEO | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | partner = | children = 4 | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Asif Haroon Aziz'''<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Martelli |first=Silvia |date=3 November 2022 |title=Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump Sue Ex-Franchisee Over TM |url=https://www.law360.com/articles/1544848/rainforest-cafe-bubba-gump-sue-ex-franchisee-over-tm |access-date=4 September 2025 |website=Law360 |language=en}}</ref> (born January 1967<ref>{{cite web |title=Asif Haroon AZIZ |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/oUQ9wsGJQt6djzSGrPkamZDOXCQ/appointments |website=Companies House |access-date=27 February 2026}}</ref>) is a billionaire businessman and landlord. As the founder and chief executive of Criterion Capital, he is known for owning and operating buildings including the London Trocadero and Criterion Building in Piccadilly Circus.
He has faced criticism for forcing the closure of cultural institutions and has been involved as a defendant in multiple High Court cases.<ref name=":6">{{cite web |last=Meddings |first=Sabah |date=5 April 2020 |title=Has coronavirus made Asif Aziz the meanest landlord in Britain? |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/has-coronavirus-made-asif-aziz-the-meanest-landlord-in-britain-tb92dbdm9 |access-date=8 February 2025 |work=The Times}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite web |last1=Lubbock |first1=John |last2=Steinhardt |first2=Daisy |date=5 February 2025 |title=The Billionaire Landlord Battling a Beloved Cinema |url=https://novaramedia.com/2025/02/05/the-billionaire-landlord-battling-beloved-london-cinema/ |access-date=8 February 2025 |website=Novara Media |publisher=}}</ref> In 2024, Aziz changed his tax residency from London to Abu Dhabi in response to taxation reforms in the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ellson |first=Andrew |date=14 July 2025 |title=Billionaires are fleeing the UK — and wealth tax could make more quit |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/billionaires-wealth-tax-z8m8kjcjl |access-date=19 August 2025 |website=The Times |language=en |quote=Aziz, the Malawi-born owner of the Trocadero leisure complex at Piccadilly Circus, moved his tax residency to Abu Dhabi at the end of last year, driven by new tax rules.}}</ref>
==Early life== Born in Limbe, Malawi in 1967, Aziz moved to Wimbledon, London at the age of ten after his family was deported by dictator Hastings Banda. He attended Terra Nova boarding school in Cheshire, then Emanuel School in Wandsworth. He later graduated from the British American College London with a business baccalaureate.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Arlidge |first=John |date=6 June 2005 |title=Mr West End: Revealed: the remarkable rise to riches of the Trocadero's mysterious new owner |url= |journal=Evening Standard |id={{ProQuest|329781439}} |ref=standard-profile-2005 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>
==Career== Working on behalf of his father's business, Aziz attended a property auction aged 16 with a relative. He lied about his age, claiming to be 18, and successfully bid £1.9{{Spaces}}million for a building opposite South Kensington tube station. The auctioneer later recalled him as a "tiny, fresh-faced guy."<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=5 October 2023 |title=The Square Mile and Me: Asif Aziz on turning London's neglected spaces into eclectic landmarks |url=https://www.cityam.com/square-mile-and-me-asif-aziz-neglected-spaces-eclectic-landmarks/ |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=City AM |language=en-GB}}</ref>
In 1986, he began investing on his own account, using a £50,000 inheritance to buy two shops in Deptford. He converted the upper floors to flats before selling the properties a year later for £100,000.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /> His portfolio grew to £4{{Spaces}}million, but by 1990 a series of poor investments wiped out his holdings.<ref name=":3" /> He subsequently worked for property developer Elliott Bernerd at Morgan Grenfell Laurie.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Bill |first=Peter |date=20 November 2014 |title=Mr Trocadero's going flat out with a towering new venture |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/business/markets/peter-bill-on-property-mr-trocadero-s-going-flat-out-with-a-towering-new-venture-9872336.html |access-date=19 August 2025 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref>
In 1993, Aziz traveled to Angola to recover debts on behalf of his family, who had traded in the country for over 30 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldie |first=Anna |date=20 May 2005 |title=Out of Africa |url=https://www.propertyweek.com/news/out-of-africa |access-date=3 September 2025 |website=Property Week |language=en}}</ref> He was unsuccessful, but instead founded a food and consumer goods distribution firm called Golfrate.<ref name=":3" /> The company secured exclusive wholesale rights for products from Western brands that had withdrawn from the country due to the civil war, including Nestlé, Kraft, and Unilever.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite news |last=Coldwell |first=Will |date=14 June 2025 |title='The city is being hollowed out': the billionaire landlord locked in a David v Goliath battle for London's West End |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/14/the-city-is-being-hollowed-out-the-billionaire-landlord-locked-in-a-david-v-goliath-battle-for-londons-west-end |access-date=19 August 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> By 2005, the business operated 34 cash and carry locations, with an annual turnover of over £100{{Spaces}}million.<ref name=":3" />
Golfrate was sold to Lebanese businessmen Hassan Tajideen, Kassim Tajideen and Nasser Eid in 2005. Two years later, they sued Aziz, alleging he had falsified accounts to inflate the company's value by $20{{Spaces}}million and misled them about its profitability. The buyers cited an email in which he purportedly asked an accountant to "bullshit the numbers", and claimed he had spent company money on luxury clothes, hotels and a cruise. Aziz denied the allegations and claimed the buyers were trying to embarrass him into a settlement, offering instead an independent audit or to donate £5{{Spaces}}million to charity.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Doyle |first=David |date=21 December 2007 |title=Asif Aziz sued for 'overvaluing' firms |url=https://www.propertyweek.com/news/asif-aziz-sued-for-overvaluing-firms |access-date=15 March 2025 |website=Property Week |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Power |first1=Helen |last2=Monaghan |first2=Angela |date=16 December 2007 |title=Trocadero owner sued for $20m over 'fraud' |work=The Sunday Telegraph |via=ProQuest |id={{ProQuest|309550133}}}}</ref> The case was settled in 2009 with the buyers paying Aziz's legal costs.<ref name=":1" />thumb|right|The London Trocadero, bought by Asif Aziz in 2005In 2005, he returned to the UK and established Criterion Capital, which acquired the London Trocadero leisure complex, the London Pavilion (1 Piccadilly Circus) and The Criterion Building (1 Jermyn Street). {{As of|2025}}, the company holds a property portfolio worth £6{{Spaces}}billion<ref name=":5" /> across London and the South East of England, including 15 commercial buildings in the West End of London, the Docklands<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heren |first=Kit |date=11 April 2023 |title=CJCT gets go-ahead for 30-storey Docklands tower after adding second staircase |url=https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/cjct-wins-go-ahead-for-30-storey-docklands-tower-after-adding-second-staircase |access-date=19 August 2025 |website=Architects' Journal |language=en}}</ref> and Croydon.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dixon |first=Annabel |date=4 October 2013 |title=Criterion buys Batman's hospital |url=https://www.estatesgazette.co.uk/news/criterion-buys-batman-s-hospital/ |access-date=19 August 2025 |website=Estates Gazette |language=en-GB}}</ref> Under Criterion's ownership, the Trocadero was converted into a hotel with 812 windowless rooms.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lake |first=Emma |date=11 September 2023 |title=Zedwell hotel in Piccadilly to add 84 bedrooms due to demand |url=https://www.thecaterer.com/news/zedwell-piccadilly-extension |access-date=19 August 2025 |website=The Caterer |language=En}}</ref> The company has donated to both Labour and the Conservatives.<ref name=":2" />
In 2006, ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked Aziz as number 12 out of 40 in a list of successful young entrepreneurs.<ref>{{cite news |author=Tomkinson |first1=Martin |last2=Wallop |first2=Harry |date=13 December 2006 |title=Made it by 40 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2952352/Made-it-by-40.html |access-date=5 April 2014 |work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref>
== Controversies == Aziz has been criticised by ''Private Eye'' for using companies registered in the Isle of Man to buy properties in London, especially pubs, and then close them down to replace them with more lucrative housing developments.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=27 November 2015 |title=Manx for Nothing |url=https://www.private-eye.co.uk/pictures/special_reports/tax-havens.pdf |access-date=2 August 2022 |work=Private Eye |pages=14 |issue=1406}}</ref>
In 2020, ''The Times'' asked if Aziz was "the meanest landlord in Britain", due to the way he had treated tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bazalgette |first=Felix |date=29 October 2022 |title='It was more than a pub' – the story of five boozers forced to call last orders |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/oct/29/pub-the-story-of-five-boozers-forced-to-call-last-orders-for-good |access-date=3 October 2023 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
In 2022 he was criticised by Novara Media for continuing to buy community spaces like bars and nurseries and redeveloping them into luxury apartments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lubbock |first=John |date=2 September 2022 |title=Meet the Property Tycoon Closing Down London's Pubs |url=https://novaramedia.com/2022/09/02/meet-the-property-tycoon-closing-down-londons-pubs/ |access-date=7 April 2023 |website=Novara Media |language=en}}</ref> Aziz's lawyers demanded the removal of the article, claiming defamation unless it was taken down.<ref name=":2" /> In 2025, a ''Londoner'' investigation revealed that companies linked to Aziz have bought and shuttered at least 29 London pubs, often leaving them empty or converting them into commercial developments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kersley |first=Andrew |date=2025-08-16 |title=Exclusive: The billionaire developer closing London's pubs |url=https://www.the-londoner.co.uk/exclusive-the-billionaire-developer-closing-londons-pubs/ |access-date=2025-08-28 |website=The Londoner |language=en}}</ref> thumb|A protest against the redevelopment of the Central YMCA building In late 2024, Aziz's property company, Criterion Capital, became associated with the planned closure of the world's first YMCA, on London's Great Russell Street.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Low |first=Harry |date=4 December 2024 |title=World's first YMCA in central London to close in February |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mv0vn821eo |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> The decision to close the historic facility, which had served as a vital community hub since 1844, sparked significant public outcry and a grassroots "Save YMCA Club" campaign.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Demetriades |first1=Olivia |last2=O'Reilly |first2=Gem |date=9 January 2025 |title=Central London flash mob tries to save YMCA from closure |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrwrv0p8y5o |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> Campaigners criticised Criterion Capital for prioritising redevelopment over preserving the site's community purpose and urged collaboration to explore sustainable alternatives.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maskell |first=Caitlin |date=10 January 2025 |title=Central YMCA face protest of flash mob |url=https://www.westminsterextra.co.uk/article/central-ymca-face-protest-of-flash-mob |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=Westminster Extra |language=en-gb}}</ref>
The company again came under discussion in early 2025 after the Prince Charles Cinema stated that their landlord, owned by Criterion Capital, were demanding both a significant raise in rent and a 6-month break clause in the new lease.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pulver |first=Andrew |date=28 January 2025 |title=Cult London film venue Prince Charles cinema under threat of closure |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jan/28/prince-charles-cinema-threat-of-closure-london-cult-venue |access-date=28 January 2025 |website=The Guardian |language=en-GB}}</ref> The cinema collected over 160,000 signatures on a petition to "Save The Prince Charles Cinema", and was subsequently designated an asset of community value by Westminster City Council.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pilley |first=Max |date=9 May 2025 |title=Battle to save Prince Charles Cinema sees it "designated as an Asset of Community Value" by council |url=https://www.nme.com/news/film/battle-to-save-prince-charles-cinema-sees-it-designated-as-an-asset-of-community-value-by-council-3861841 |access-date=23 July 2025 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}</ref>
In 2025, reports emerged highlighting widespread maintenance issues and vermin infestations in properties managed under Aziz's "Dstrkt" housing brand, despite rapidly rising rents.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Waterson |first=Jim |author-link=Jim Waterson |date=19 February 2025 |title=The Prince Charles Cinema landlord and his cockroach-infested "worst place to live in Croydon" |url=https://www.londoncentric.media/p/asif-aziz-delta-point-croydon-prince-charles-cinema |access-date=7 March 2025 |website=London Centric |language=en}}</ref> Aziz also reportedly paid £150,000 to settle allegations that he had illegally operated an unlicensed ''Forrest Gump''-themed shrimp restaurant at Piccadilly Circus.<ref name=":9" /><ref name=":10" /> The same site drew further scrutiny when it later reopened as a reportedly tax-avoiding, unofficial ''Harry Potter''-themed shop.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Waterson |first=Jim |author-link=Jim Waterson |date=7 March 2025 |title=Kitchen foil and Algerian markets: What happens when your phone is stolen in London? |url=https://www.londoncentric.media/p/kitchen-foil-and-algerian-markets |access-date=7 March 2025 |website=London Centric |language=en}}</ref>
Journalist Jim Waterson has criticised Aziz for leasing units to souvenir shops he says engage in phoenixing to evade payment of business rates and VAT. Criterion Capital responded that tenants were responsible for their own taxes but said it would assist HMRC if requested.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Waterson |first1=Jim |author-link1=Jim Waterson |last2=Kehoe |first2=Cormac |last3=Rees |first3=Rachel |date=22 July 2025 |title=The billionaire and the tax evading gift shops |url=https://www.londoncentric.media/p/asf-aziz-london-candy-shops-gift-shop-unpaid-tax |access-date=23 July 2025 |website=London Centric |language=en}}</ref>
== Aziz Foundation == thumb|Ramadan Lights in London's West End, sponsored by the Aziz Foundation In 2015, Aziz established the Aziz Foundation as a charitable incorporated organisation offering postgraduate scholarships, internships and grants to British Muslims.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 February 2024 |title=About Us |url=https://www.azizfoundation.org.uk/about/ |access-date=9 May 2025 |website=Aziz Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=August 2025|certain=y}} In 2022, Aziz was awarded an honorary fellowship from Goldsmiths University, where the organisation has funded students.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Asif Aziz |url=https://www.gold.ac.uk/honorands/asif-aziz/ |access-date=9 May 2025 |website=Goldsmiths, University of London |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Lynch |first=Ben |date=6 April 2023 |title=Calls for government to recognise day to combat Islamophobia |url=https://www.londonworld.com/news/campaign-launched-calling-on-government-to-recognise-un-day-combating-islamophobia-4090543 |access-date=31 August 2025 |website=LondonWorld |language=en}}</ref> As of 2023, he said over 500 scholarships had been funded.<ref name=":7" />
The Aziz Foundation has sponsored events during Ramadan, including an illuminated display at Piccadilly Circus and an Open Iftar at Trafalgar Square, both attended by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Amini |first=Mariam |date=1 March 2025 |title=Ramadan display lights up Piccadilly Circus in London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/01/ramadan-display-lights-up-piccadilly-circus-in-london |access-date=9 May 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lynch |first=Ben |date=21 April 2023 |title=More than 3,000 attend final Open Iftar in Trafalgar Square |url=https://www.londonworld.com/news/open-iftar-2023-more-than-3000-attend-final-ramadan-event-in-trafalgar-square-before-eid-al-fitr-4114273 |access-date=4 September 2025 |website=LondonWorld |language=en}}</ref> It has also donated to several MPs to fund staff placements for British Muslims in their offices.<ref name=":2" />
Aziz was awarded the Tun Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad Leadership Award at the 2022 Islam Channel Business Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 November 2022 |title=Highlights: Celebrating the best in British Muslim business |url=https://islamchannel.tv/islam-channel-awards-celebrate-excellence-in-british-muslim-business/ |access-date=9 May 2025 |website=Islam Channel |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Personal life == Aziz has four children, most of whom hold senior roles in his operations: one son is a director at Criterion Capital, one daughter runs Zedwell Hotels, and another daughter is a trustee of the Aziz Foundation.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ackerman |first=Naomi |date=27 December 2024 |title=How AI helps small newcomers compete with the giants |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/entrepreneurs/article/how-ai-helps-small-newcomers-compete-with-the-giants-enterprise-network-mqbgvwbqt |access-date=31 August 2025 |website=The Times |language=en |quote=Led by Aziz’s daughter, Halima Aziz, the business now has three Zedwells in London}}</ref>
Aziz's first marriage was to a Malawi-born woman in the 1980s, but the couple divorced after two years.<ref name=":3" /> In a 2017 divorce case, he denied ever being married to his subsequent partner of 20 years, arguing she was not entitled to a share of what she estimated as his £1.1{{Spaces}}billion fortune because they had never legally married under English law.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Wiggins |first=Kaye |date=5 October 2017 |title=Investor CEO in $1.3 Billion Divorce Denies Being Married |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-05/hedge-fund-ceo-in-1-3-billion-divorce-says-he-wasn-t-married |access-date=4 September 2025 |website=Bloomberg News}}</ref> Tagilde Aziz, a Portuguese woman he had met in Angola and mother of his four children,<ref name=":3" /> argued that a 1997 Islamic ceremony ({{transliteration|ar|nikah}}) in Wimbledon and a 2002 ceremony in Malawi constituted valid marriages.<ref name=":8" /> The case, described as one of the largest divorce proceedings ever in the UK, was ultimately settled out of court.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":6" />
Aziz is a Muslim and has suggested negative media coverage of his activities stems from Islamophobia, stating that he is targeted because he is a "champion of British Muslim issues".<ref name=":5" /> In a 2023 editorial in ''The Times'', he described "being shut out of the property market because of the colour of my skin and dim view of my faith".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Aziz |first=Asif |date=20 March 2023 |title=Asif Aziz: We must enshrine the UN day to combat Islamophobia in law |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/asif-aziz-we-must-enshrine-the-un-day-to-combat-islamophobia-in-law-3b6g9k36h |access-date=31 August 2025 |website=The Times |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links==
* [https://www.criterioncapital.co.uk Criterion Capital] * [https://www.azizfoundation.org.uk Aziz Foundation] {{DEFAULTSORT:Aziz, Asif}} Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at Emanuel School Category:Alumni of Regent's University London Category:English people of Indian descent Category:Malawian chief executives Category:Malawian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Businesspeople from London Category:People from Blantyre Category:Malawian Muslims