WHEN driving past a luxury car anywhere in Wanstead and Woodford, there's always a chance it could have been sold by the company owned by one of the area's most successful businessmen.

Nick Lancaster, 62, who lives in Belgravia but grew up in Empress Avenue in Woodford Green, runs HR Owen, the luxury car company which has sold vehicles to the rich and famous across the globe.

A former pupil at St Aubyn's School and a boarder at Bancroft's School, who later lived in Loughton and Chigwell, he has keen recollections of the area.

He said: “I have a photographic memory, and I remember my childhood in the area really very well. I was born in Chingford but grew up in Woodford Green. I have very fond memories of boarding at Bancroft's, because my parents were living away at the time.

“I remember queuing up for food during rationing after the Second World War, and I recall the excitement of the Queen's coronation.

“I went with my Dad to South Woodford to buy a television on hire-purchase just a few days before the coronation, as a lot of people did. We were the only family in our street and we had a huge number of people in our house to watch it all on television.

“At that time Winston Churchill was the MP for Woodford Green. I remember I went down with some friends to see him at the opening of the big statue of him there, but we couldn't get near because there were so many people. But then he opened a fete later that year and I saw him, giving his V for victory signs and smoking his big cigar.

Mr Lancaster founded his own dealership aged 21, selling it to Jardine Matheson in 1992. Two years later he set up the Malaya Group, which bought HR Owen for £14 million.

Mr Lancaster said the effects of the recession had prompted the company to focus its business on the top end of the luxury car market, and to look abroad to sell cars to people with growing wealth in places like Russia, China and Africa.

With ever-increasing awareness of the environmental impact of all aspects of our lives – not least large-engined cars – he believes that even luxury car makers are reacting to people's concerns about their carbon footprint.

“Car manufacturers like Bentley are bringing out new models which are more fuel efficient and made of lighter materials to reduce the amount of fuel used,” he said.

“In addition to that, we argue very strongly that the cars we sell are kept for much longer than less expensive cars and that over time they are actually more fuel efficient than a lot of other makes.”

Despite the fact that it is some years now since he swapped the leafy streets of Woodford Green for the townhouses of the West End he looks back on his time in the area with fondness.

“I will always have fond memories of Woodford and the area,” he said. “It always seemed villagey and green, and it was a lovely, very happy place to live.”

Q&A

What do you think you would be doing if you weren't selling cars?

I think I'd be a television presenter, a chat show host. I used to do quite a lot of public speaking for the industry, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and international television stuff too. If it all goes wrong in the motor trade, maybe I'll go into that!

What car do you drive?

In this business you tend to drive whatever we have around at the time, which is lucky because they are absolutely wonderful cars – there's nothing like the fun of driving them. But, living in London, most of the time I tend to walk from A to B.

What is you favourite piece of music?

I love all sorts of music, the blues, rock and roll, but I also love opera. If you listen to the arias, like Puccini's La Boheme, they're just beautiful. But, in saying that, there's also nothing wrong with getting your rocks off and having a bit of a boogie.

What are you reading at the moment?

At the moment I'm reading Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett. He's one of our customers.

Who is your hero?

I've always loved motorsport, and some of the early racing drivers are just incredible, the way they drove at such high speeds with cars that were much less safe than they are now. So probably Sir Sterling Moss, he'd be my hero. We know Sir Sterling actually, he lives close by.