CHARLES FORTE arrived in Scotland just before The Great War – he was unable to speak a word of English but went on to become one of the country’s richest men.

He was born on November 26, 1908, at Monforte south of Rome, son of Rocco and Maria Forte.

His father’s distant cousin Pacifico Forte had moved to Scotland and according to family legend, this cousin met a Scotsman who was believed to be a grocer. However, he did not own just one grocer’s shop but many.

The family always believed that this was Sir Thomas Lipton. He said to Pacifico ‘if you ever come to Scotland come to see me and I will help you.’

Pacifico took him up on his offer. He walked across Italy and France until he eventually reached Calais where he had earned enough money for passage across the English Channel and the train fare to Edinburgh. There he met the Scotsman and was able to set up his business.

He opened up what was known as a hole in the wall shop in Kincardine in Fife. There he sold chocolate, lemonade and cigarettes.

He went on to open an ice cream shop in Dundee and with the business expanding, he persuaded some of the family to move to Scotland. In 1911 Rocco Forte arrived in the country.

During that year Mr Forte found a job in a small shop in Loanhead near Edinburgh. Three years later he wrote home and asked his wife and their family to join him, and they arrived at Waverley Station in 1913.

They then left Edinburgh bound for Alloa. Here Forte established the Savoy Cafe.

It sold lemonade and coffee and soon became popular with locals. It was situated on Mill Street and could seat between 50 and 60 people.

As time went on, they employed two or three assistants to serve ice cream, cakes and sandwiches.

The family lived across the road above a newsagent. It had three bedrooms, a kitchen, sitting room and dining room. Heating was by coal fire.

Charles was beginning to speak English but with a Scottish accent. He attended Alloa Academy but was teased by the other boys.

At the time, the nickname for an Italian was tally wally and they used to taunt him with this.

Soon though he was accepted because he was friendly and good at sport.

While there he wrote an essay for his teacher Miss Hunter. She showed it to the headmaster as she was so taken with his grasp of English.

 

 

ONE of the things Charles Forte remembered about The Great War was the arrival of the Black Watch in Alloa.

He also recalled seeing Lloyd George standing on a box in a doorway, speaking to the crowd of around 100 people.

When Forte was 12, he attended Saint Joseph's College in Dumfries. While there he got into fights nearly every day, and he loathed the place.

After a week he wrote to his father saying: ‘unless you come and fetch me, I am going to run away’. A few days later he arrived at the school and took him home.

He was then enrolled in one of Italy's most prestigious schools in Rome and during his time there, he only returned to Alloa for the summer holidays.

When he was 17, Forte decided to follow in his father's footsteps. Rocco arranged for him to work in a cafe in Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset.

It had been formed in partnership with two cousins and was one of the first of a string of cafes and ice cream parlours which members of the family opened all along the English coastline.

The caveat was that he was to remain in Scotland for six months to study book-keeping and accountancy.

When he was 26, he opened his first milk bar in Regent Street London. From there his business went from strength to strength, opening many more cafes.

During World War II, he was interred on the Isle of Man, but was released three months later. In 1943, he married Irene Chierico and the couple went on to have five girls and a boy.

By the late 1940s he was head of Forte Holdings Limited and in the 1950s had branched out into catering at Heathrow Airport.

He also opened the first motorway service station at Newport Pagnell in 1959. By 1970, following mergers, he was at the helm of Trusthouse Forte which owned the likes of Little Chef and Travelodge. It was now a multi-billion pound empire.

In 1970, Forte was knighted by the Queen Mother and in 1982 became Baron Forte of Ripley in Surrey. He was also appointed Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

In 1992, he retired and handed over the reins of the business to his son Rocco. A hostile takeover bid by Granada was successful and the business fell out of family hands.

Charles Forte died in his sleep in his London home on February 28, 2007. His wife died in 2010 and was buried beside her husband in West Hampstead Cemetery.