They touched on a time before the onset of relentless commercial activity, obscene salaries and corporate disfigurement. “Not peak viewing stuff, just the sort of programme I like to watch for half an hour before going to bed,” Moore said.The former Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson, on hearing of his death, spoke for those who knew Moore. “I don’t think there is anyone in the world of football, and football is a big world, who had a bad word to say about him.”Ken Jones. Argyros Anastasis (Reo Stakis), hotelier: born Kato Drys, Cyprus 13 March 1913; Chairman, Stakis plc 1947-91, President 1986-99; Kt 1988; married 1946 Annitsa Petropoulos (two sons, four daughters); died Stirling 28 August 2001.
Argyros Anastasis (Reo Stakis), hotelier: born Kato Drys, Cyprus 13 March 1913; Chairman, Stakis plc 1947-91, President 1986-99; Kt 1988; married 1946 Annitsa Petropoulos (two sons, four daughters); died Stirling 28 August 2001.
The influence of Reo Stakis, the Cypriot immigrant who built up the biggest catering and hotel business in Scotland and became one of the richest men in his adopted country, was considerable. In the words of Alex Mosson, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, he “revolutionised the eating habits of generations of Glaswegians, as well as introducing good quality, affordable hotels. He loved Glasgow and his imagination and skill made an indelible mark on the city.” A former manager of one of his hotels put it more bluntly: “He taught them [Glaswegians] to use a knife and fork.”Stakis was often compared with another immigrant-turned-hotelier, Lord (Charles) Forte, who also started his empire with a single caf?n Scotland, but Stakis was a far simpler, more straightforward character, fond of eating simple food (and lifting the lids of the pots of any kitchen he went into). He was above all shrewd, a good judge of people.His style was shown by his attitude to shooting, his only passion outside his business (and his family).
He was an excellent shot, had bought a shoot in the 1940s and invited a wide range of friends and acquaintances from all walks of life to join him, treating them to superb lunches. He continued shooting up to three days a week until he was well into his eighties.Stakis was born Argyros Anastasis in the village of Kato Drys, 22 miles inland from the port of Larnaca, near Lafkara, a centre of the Cypriot lace-making industry His father, a farmer, hit bad times in the late 1920s. So young Reo had to leave his school, the American Academy in Larnaca, and was packed off to England (where he became “Reo Stakis”) at the age of 14 to sell the “Lefkaritika” lace made by his mother, armed only with two suitcases of lace and a mere £7 in his pocket, all his father could afford At first, not surprisingly, he was homesick. “I was lost,” he said later, “I couldn’t believe there were cities like this in the whole world, so big, so strange.” Travelling all over Britain, at first in a motor-cycle and side car and then in a modest Morris, he found himself in Scotland and felt at home there.
He was a persistent salesman, even managing to sell some lace to Queen Mary (he always said that he framed the cheque for £13 she gave him).In 1946, after eight years’ absence, he returned to Cyprus to bring back Annitsa Petropoulos, a local girl to whom he had become engaged before the war, for, in personal matters, he remained true to the traditions of his native island.His business career really started in 1945 when he rented the Victory caf?n Glasgow, immediately doubling the waitresses’ wages. Previously, he said, “There was a big gap between the cheap caf?nd the expensive gourmet meal what lay between was over-priced and often uneatable. This gap was getting wider all the time as people in the aftermath of the war gradually began to earn more and have more leisure time.” Stakis filled that gap with good food at affordable prices.The end of meat rationing in 1954 provided a major opportunity for someone as alert as Stakis, who was never afraid of spotting trends. He followed the example of the Berni brothers in providing a three-course meal centred on a steak, for under £1 complete with the inevitable prawn cocktail and Black Forest gateau. His chain of “Old World Inn” steakhouses led on to his shrewdest move.
At the time new drinks’ licences were not being issued in Scotland, so Stakis would buy up failing off-licences and transfer the licence to a restaurant. To the side this would also have a large and tastefully furnished lounge and bar, a far cry from the normal run of primitive Scottish drinking establishments, in which women were not welcome. This initiative led on to buying small hotels, the only licensed premises in which drinks were then available in Scotland on Sundays – at times queues would form outside the hotels as the opening time (midday) approached.These were so profitable that they often repaid their purchase price within the first year. Stakis also soon found that there was more profit in hotel rooms than in food and drink and as time went on more hotels were bought. Stakis ended up owning 46 hotels, mostly in Scotland, for he never managed to make much of an impact in England – but even when he did, his hotels remained Scottish.
