£1 king's empire is revealed

He is basking in the rewards of a half-century career in business that saw him go from flogging tubes of toothpaste for a few pennies on Bilston Market to becoming lord of his very own manor.

It is, as the old adage goes, a true rags-to-riches tale.

Willenhall born-and-bred, Keith pushed the boat out to defy all advice when he founded Poundland with his son Steve in 1990. Now he lives in a house surrounded by a moat.

Nestling near to the rear entrance of the estate is a 400-year-old building which for the past six years has been the site of some of Keith's most prized possessions.

Since arriving at the Claverley estate he bought for £2 million in 1997 he held a long-standing dream to convert the old Coach House into a museum.

His ambition was finally realised when an extensive refurbishment project saw the first floor of building turned into a two-room exhibition featuring a treasure trove of trinkets and artefacts celebrating his half century career in business and the history of the estate.

One room is home to a myriad of weird and wonderful memorabilia, including glass bottles, vintage coins and bullet casings, many of which were found in the grounds of the 190-acre estate.

Other heirlooms were handed down by the hall's previous owner, George Ferguson, while a set of Victorian cuff-links owned by another of the estate's previous residents, Joseph Round Cartwright, are on display.

The front-facing room is dedicated to Keith's family history – including photographs and newspaper articles relating to his wildly successful business ventures Hooty's cash and carry and Poundland.

Once a year in July the 72-year-old throws open the doors to his estate for a charity open day, allowing visitors to look around its expansive grounds and see the museum's inventory first hand.

For Keith and his wife Maureen, the large glass fronted mahogany cabinets and hundreds of photographs that line the museum's walls serve as a fascinating window into the past.

"It was something I had always wanted to do," said Keith, referring to his decision to develop the museum.

"When we first came here we found all sorts of things lying around the grounds. Some of these things are hundreds of years old. I wanted to display them in a way that would be in keeping with the tradition of the estate.

"It's a large piece of land and things keep on cropping up all over the place, so the number of things on display has grown over the years."

The items on show include a giant Dennis lawnmower thought to date from the 1920s, which was used by gardeners at the estate to keep the mass expanse of lawns in pristine condition.

An array of glass bottles of varying shapes and sizes fill one cabinet, their uses ranging from old milk containers to booze bottles and medicine dispensers.

Keith counts himself as an avid collector of historical artefacts relating to his business career, and numerous items he has kept from his own personal collection adorn the display cabinets.

"I wanted part of the museum to be about my family, to the work we have done and the things we have achieved over the years," he continued.

"There have been a lot of highs and lows from a business point of view - thankfully a lot more highs. Poundland was obviously a big part of that."

The exhibits date back to the start of his entrepreneurial odyssey in 1960, with one grainy photograph showing Keith as a young, wavy-haired draughtsman at Willenhall firm Wellman, Smith & Owen.

As a 16-year-old he quit his apprenticeship just four months in because he thought he could earn more money on the market. "It turned out I was right," he chuckled.

After starting out on Bilston indoor market, he set up a succession of increasingly larger wholesale depots across the Black Country, culminating in the famous Hooty's cash and carry on Willenhall's Longacres Estate.

One of the museum items featured from this period is the first business computer Keith owned from his time at Hooty's - complete with eight inch black and white screen and floppy disc drive.

"We had a client list of 19,000 stored on those discs," recalled Keith.

"It was all about getting return business so the computer was a godsend. Computers were a completely new thing back then but we always tried to be up with the times."

All of Keith's business enterprises are documented through a series of photographs and newspaper articles decorating the walls of the museum.

One story from the Express & Star, dated November 21, 1974, reports on a public outcry about delivery wagons blocking the roads around his 'fancy goods and popular toys retailer' in Poplar Avenue, Tipton.

"That was my first warehouse and we were ridiculously busy," he reminisced.

"I always had the view that where business is concerned no news is bad news, so I never minded being in the paper.

"Some of the residents got fed up for a few weeks but it all died down eventually."

After making a mint selling Hooty's in 1988, Keith and Maureen moved out to Majorca to live out an idyllic retirement in the Spanish sun.

But while that could easily have been the end of the story, Keith still had one business dream left unfulfilled.

Poundland started out in 1990 as what Keith describes as his 'crazy' idea to flog everything for a quid.

Twelve years ago he became rich beyond his wildest dreams when, together with his son Steve, he sold the one-price retail chain for almost £50 million.

The duo started the business on the back of a father and son row which ended when Keith loaned Steve £50,000 to put his one-price concept into action.

"Yes it was a gamble, maybe even a crazy idea. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my reservations," said Keith.

But all doubts were cast aside within 10 days of the first store opening its doors in Burton-on-Trent on December 13, 1990.

With Keith taking the role of silent partner the shop made £100,000 in that time, with Steve and his business partner Dave Dodd moving the company on from strength to strength.

Keith had originally scribbled the plans for the store down on a scrap of paper in 1989 - another of the museum's exhibits. He admits he had no idea it would go on to become a business empire that now boasts 528 stores and a stock market value of £750 million.

"Even in the early days it crossed my mind that people would get sick of the concept, but they never did," he said.

The family sold the business to investment group Advent International in 2002 for around £50 million, but Keith says the firm's continued growth has left him with no regrets.

"I don't think I sold it too cheap. It was the right price at the time and it has allowed me to enjoy the profits.

"My wife always said I was all business for most of my life. She was right. You get to the point when you have to take a step back and take in the rewards."

Some of the numerous awards received by the firm are proudly displayed in the museum, including the coveted 1999 UK Retail Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

"That was down to Steve's hard work in running Poundland," said Keith, who has two other children, Sean, aged 37 and Mandy, aged 49.

"As a father it makes me proud to see how well he has done. I came up with the idea, but Steve put everything into building up the company, so we picked up the odd award along the way.

"He even ended up paying me back the money I'd lent him to start up!"

Another photograph shows the Poundland trio with comedian Bobby Davro at an awards evening in 1996.

Also displayed are cans of the Poundland apple drink, which the store used to sell before a shift of marketing tactics led to it focusing on more recognised branded products.

For Keith, the most significant photograph at the museum depicts the huge interior of the Poundland distribution depot in Wellmans Road, which, by a strange twist of fate, was built at the site of the Wellman, Smith & Owen factory he started out at in 1960.

"You could say I came full circle," added Keith.

"Both myself and my dad worked at that factory and my nan had a house on the same piece of land.

"Then years later we ended up knocking it down. It's funny how life goes sometimes."