Charles Forte, Baron Forte
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The Right Honourable The Lord Forte |
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| Born |
Carmine Forte 26 November 1908 Mortale, Italy |
| Died | 28 February 2007 (aged 98) London, United Kingdom |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | Caterer and hotelier |
| Known for | Forte Group |
| Spouse(s) | Irene Mary Chierico |
Charles Carmine Forte, Baron Forte (26 November 1908 – 28 February 2007) was a Scottish caterer and hotelier of Italian origin who founded the leisure and hotels conglomerate that ultimately became the Forte Group.
Charles Forte was born as Carmine Forte in Mortale, now Monforte, Casalattico, in the province of Frosinone, Italy in 1908. He emigrated from Italy to Scotland at the age of four with his family.
He attended Alloa Academy and then St. Joseph's College, Dumfries as a boarder, followed by two years in Rome.
After Rome, Forte rejoined his family, who had moved to Weston-super-Mare, where his father ran a café with two cousins. Charles's main training at the age of 21 came in Brighton, where he managed the Venetian Lounge for a cousin.
At 26, he set up his first "milk bar" in 1935, the Strand Milk Bar Ltd, in Regent Street, London, having thoroughly researched the location. Soon he began expanding into catering and hotel businesses. At the outbreak of World War II, Forte was interned in the Isle of Man due to his Italian nationality, but he was released after only three months. After the war, his company became Forte Holdings Ltd and bought the Café Royal in 1954.
In the 1950s, he also opened the first catering facility at Heathrow Airport and the first full British motorway service station for cars at Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, on the M1 motorway in 1959. He purchased the Hungaria Restaurant in Lower Regent St. in 1955.
Trust Houses Group Ltd and Forte Holdings were merged in 1970 to become Trust House Forte or THF. Through mergers and expansion, Forte expanded the Forte Group into a multibillion-pound business. His empire included the Little Chef and Happy Eater roadside restaurants, Crest, Forte Grand, Travelodge and Posthouse hotels, as well as the wine merchant Grierson-Blumenthal and a majority (although non-controlling) stake in the Savoy Hotel.
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