Poundland founder Steve Smith has finally sold his luxury 13-bedroom Staffordshire mansion for £4million – nearly eight years after putting it on the market.
The father-of-three, 59, slashed £2.5million off the original £6.5m asking price to seal the deal.
Steve purchased Hammer Hill House in 2002, the same year he sold his Poundland empire for £50m, and was prepared to take a financial loss on the sale in order to push it through.
Steve, who has been married to wife Tracey for 37 years, told MailOnline: ‘It has been a long process but we finally sold the property six months ago for £4million after paying £2.2 million for it in 2002 when we sold the business.
‘Saying that we probably spent another £4million on the property doing it up. We’ve bought a Grade II listed building not far from my dad’s house nearby.
‘It is a lot smaller now all our children have flown the nest. It was quite emotional moving out but it was literally the house that Poundland built.’
Smith revealed in 2018 he had interest from ‘three serious buyers’, including one from Russia, but struggled to attract firm bids.
Indeed, he reduced the asking price on two occasions to spark interest, initially shaving off £750,000 before dropping down a further £1.8m.
The property sits in 28-acres of rolling Shropshire hills near Bridgnorth and comes complete with an indoor swimming pool, games room, office block and a luxury kitchen – plus seven bathrooms.
Hammer Hill House also includes a series of paddocks and woodlands nestled on its grounds in the Severn Valley.
The property is positioned behind wrought iron electric gates and features two Gate Lodge cottages – both with three bedrooms.
Smith set up discount chain Poundland in one shop in Burton upon Trent in 1990, when he was just 27, after his father loaned him £50,000 to get started.
The chain now boasts over 500 stores nationwide.
He sold his share in the business in 2002 for £50million and it’s now worth £1.5billion.
Steve claimed he gave half the profits of the sale to his former market trader father, in return for lending him the cash to get his retail career off the ground.
Last week he sold his online retail business Poundshop.com to the Poundland retail chain for an undisclosed sum.
He started the business in 2014 and it was turning over £15m a year before selling up. Steve is now focusing on looking for his next ‘billion pound business’.
He says: ‘I believe this will be in the world of mobile payments. In ten years, no one will be using cash or cards. This is the future of retail.’
Despite amassing such huge wealth, Steve admits his wife gives him pocket money because he can’t be trusted with cash.
He explained: ‘On a day-to-day basis my wife gives me a little pocket money.
‘The problem with me is that if I have any cash on me I spend it, so she’ll give me about £10 or £20 a day.’
