Made in Dubai with Spencer Lodge #382: From Plumber to £148M Exit: Charlie Mullins on Grit, Failure & Building an Empire
Charlie Mullins is a deeply contradictory and complex figure - from a deprived council-estate childhood in south London to founding a plumbing empire, cashing out for £148 million and remaking himself as a global-living, politically outspoken tycoon.
He embodies both the grit of old-school trades and the excesses of modern wealth. His post-sale life is marked by public provocation - from giant anti-Brexit signs to incendiary social media posts, and threats to relocate his wealth abroad which are now in force as he is here to get his residency.
His journey offers a potent lens: success, escape, conflict, and reinvention, but also tension, moral ambiguity. He is confrontational, outspoken and a political provocateur.
2:40 – Charlie's childhood
6:03 – Plumber apprenticeship
09:56 – Bill, the man Charlie looked up to
17:28 – The importance of apprenticeships
20:22 – Success is simple
21:58 – Nearly going bankrupt
25:34 – Selling for 148 million
26:19 – Charlie's regrets
32:17 – People pay for quality
40:53 – London is unsafe
45:16 – The importance of having a job
50:08 – Coming to Dubai
54:15 – Favorite things about Dubai
57:31 – Youngsters don't have a future in the UK
1:02:53 – An opinion that would break the internet
1:04:43 – Harshest truth about success
1:07:25 – Charlie's message to Bill
Show Sponsors:
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