A COLCHESTER-born entrepreneur has been named in a prestigious list which highlights the richest people in the nation.

The 2022 Sunday Times Rich List has revealed that billionaire brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja are the wealthiest people in the UK.

The annual list showed that the pair, who run the Mumbai-based conglomerate Hinduja Group, saw their fortune jump by more than £11 billion.

There were a record 177 billionaires in the UK, according to the figures.

Among those included was Jon Hunt, who hails from Colchester.

He began his property business when he was just 19 when he borrowed a £100 deposit to buy a one-bedroom flat in Woking for £4,500.

Two years later he sold it for £7,750.

Today, according to the list Mr Hunt boasts an eye-watering £1.436 billion in wealth, £91 million more than in 2021.

His success in the last year saw him jump from 126th to 123rd in the 250 strong rich list.

Having been born into an Army family in 1953, Mr Hunt was soon to follow suit and embarked on a brief spell in the military in Canada, before returning to Britain where he landed himself a job at a Guildford-based estate agency.

In 1981, the 28-year-old set up his firm Foxtons with school friend Anthony Pelligrinelli in a small converted Italian restaurant in Notting Hill.

The company took its name from a village near his Suffolk home and today boasts more than 60 offices in and around the capital city.

It has become known for its 800 strong fleet of Minis which zip around the city driven by agents.

In May 2007, Mr Hunt sold Foxtons to private equity group BC Partners for £375 million, and has since made significant investments into commercial and residential property in central London.

More recently, the 67-year-old is known as the founder of Pavilion, the business members club chain in Kensington High Street.

He has also developed Wilderness Reserve, an area of restored natural lakes, parkland and woods in Suffolk’s Yox Valley.

In developing the reserve, Mr Hunt purchased 5,000 acres of land, restored buildings and oversaw the reintroduction of wildlife and various species of flora and fauna.

His own private home is situated next to the reserve and within the area he has made various buildings available for private hire.

He previously told the Financial Times: “Farming alone won’t pay for a modern estate to survive. Real estate will.”