# The Rise and Ruin of the Barclay Twins

An episode of [Great Business Stories](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1728626597), 19 Aug 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/f62e45f4/podcast/play/124391558/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-7-18%2Ff347a519-acc2-8447-d326-43a63706e34c.mp3

This is the remarkable story of how David and Frederick Barclay went from painters and decorators to owning the most prestigious hotels in London: the Ritz, Claridge's, the Connaught, the Berkeley. They bought the Telegraph Newspaper Group, they bought an island and built a £100 million castle on it, their fortune was estimated to be £7 billion pounds as late as 2020. But these guys, man, they were secretive, underhand — these guys pulled some very sneaky shit. And then it all came crashing down when the twins turned on each other, culminating in the Ritz Hotel bugging scandal. This is a sensational and cracking story — enjoy.

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