This time last year it was rumoured that 68-year-old Charles Clowes was seeking a quiet exit from the property business and had put his Derby-based company up for sale.

But market conditions seem to have put those plans onto the back burner. In the meantime Clowes Developments UK, of which Charles Clowes has 100 per cent control, continues to develop its investment and development portfolio.

So much so, that Condor Developments, another Clowes company, was believed to among three potential buyers for Wilson Bowden when Barratt tried to offload it.

However none of the bidders made the £90 million asking price.

Clowes certainly has an impressive portfolio. The company has been assembling a large site in the centre of Derby for the last six years for a £10 million piazza scheme.

This flagship project involves building a new retail development which will transform part of the centre of the town, linking the Strand, Sadler’s Gate and St James Street. The showpiece will be St James Yard – a continental-style shopping piazza.

Clowes Developments also has plans for a 20 acre site around Old Friars Gate, with a mixed residential and retail development. The site requires the sympathetic treatment of Grade II listed buildings.

These sites form just part of Brailsford-based Clowes Developments’ portfolio. The company, established more than 40 years ago, has an impressive record of commercial, retail and residential development. These include industrial parks, and the Dove Valley Park in Derbyshire.

Its investment properties include three in central London – in Harley Street, Eaton Place and Edgware Road.

Clowes Homes, from offices in Long Eaton, has residential developments in Burton on Trent, Leicester and Derbyshire.

Charles Clowes is a Derby County supporter and five years ago, when the club was £30 million in debt, he put together a consortium bid, along with former Derby County chairman Stuart Webb. However, he later withdrew from the bidding.