Jonathan Silver was born in Bradford. He went to Bradford Grammar School and gained GCEs, going on to take a degree in fine arts.
In the early 1960s, he met David Hockney at his father's Wimpy bar, and asked Hockney to design a cover for the school magazine.
When he was 15, he started buying and selling furniture at the auction rooms in Bradford. At the same time, he started buying eggs from a farmer, and undercut the egg marketing price by 6d a dozen.
On leaving school, he established several businesses in Manchester – selling men's clothing, furniture and art prints.
By 1980, he had 13 outlets throughout the country. Ernest Hall was one of his cloth suppliers, and they became friends.
Ernest bought into Jonathan's picture business, and the two became business partners, and they bought Dean Clough in 1983. Despite their friendship, they were incompatible as business partners, and in 1984, Jonathan sold his shares to Ernest and left Dean Clough.
With his wife, Maggie, Jonathan sold everything and travelled the world for three years. Returning to England, he looked around for a new enterprise, and he bought the semi-derelict Salt's Mill at Saltaire in 1987.
He died after a long battle with cancer
Page Ref: MMS381
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