Freddie Williams

Freddie "Fearless" Sidney Williams (28 October 1942 – 21 June 2008) was a Scottish businessman, gambler and bookmaker. Born in the Ayrshire mining village of Cumnock, he was spared a career as a miner due to ill health at the age of 15 and went on to work for local soft drinks company Currie's of Auchinleck. Following a successful management buyout, and subsequent sale, Williams became a millionaire.

It was at Currie's that he first took to gambling. For years he was a boomaker's-runner, before taking up his first bookmaking pitch at Auchinleck Greyhound Stadium.

In 1974 Williams bought his first horseracing bookmaking pitch at Ayr Racecourse. He subsequently went on to purchase pitches, including Irvine Racecourse, Hamilton Park Racecourse, Musselburgh Racecourse, Perth Racecourse and Cheltenham Racecourse. He also owned a pitch at Shawfield Stadium in Glasgow. At the time of his death, Williams owned a total of 11 pitches.

As business grew, Freddie Williams Bookmakers expanded to a chain of seven bookmaking shops. As of June 2008, this had been slimmed down to two, one in either of his hometowns, Cumnock and Auchinleck.

Business interests Williams' interests in the soft drinks market continued following the termination of his interests in Currie's. In 1992 he set up Caledonian Bottlers in Netherthird, Cumnock. A successful operation, Caledonian bottle premium branded drinks such as Smirnoff Ice. At one time Williams also operated Caledonian Clear, his own premium bottled water brand from the same factory. In April 2002, the Sunday Mail reported Williams as being a “boss from hell”. Following his death, Williams' 50,000 shares in the bottling operation were valued at over £4.5 million.

He was the owner of 76 St Vincent Street, an Italian restaurant in Glasgow. He originally bought the restaurant in 2004 to deter his daughters from joining him in the betting industry. The business was not to be successful and was eventually liquidated.

Ill health In 1998 Williams suffered a massive heart attack and later underwent a triple-heart bypass.

Cheltenham Williams first put his name down for a bookmaking pitch at Cheltenham Racecourse in 1976 but he was unable to purchase a pitch until a relaxation of regulations governing ownership of on-site bookmakers pitches in 1998.

Williams spent the later years of his life in a relationship with long-term partner Margaret Gribben, but the pair never married, and his £8 million estate passed on to his two daughters.