Rich-list property tycoon dies at 87

Harry Hyams, pictured on a visit to Oldham in 1981

THE reclusive property tycoon behind Oldham’s ill-fated St Peter’s Shopping Precinct has died, aged 87.

Harry Hyams was one of Britain’s most influential property developers, regularly making the Sunday Times rich list. He is credited with changing the London skyline in 1963 with the capital’s first skyscraper - the controversial Centre Point office block.

Mr Hyams was chairman of the publicly-listed Oldham Estate Company, which built the miserable, wind tunnel-like shopping precinct, which remained largely empty.

The company described the precinct as “nothing short of disastrous”. It was replaced by Spindles in the early Nineties.

Mr Hyams was renowned for being elusive, even to his own company executives, and avoided the press at all costs.

He lived in Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire, and enjoyed fabulous wealth and a lavish lifestyle which included exotic travel, powerboat racing, vintage cars and cruising in his yacht.

Oldham Estate Company — in which Co-operative Insurance was a major shareholder — was taken over in 1987 for £600 million.