Jones is still running his housebuilding business at the age of almost 90. He began his working life as a carpenter, before assembling a property empire spanning the UK, Florida and the Algarve in Portugal. His UK housebuilder creates around 400 homes a year and he has another residential operation in the US. Jones’s contracting business has done work for the NHS and he has also diversified into commercial property, spas and self-storage. Emerson Developments, Jones’ largest company, is based in the Cheshire town of Alderley Edge and now shows assets of more than £1.1bn on its balance sheet. Retirement can wait.