John Hargreaves (born January 1944) is a Monaco-based British businessman, the founder and chairman of the UK out-of-town discount clothing and homeware chain Matalan.

John Hargreaves was born in January 1944 in Everton, the son of a docks labourer, one of eight children who all shared one bedroom in a Liverpool terrace house.^[1][2]

Hargreaves left school at 14, went into the retail business when he was 16, and opened the first Matalan store in Preston in 1985.^[1] Matalan has over 200 stores in the UK, and employs over 16,000 people. He resigned as chairman of Matalan in November 2007, less than a year after taking the company private.^[3] His daughter Maxine purchased British womenswear retailer Fenn Wright Manson for an undisclosed sum on 28 March 2012.^{[citation needed]}

According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2019 his net worth was estimated at £600 million.^[4]

Hargreaves married aged 19, and has three children, Jason, Jamey, and Maxine.^[1]

Hargreaves resides in Monaco with his wife. Alleging non-residence in the UK from March 2000, he claimed that he was not liable to capital gains tax on a gain of £231 million arising on the disposal of Matalan shares in May 2000. This claim was resisted by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the matter was litigated.^[5] Hargreaves subsequently accepted that he was not in fact non-resident in 2000/01 and his appeal was dismissed. See John Hargreaves v HMRC [2022] UKUT 00034 (TCC). This meant he could be liable to pay up to £135m.^[6]

• Walsh, Fiona (11 October 2006). "From market trader to chairman of the board". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 October 2009.
• Judge, Elizabeth (26 October 2009). "Business big shot: John Hargreaves". The Times. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2009.