ONE of the most well-known names in Bournemouth and Poole, Richard Carr has a widely-varied history.

It was in 1981 that he started his first Wimpy restaurant franchise and by 1987 his company, Allied Restaurants, was running 20 franchises in London.

They were sold to Grand Metropolitan in 1990 for £13 million and Mr Carr’s company was renamed Allied Leisure, owning several Megabowls, nightclubs and bars.

In 1994 he resigned from Allied Leisure as the company announced a loss of £16 million. A year later he took over the Academy nightclub in Boscombe.

In 1997 it relaunched as the Opera House and became one of the best known clubs in the UK.

Mr Carr was to become the King of nightclubs during Bournemouth nightlife’s boom years, with involvement in a host of other venues, including Mint, Wiggle, Bliss, Toko, Jimmy’s, Bent and Crank The dawn of the new millennium saw Mr Carr outline plans to run the Winter Gardens as a multi-purpose entertainment venue. A year later his plans were rejected and he blasted the council as “megalomaniacs”. The Winter Gardens were later demolished.

Later in 2001, he announced proposals to invest in Poole by opening a restaurant and bar on the Quay.

The following year he expanded his Poole portfolio, buying the Aquarium on the Quay.

In 2003 his company, Future 3000, outlined plans to build a casino and restaurants on Bournemouth Pier, but councillors rejected them.

The next year Future 3000 put forward a scheme to turn the Pavilion into a casino, but Mr Carr lost out to rival bidder Trevor Osborne.

In the same year one of Mr Carr’s companies, WGAT Ltd, was wound up, with debts of £566,000.

In 2005 he was banned from the road for 18 months and fined £600 for drink-driving.

Mr Carr hit the headlines in July 2008.

Future 3000 went into administration, with eight venues being put up for sale.

Just a few days later his development company, Ravine Lifestyle, followed.

In October 2008 the once multi-millionaire was made personally bankrupt in a 10-minute hearing and many creditors were left out of pocket.

A year later he gave an interview to the Echo and claimed that he was “broke”.

After a few years out of the spotlight Mr Carr re-emerged as a consultant, with involvement in V Club, which was being run by James Beedham.

In April 2013 Mr Carr was fined £400 after a row over who was driving a speeding car and then in July of the same year he hit out at police and the council over licence condition at the new Halo club, formerly V Club, which banned him from entering.

February 2014 saw Mr Carr, along with Susan Burgess and James Beedham, charged in connection with allegations of mortgage fraud, the theft of corporate funds, the concealment of bankruptcy assets and breaches of a Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking involving the operation of nightclubs and other businesses.

Later in the year he appeared in court to deny 41 counts at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Mr Carr continued to work with property firms and spearheaded plans to demolish four bungalows at Lilliput Road in Poole, replacing them with 36 apartments.

He has also been involved with plans to redevelop the Oddbins site at Lilliput.

He is the consultant and spokesman for major plans to redevelop Salterns Marina into a ‘world-class’ marina and hotel at a cost of £100 million.

In November 2015 all of the charges against Mr Carr and his co-defendants were dropped.

What might be less well-known is Mr Carr’s powerboat racing. He has competed in the sport globally, winning many domestic and international honours over the past few decades.

He was British Class One champion in 1991, while in 1992 he won the Needles Trophy and came second in the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes race.