Charlie Mullins, Author at Elite Business Magazine

Charlie Mullins

Erstwhile plumbing apprentice and now regular media commentator/motivational speaker, Charlie Mullins OBE, is the archetypal entrepreneur. Launching his business from scratch in 1979, Charlie subsequently built Pimlico Plumbers into a multi-million-pound enterprise, which in 2021. He is now chairman of WeFix London, which he launched with his family. He was awarded an OBE for services to plumbing in the 2014 Queen’s New Year’s Honours and his autobiography, Bog Standard Business was published in 2015.

Britain cannot grow if nobody trains the next generation

Charlie Mullins

Oct 21 '26

Charlie Mullins OBE, founder of Pimlico Plumbers, argues that decades of prioritising university over apprenticeships have left businesses short of skilled people and young people short of practical opportunity – and that the solution is straightforward if ministers are willing to act on it

Britain’s NEET epidemic demands apprenticeships

Charlie Mullins

Sep 22 '26

Charlie Mullins argues that the modest drop in NEET numbers is not a recovery and calls for a massive expansion of apprenticeships, fully funded by government, to cure Britain’s youth unemployment epidemic

Britain’s entrepreneurs build the economy: so why do they not run it?

Charlie Mullins

Aug 31 '26

Charlie Mullins argues that Britain’s thriving entrepreneurs are rarely invited to shape economic policy, highlighting a gap between business experience and political decision-making

Loans and lies: Britain’s biggest mis-selling scandal is not the student loan, it is the university dream

Charlie Mullins

Jul 30 '26

The Treasury Select Committee says the government mis,sold £200 billion of student loans and highlights a deeper mis,selling of the university promise that has left a generation in debt

University? The maths still doesn’t add up

Charlie Mullins

Jul 6 '26

A third of people now think university isn’t worth the time or money. Charlie Mullins OBE argues the real surprise is that two-thirds still do – and that Britain has been steering young people down the wrong path for decades

Gangs taking over Britain’s high streets as government lets it happen

Charlie Mullins

May 21 '26

Organised crime gangs are taking over UK high streets, disguised as businessmen, while the government fails to act

Government’s youth jobs push is welcome, but it still doesn’t go far enough

Charlie Mullins

Apr 28 '26

Almost one million young people in the UK are currently not in education, employment or training. That number has risen sharply in recent years, and it should worry everyone

The real enemy: it’s not the dinghies, it’s the algorithm coming for your kid’s first job

Charlie Mullins

Mar 24 '26

While the country argues about what it can see, something far bigger has walked straight through the front door

Britain is driving family businesses off a cliff and pretending it’s progress

Charlie Mullins

Feb 24 '26

The UK is actively hostile to those who create jobs, take risks and build companies that last

Go where you’re appreciated: Why young Brits should look to Dubai for a better life

Charlie Mullins

Jan 13 '26

The simple maxim “go where you’re appreciated” has been echoing in my mind ever since Labour swept to victory in the 2024 general election

Reeves’ ‘Budget Bomb’ and the OBR leak that shows how broken the system really Is

Charlie Mullins

Dec 10 '25

You couldn’t make it up. We didn’t recently get a disastrous Budget; we got it leaked early. And it was more a case of ‘spoil your day’ than ‘spoiler alert’

Time to jail the wage thieves

Charlie Mullins

Nov 10 '25

I’ll tell you what, I’m fuming. The Department for Business and Trade has just named 491 companies that underpaid their workers. Between them they’ve been hit with a staggering £10.3 million in fines