20 Years Ago: Stoke-on-Trent Billionaire John Caudwell Sold Phones 4U Empire For £1.46 Billion

It is now 20 years since one of the biggest business deals ever associated with Stoke-on-Trent.

Local businessman John Caudwell, who built Phones 4U into one of Britain's best-known mobile phone retailers, signed the enormous deal to sell Phones 4U and the wider Caudwell Group for an incredible £1.46 billion in September 2006.

Many people across Stoke-on-Trent will remember Phones 4U shops being everywhere during the mobile phone boom, but the company's roots were right here in North Staffordshire.

The sale marked a defining moment in Caudwell's career, following decades of hard work building the business.

Afterwards, his attention increasingly turned towards philanthropy, including his work supporting children and young people through Caudwell Children and Caudwell Youth.

Phones 4U itself disappeared from the high street eight years later in 2014, but for many people locally the name remains synonymous with one of Stoke-on-Trent's biggest business success stories.

Do you remember Phones 4U?