Duncan Bannatyne opened his first health club in 1997.
The club was the starting point for the Bannatyne Group, which grew into a major UK operator of health clubs, spas and hotels. Bannatyne had already built businesses in other areas, including care homes, but the health-club venture became the enterprise most closely associated with his public business career.
The date is sometimes confused with 1992, when Bannatyne entered the care-home sector. Those were separate milestones in his career. His later success came from expanding through acquisitions and building a national leisure operation.
Bannatyne appeared as a Dragon from the first series until 2014. His straightforward style and focus on cash flow, operating costs and scalability made him one of the programme's most recognisable early investors.