FROM his accent, you might place James Needham in London’s East End but Britain’s holiday villa king is proudly Kentish with impeccable local credentials.

Born in Sevenoaks, he went to school at St Paul’s Cray but left at 15 with a teacher’s rebuke: "He’s very bright but too lazy."

He married at 19 and soon had a child to care for.

Father-in-law Jim Stone, a hardened Communist, was Father-of-Chapel in the NUJ at The Daily Mirror and young Needham followed him into an industry then notorious for good pay but not a lot of work.

In the early 1980s, Mr Needham borrowed £12,000 to buy his first apartment in Lanzarote.

It was designed for family use and he was surprised to be offered £200 to let it to an agent. He accepted the offer.

He then bought another, and another, raising money by selling his back garden in Swanley for housing.

He invested in more apartments and sold them through Exchange and Mart.

It dawned on Needham that he was earning more from his apartments than his well-paid newspaper job.

More cash came his way with a newspaper redundancy cheque.

He ran the fledgling business from the back bedroom of his house in Offham. Son Darren joined him.

"I was the buyer and he was the seller," Mr Needham recalls.

Father and son were joined by Darren’s friend Tony Wheble, now the firm’s managing director.

The business moved to High Street, West Malling, and Regents Court, Wrotham, before settling on 20/20 business park at Allington, near Maidstone.

Their business strategy is simple. Mr Needham explains it like this: "We try to give good standard accommodation. We’re not five-star, we are middle market."

The growth of James Villa Holidays - turnover up 10 per cent this year to £54million, profits up five per cent - meant another search for larger premises.

When the AA announced it was closing its operations centre next door, Needham picked up the phone. After agreeing to pay £1.65million, the deal was done.

Needham has turned down numerous offers for his business as he has seen competitors go to the wall. But larger concerns like Thomson would perhaps like to see the back of him.

"We love the challenge of beating the big boys," he said.

James Needham is confident that sales will double to £100 million over five years.