EQUALLY at home on the shopfloor and in the boardroom, Bill Gleave barely pauses for breath before outlining his three-year plan for his latest turnaround venture and telling me about his stint serving 400 meals in the works canteen.

"To be successful in business you need to be a bit of a chameleon," he says.

Bill is showing his true colours as he attempts to transform an ailing business once again.

In March this year he bought kitchen giant Bernstein, of Westhoughton, near Bolton, which was in administration.

He forged his reputation by reviving the fortunes of Manchester textiles company French and later helping to restructure Rochdale fabric maker Lamont Holdings.

"There have also been some others which I can't mention," he tells me.

He has changed Bernstein's name to BGH, recruited new senior management and is aiming to double the size of the '50m-turnover group in the next three years.

Since he became chairman, he has sought to modernise the company's culture.

Bill and his fellow directors now work alongside other members of his team in an open-plan office, and he has abolished the directors' only car park.

"It's outside our reception area and is now reserved for visitors. We all use the main car park and there are no reserved spaces. I say if you want the best spaces, get to work early."

Last week, Bill bought lunch for his entire workforce at a cost of '1,200. It was a reward for improved efficiency.

"I said if we achieved targets I would buy lunch for everyone - and serve it. I dished out hundreds of portions of meat and potato pie and chicken tikka masala. My managing director did the washing up while other senior staff cleared up."

Bill has formed a management team to compete in a BGH five-a-side soccer contest, and he organised a screening of the England-Switzerland Euro 2004 match.

"A lot of people would not have got home in time for the game so we put on some cold beers and piped the game into our auditorium."

He aims to break down traditional barriers in the workplace. "You have to treat people the same," he says. "Nowadays, you can see people walking round a bit quicker and being more conscientious. They are more motivated than they used to be."

BGH is the country's second largest independent manufacturer of kitchens but endured a tough few years before Bill took over. It was trading profitably but shed more than 1,000 jobs over three years and the huge redundancy costs weighed heavily on the group.

The company supplies independent retailers, its own retail chain The Kitchen Studio, house builders and builders' merchants such as Travis Perkins. In addition, it operates a factory shop with clearance stock. BGH also sells White Westinghouse appliances and services them.

Profitable

At the same time as Bill acquired Bernstein, he bought 32 loss-making Kitchen Studio shops from Homestyle. They are now profitable, and Bill has identified 50 key towns for new branches in a '5m expansion drive.

His ability to swap roles easily could be because the performing arts are in his genes. His father Austin is a jazz musician and his mum Shirley was a Black and White Minstrel before she had her two children. Bill's sister is now an opera singer in London.

Bill's parents split when he was nine and he grew up in Sale Moor, with his sister and mum, who became a hospital secretary. He recalls: "We were hard up and I left school at 15 to get a job because we needed the money.

"I started in a sports shop in Sale on '38 a week. Then I sold cars before I joined Holt Lloyd as a rep, selling Redex and other products. I lived in digs near Loughborough, and only had money for a loaf of bread and tins of sausages and beans for the whole week."

From there, Bill joined home furnishings group Coloroll before he set up Burnley-based duvets and pillows manufacturer Northern Textiles in 1989 at the age of 22.

In 1996, he sold the business to French, where he became chief executive two years later. The group was in a poor state when he took over, but he restructured its operations and turned losses of '1m into profits of more than '1m within a year. His success helped to earn him an MBE in 1999.

Eventually, he sold all its businesses and returned the cash to shareholders.

Afterwards, Bill joined Lamont in 2001 and waived a '500,000 bonus to help rescue the business. He slashed its losses and restructured its finances before stepping down.

Bill, a married father of two who lives in Hale, is a multi-millionaire but one of the most enjoyable aspects of his business endeavours is helping others to achieve their potential.

Reaching great heights is another of his passions - mountaineering. He said: "I love the great outdoors - including gardening, and we grow our own vegetables at home."

His chameleon qualities are underlined as he tells how he helped out in a Manchester soup kitchen for two years.

"I borrowed a friend's old car, said I worked in a factory and adopted an assumed name," he says. "It's easy to write a cheque to make yourself feel better, but if you are doing something, it's better."

Bill is a Labour Party member and has advised on policy issues.

"I absolutely believe in higher income tax," he says. "I'm a champagne socialist. I love champagne, but I'd rather go for a beer with the guys in the factory."

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