Convicted domestic abuser Alexander Galpin claims to run a £6 million a year business empire but an investigation by The Edinburgh Reporter has revealed that there is no record of the so-called “Galpin Group” at Companies House.
The Edinburgh restaurateur is or was a director of six registered companies but the only one which lodged annual accounts of any significance was Secure Kitchens Ltd – which was placed into liquidation in January with debts of around £120,000.
It appears his claims to run a “hospitality management business that owns and operates a portfolio of restaurants across the UK, with a combined gross turnover of £6m+ per annum” are more fantasy than fact.
Ironically, Luxford Burgers owner Galpin – due to be sentenced in court on 2 September for domestic abuse against the mother of his two year old daughter – was lauded by Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and remains a member of the prestigious business organisation.
Galpin is listed at Companies House as the owner or past owner of six hospitality sector enterprises – Galpin Holdings Ltd, Secure Kitchens Ltd, The UK’s Best Bao Buns Ltd, Ozen Bao Ltd, ALG Restaurants Ltd and Got Buns Ltd. However, four of those have been struck off the register or wound up, and while the latter the two companies are still trading they have yet to file annual accounts.
In addition to his £6m plus portfolio claim on LinkedIn (now deleted), Galpin said he was an investor and consultant and that he had launched, acquired and scaled a number of hospitality businesses and that he was a pioneer in “dark kitchens and ghost kitchens models”.
His brash claims appear to have duped the Chamber of Commerce who awarded Galpin its “Rising Star” award in 2024. In January his Luxford Burgers business was shortlisted for the Chamber’s prestigious High Growth Business of the Year Award, despite just weeks earlier crashing the parent company and placing it into liquidation.
In his short but chequered business career, the 24-year-old has also been ordered by an Employment Tribunal to pay former employee Aanchal Barnabas who took legal action to recover £1,200 in unpaid wages and holiday pay. And international legal firm Clifford Chance withdrew the offer of a legal traineeship after his conviction for domestic abuse was made public.
At Edinburgh Sheriff Court on 23 June, he pleaded guilty to domestic abuse and aggressive behaviour toward his ex partner and mother of his young daughter, which included sending her hundreds of text messages and repeated phone calls.
He repeatedly urged the woman to have an abortion – against her wishes – and in one text seen by The Edinburgh Reporter, he wrote: “You’ve had no right to hold this over me every day and watch me squirm, you had no right to force me to look at pictures of a scan of kid that I view as a cancer, nothing more nothing less.”
We asked Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce if Galpin was a fit and proper person to be a member of the organisation and if in the light of his business record that he was an appropriate nominee for its High Growth Business of the Year Award.
In a statement, they said: “The Chamber deplores domestic abuse and supports action taken to hold perpetrators to account through the legal process, and to support victims.
“As a business organisation, our membership is held by companies and organisations and not by individuals. We do not comment on matters relating to employees or directors of member organisations, nor will we comment publicly on any actions we may or may not take regarding member organisations.
“The Chamber is entering its 15th year of consecutive growth in our Annual Business awards, which are independently evaluated and judged, and we continue to review all aspects to support continuous improvement.”
We contacted Alexander Galpin for comment but he failed to respond.
