John Chesworth

John Chesworth is a Preston-born solicitor who qualified in 1997, specialising in the resolution of property and commercial disputes. He originally intended to work with heavy machinery, but after a gap year at Kiernan Construction (later a Harrison Drury client) he was advised to pursue law. He read History and Economics at university before completing the Common Professional Examination (now the GDL) legal conversion course.

Chesworth joined Harrison Drury and acquired the firm in 2007 (from Eddie Starkie), becoming managing partner within roughly twelve months. Over the following ~18 years he led the firm's expansion from a single Preston office with around 12 staff to some 190 employees across eight sites in Lancashire, Cumbria and Greater Manchester — including the opening of a Manchester office. He was executive chairman through this growth period, and cites getting Harrison Drury into the Sunday Times Top 100 (Top 40 Small Companies to work for) at the first attempt as a proudest moment.

In February 2025, six members of the firm's management team — led by head of property and construction Simon England, with partners Nick Booth, Hannah Hughes, Malcolm Ireland, Rick Life and Mark Traynor — completed a management buyout of the business (terms undisclosed). England became managing partner, and Chesworth stepped back to the role of senior partner, focusing on client relationships, business-community relationships and strategic projects in support of the new ownership team.

Beyond the law firm, Chesworth is heavily involved in civic and third-sector leadership in Preston: he chairs (and has been executive chair of) the Preston Partnership, has served as chair/president of St Catherine's Hospice's board of trustees, is a founding director of the Winckley Square Community Interest Company, has been a trustee of Preston's Youth Zone, sits on the Lancashire Business Board, and chairs the management committee of Preston Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club. He names industrialist-philanthropist George Cadbury as an inspiration for using business success to improve workers' lives and wider society.

• Chesworth's documented "investment" of energy is in regional economic development — growing a Lancashire-headquartered professional-services firm and backing Preston/Lancashire civic and business institutions — rather than in a publicly documented startup angel portfolio.
• Through Harrison Drury, he has overseen a firm that advises businesses on growth investment and transactions (e.g. the firm has acted on private-equity growth deals for regional companies), consistent with a corporate/M&A and property advisory focus.
• Stated business philosophy: deeply understanding client objectives — *"time spent getting to know your client, whether it be a business or an individual, will pay you back many times over."*
• Emphasises long-term, sustainable growth over short-term pressure, citing Simon Sinek's *The Infinite Game*, and a values-led "do right by people and they will reciprocate" approach he attributes to his father.
• No specific check size, target company profile, or named startup investments could be verified; these are omitted deliberately rather than estimated.