There is something quietly admirable about a person who builds genuine success without chasing the spotlight. Tom Mairs is that kind of person. A Liverpool-born property entrepreneur, he spent years developing a respected business long before most people outside Merseyside had ever heard his name. When the public did eventually take notice, it was partly through his television appearance on Secret Millionaire and partly through his marriage to Olympic gold medallist Sam Quek. Yet even then, the headlines struggled to keep up with who Tom Mairs really is: a self-made businessman who turned a practical observation about student life into a thriving enterprise.
Quick Bio
| Date of birth | 15 February 1986 |
| Born in | Liverpool, England |
| Education | Calday Grange Grammar School then University of Liverpool |
| Profession | Property entrepreneur Student accommodation & real estate development |
| Company | Antona Student Properties Founded 2008 · Liverpool |
| Key achievements | 🏅 CLASS accreditation, Liverpool City Council (2010)📺 Youngest philanthropist on The Secret Millionaire, Channel 4 (2010)🎓 “Exceptional Graduate”, University of Liverpool (2013) |
| Spouse | Sam Quek Olympic gold medallist & TV presenter · Married August 2018 |
| Children | Molly Dorris (born March 2021) Isaac Gregory (born March 2022) |
| Estimated net worth | ~$5 million (as of 2022) |
A Liverpool Beginning
Tom Mairs was born on 15 February 1986 in Liverpool, a city that has always had a way of shaping the people it raises. Liverpool is not just famous for music and football it is a city with a real economic pulse, home to a cluster of universities that draw tens of thousands of students every year. Growing up in that environment gave Tom an early and unconscious education in supply and demand, community, and opportunity.
He attended Calday Grange Grammar School, a well-regarded secondary school on the Wirral Peninsula, before going on to study at the University of Liverpool. His time at university was, in a sense, where the seeds of his future business were planted. Surrounded by fellow students scrambling for decent places to live, he began to notice the persistent gap between what was available and what students actually needed.
Spotting the Opportunity
After graduating, Tom did not follow the well-worn path into corporate employment. Instead, he turned his attention to the student housing market a sector that many dismiss as unglamorous but which requires genuine skill to navigate well. In 2008, he founded Antona Student Properties, a company focused specifically on providing quality accommodation for university students in Liverpool.
The timing was far from easy. Launching a property business in 2008 meant doing so at the precise moment the global financial crisis was reshaping the housing market. Yet Tom pressed on, starting small, learning the rhythms of property management, and building his portfolio one house at a time. What set him apart was not just the ambition but the attention to detail — a genuine effort to offer students safe, comfortable and well-maintained homes rather than the damp, overpriced bedsits that have historically defined the student rental market.
Over the years, Antona Student Properties grew into a respected name in Liverpool’s rental sector. The company expanded its number of managed properties significantly, becoming a trusted housing provider for students attending the University of Liverpool and other local institutions.
The Secret Millionaire Chapter
Most people who knew Tom Mairs before 2013 knew him through business. That changed when he appeared on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire, a programme in which wealthy individuals go undercover in disadvantaged communities, living on minimal means before revealing themselves and donating to local causes they have come to care about.
Tom was, by the show’s standards, remarkably young one of the youngest participants the programme had featured at that point. The experience was evidently formative. Stripped of the comforts of his business success and dropped into circumstances very different from his own, he encountered the kind of generosity and resilience that tends to recalibrate a person’s sense of what matters. His participation spoke to a side of him that his business profile alone never fully conveyed: a genuine social conscience.
A Life Built Around Family
If his professional life has been defined by discipline and quiet persistence, his personal life carries the same warmth. Tom met Sam Quek, the England and Great Britain field hockey player, and the two married in 2018. Sam went on to claim gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics as part of the Great Britain women’s hockey team an achievement that brought her enormous public attention and has since become a well-known television presenter, appearing regularly on programmes including A Question of Sport.
The couple have two children together: a daughter, Molly Doris Mairs, and a son, Isaac Gregory Mairs. By all accounts, family sits at the centre of Tom’s life. His social media presence, characterised by straightforward expressions of faith and family affection rather than anything performative or brand-conscious, reflects a man who is comfortable with who he is and what he values.
The Business Behind the Name
It would be easy, given Sam Quek’s higher public profile, to reduce Tom Mairs to a footnote in his wife’s story. That would be a significant misreading of the situation. Tom built his business before his marriage, and he has continued to develop it since. Antona Student Properties represents years of genuine entrepreneurial effort: the early-morning calls about broken boilers, the careful negotiation of property purchases, the slow accumulation of trust among landlords, tenants and local agents.
The student accommodation sector in Liverpool is competitive and demanding. Universities have increasingly invested in their own purpose-built residences, placing greater pressure on private providers to offer something distinctive. The fact that Antona has not only survived but grown in this environment is a testament to the standards Tom has maintained.
His net worth is difficult to quantify precisely, as is the case with most private entrepreneurs who do not publicise their finances, but estimates place it somewhere between £100,000 and £1 million — a range that, while broad, reflects the reality of building wealth steadily through property rather than through a single dramatic transaction.
FAQs
Who is Tom Mairs?
Tom Mairs is a British property entrepreneur from Liverpool, best known for founding Antona Student Properties in 2008 and for being the husband of Olympic gold medallist and TV presenter Sam Quek. He is also known for his appearance on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire in 2010.
Where was Tom Mairs born and when?
He was born on 15 February 1986 in Liverpool, England. He grew up in the Wirral area and attended Calday Grange Grammar School before studying at the University of Liverpool.
How did Tom Mairs start his business?
While studying at the University of Liverpool, Mairs noticed that students lacked access to high-quality, hassle-free accommodation. After graduating, his father — a successful multi-millionaire entrepreneur — gave him £1 million as startup capital. Rather than spending it elsewhere, he invested it into founding Antona Student Properties in 2008, starting with a single five-bedroom house rented to friends.
What is Antona Student Properties?
Antona Student Properties (ANTSP) is a Liverpool-based student accommodation company that Mairs founded in 2008. It has grown from one house into one of the largest independently owned student housing providers in the North West of England. Properties typically offer four to five bedrooms at around £120–£130 per week, and the company operates around the clock to support its tenants.
What awards or recognition has Tom Mairs received?
- In 2010, Antona Student Properties was awarded CLASS accreditation by Liverpool City Council for the safety and quality of its properties.
- Also in 2010, Mairs appeared on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire, becoming the youngest ever philanthropist featured on the programme.
- In 2013, he was honoured as an “Exceptional Graduate of the University of Liverpool” at a ceremony at the Chamber of Commerce in London, recognising his efforts to raise the standard of student accommodation and welfare in Liverpool.
Who is Tom Mairs’ wife?
Tom is married to Sam Quek, an Olympic gold medallist who represented Great Britain in field hockey at the 2016 Rio Olympics and is also known as a TV presenter and Strictly Come Dancing contestant. The couple first met at a bar in Liverpool and got engaged in June 2017 before marrying at Chester Racecourse in August 2018. They attended the same school but never crossed paths there as they were in different year groups.
Does Tom Mairs have children?
Yes. Tom and Sam have two children a daughter, Molly Dorris Mairs, born in March 2021, and a son, Isaac Gregory Mairs, born in March 2022.
What is Tom Mairs’ net worth?
Tom Mairs’ estimated net worth is approximately $5 million, built primarily through his property business. His father’s initial £1 million investment was reportedly tripled through the growth of Antona Student Properties.
What other businesses does Tom Mairs own?
Beyond student property, Tom Mairs is noted as the owner of the largest beef gristle mill in Europe, reflecting his broader entrepreneurial interests outside of real estate.
What is Tom Mairs’ personality like?
By most accounts, Mairs is described as grounded, private, and quietly ambitious. He prefers to stay out of the public spotlight despite his wife’s fame, letting his business results speak for themselves. He was a visible and enthusiastic supporter of Sam Quek throughout her Olympic campaign in Rio and her time on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!
Is Tom Mairs active on social media?
Tom Mairs maintains a relatively low profile on social media, consistent with his preference for privacy. He has an Instagram account under the handle @tsmairs, though his following remains modest.
What Tom Mairs Represents
Tom Mairs is not the kind of entrepreneur whose story gets packaged into a TED Talk or a motivational podcast. He did not disrupt an industry, attract venture capital or build a tech start-up. What he did was something less fashionable but arguably more instructive: he identified a genuine need, worked hard to meet it, made mistakes, learned from them, and kept going.
In a cultural moment that tends to celebrate overnight success and viral visibility, there is something worth pausing over in Tom’s trajectory. He is proof that patient, principled work the kind that does not trend on social media but does reliably serve people well still produces real and lasting results.
At 39, he is still building. His family is young, his business is ongoing, and his story is far from finished. Whatever chapter comes next, it seems safe to assume that Tom Mairs will approach it the same way he has approached everything else: quietly, consistently, and with genuine care for the people around him.
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