‘A real market character’: John Bridges (1942-2023)

This week, a memorial service will be held to mark the passing of John Bridges, a long-time stalwart of the City. His daughter writes for City A.M. on a true gentleman of the Square Mile

John started work in the City of London in 1959, becoming a talented stockbroker and making partner by the age of 28. 

But he saw a career set-back when his firm, Tustain L’Estrange, was one of a number that went bankrupt during an oil price crisis in 1974. 

As his wife had been one of the first cohort of women to pass the Stock Exchange exams not long previously, he was quoted in the press at the time that: “I can’t deal but my wife can!”, as the first member of the London Stock Exchange apparently to find himself in that position. 

He subsequently moved into the world of smaller company corporate finance, where he was hugely active throughout the 1990s and 2000s, becoming widely known as a real market character.  He raised money and floated all manner of smaller companies on the junior AIM and OFEX markets, never happier than when off to pitch for new business, or to put an investment opportunity to someone in his unrivalled contact book, while tipping off journalists on broadsheet and tabloid newspapers about his latest flotation along the way.

At the age of 80, he embarked on a new phase of his career, hosting a number of podcasts for the popular Guild Financial’s “Masters of Finance” series.

He was still working when he passed away in December, having seen his career span eight decades, with the building he began working in in 1959 flattened and re-built three times. 

A memorial service for John Bridges will be held on Friday 16th February at St Mary’s Church in West Kensington, with light refreshments served afterwards at the local St Paul’s Hotel. Any voluntary donations in John’s memory can be sent to the Rivercourt Methodist Church Homeless Project.