Big Yellow Group

Nicholas Vetch is a British entrepreneur and property investor who co-founded Big Yellow Group in 1998 alongside partners Philip Burks and James Gibson. Prior to that, he co-founded Edge Properties in 1989, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 and sold in 1998. At Big Yellow, Vetch initially served as chief executive officer until July 2003, then moved to the role of executive chairman, through which he has guided the strategy, property acquisitions and corporate conversion to a real-estate investment trust (REIT) in 2007.

Under his leadership, the company expanded its self-storage footprint across the UK, growing from a modest start-up into a FTSE-listed business with more than 100 sites and a strong brand in the sector. Vetch’s focus has been on property-asset quality, rental income growth and developing Big Yellow’s position as a specialist real-estate platform rather than a generic retail business. Beyond the company, Vetch sits on the boards of charitable and commercial institutions and brings more than 35 years of experience in UK real-estate investment and operations.

His entrepreneurial journey — from founding a property trading business to building a sector-leading storage company — reflects a long-term investment mindset and operational discipline. Today, Vetch remains executive chairman of Big Yellow Group, working on strategic growth, portfolio expansion and maintaining the company’s market-leading position in the UK self-storage sector.