If you dream of what you might do with a multi-million-pound salary, take a tip from Terry Green, the retail guru who heads Tesco's clothing division.Two years ago, he reportedly became the highest-paid employee outside the board and has since been spending his windfall on a host of luxury improvements at his London home.Terry, 57, is responsible for introducing Tesco's £15 suits and credit-crunch school uniforms for £3.75, examples of the business acumen that has cemented the supermarket's reputation for value. Every luxury helps: The elegant kitchen/diner in Terry Green's £5m Highgate home Checking out: Terry Green and Julie Anne Parsons plan to move to the country and hold their wedding in the grounds of their new homeNow he has been making some expensive improvements at his Grade II listed house in Highgate, and has put it on the market for £5million. He bought it for £2.5million in 2006, has spent £1.5million transforming it to super-prime standards and is confident he can make the asking price.
'Look at this view - there is nothing like it in Highgate,' he says from his newly created roof terrace.The panorama takes in Docklands in the east plus other major landmarks, including the Gherkin, the BT Tower, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament, as well as the green wash of Hampstead Heath.'The neighbours all have trees in the way. This property occupies the only portion of clear sky here and that's why I bought it. Now that we have a proper roof terrace I think a wealthy buyer will pay a lot for this view.' When Tesco poached Richard Jones, the head of non-food at Sainsbury's, last year, City analysts speculated he would replace Terry, whose title was also head of non-food.Terry knows that putting his home on the market may reignite the rumours but he insists it would be wrong to read that much into it.He says he wants to settle in the country with Julie Anne Parsons, 41, his girlfriend of two years, and intends to buy a flat in London to use during the week.'I want to get stuck into the next project,' says Terry.
'I'd like a large house in Oxfordshire or Somerset as my next blank canvas.'Julie Anne and I want to marry and we are hoping we can hold our wedding reception in our new country home - the garden here is not really big enough. If I can buy another place soon and get started quickly, we should be finished in time.'His Georgian home in Highgate has undergone a fabulous transformation. Step through the modest front door, formerly a gate in the high wall concealing it from the road, and you are met by the curved glass walls of a freshly built courtyard passage offering striking views on to a small water garden in the centre. Improvements: The terraces make the most of the home's stunning views Past the mini-grand piano in the reception hall, a beautiful sitting room with polished plaster walls opens through concealed doors on to a vast handmade kitchen with a floor of 17th Century Burgundy flagstones.The back garden has been tastefully landscaped by TV's Diarmuid Gavin into seven sandstone levels.
An orchard of small trees next to a bronze mermaid water feature gives way to neat squares of grass and planting beds as the garden meanders down steps away from the house.The two top floors of the house would easily contain four bedrooms, but Terry has turned each into a single suite, with oak flooring and a well-appointed bathroom, including a temperature-controlled bath, rainforest shower and recessed TV. Even the bathroom mirrors are heated to prevent them misting.'I like to buy for £2million to £3 million and spend about £1 million on high-specification improvements,' says Terry.'That way you make a place your own and you can attract buyers willing to pay top money when you want to move.'Raised in a humble three-bedroom terrace house in Stoke-on-Trent, Terry started as a shopfloor assistant at C&A but quickly moved into management at Burton, where he met his friend Sir Stuart Rose, now executive chairman of Marks & Spencer.Terry became chief executive officer of Topshop in 1994 and CEO of Debenhams three years later.
As his career progressed, so did his passion for property.His first renovation project was a detached house in Camberwell, South-East London, which he bought 12 years ago for £295,000, spending a further £100,000 on improvements before selling 18 months later for £465,000.Then he bought a country house near Crowborough, East Sussex, for £900,000, spent £950,000 on the renovation and sold up in 2002 for £2.8million, by which time he was CEO at Bhs. For sale: Terry's other £5m pad - on the French Riviera... and his first terrace where it all began in Stoke-on-Trent In 2003, he made his only unsuccessful career move - becoming head of Allders chain just in time to preside over its collapse in 2005. But he bounced back and was recruited later that year by Tesco, where he has remained, despite a job offer two years ago from Sir Stuart to join him at M&S.'I love my job at Tesco,' says Terry. 'Stuart made me the best offer of my career but Tesco didn't want to lose me. I decided to stay because Tesco have been very good to me.
I intend to remain as long as I am working full-time.'Terry rented in London until he bought his Highgate house in 2006 but kept his toe in the market by purchasing a penthouse off-plan in Palma, Majorca, for 3 million euros (then £2.1million) in 2003.The developer had planned two penthouses on top of the former Italian embassy, but Terry bought both and asked him to combine them to his specification.After adding a rooftop pool and enjoying the place for a summer, Terry sold it in 2005 for £3.7million. He bought a 7,000 sq ft farmhouse with two acres near Mougins on the French Riviera for £2.2 million. Having won planning permission to extend it, he wants to sell for £4.8 million.'I have to sell both my properties to buy the house in the country and the London flat,' he says, adding that he would like to remain in the capital to be close to his youngest daughter from a previous relationship, eight-year-old Scarlett.KEY FACTS Three large terraces, landscaped gardens, garage. Goldschmidt & Howland, 020 8347 2600 and Aston Chase, 020 7724 4724.