The purchase price and plans for the restaurants are under wraps. Staff at Noble's nationwide network of amusement arcades are forbidden even to give out the head office phone number.
Financial Mail quickly found it out, but to no avail. A spokeswoman said: 'We are a very private company. We don't have a website, we don't give out any information about the company and we don't give out any information about our properties. According to sources in the gaming sector, the Nobles are 'one of the big four dynasties who between them control the industry'. They are, according to the same source, 'extremely nice people, very private, and very, very wealthy'.
The founder, former fairground worker Barry Noble, is reported to have died a millionaire after a heart attack in Aged 43, he had amassed 40 amusement arcades, eight cars, three homes and seven nightclubs. That empire is now run by his sons Michael and Philip with their brother-in-law Alan Nichols.
The family bought Brighton's Palace Pier three years ago and immediately caused a row by renaming it Brighton Pier, implying it was the only one in town.
The West Pier still stands even if it has been derelict since and locals still refuse to call the Palace Pier by its new name. The Nobles have also upset locals by opposing plans to restore the grade I-listed West Pier with lottery funds. They complained of public cash being used to set up a commercial rival and took their objection to the European Commission.
The row still smoulders, though part of the West Pier collapsed into the sea at Christmas and the remaining structure was set on fire by suspected arsonists last month. With the pier controversy rumbling on, the Nobles are turning to their new challenge - their steak houses. But if Financial Mail reporter Jenny Little's experience is anything to go by, they will have their work cut out. A visit to the Angus Steak House in London's Victoria confirmed memories of green paper napkins, dull brass light fittings, acres of threadbare red velvet - and not many customers.
Not much change there. But the waiter did have a surprise in store - Little's request for a glass of Blue Nun was turned down. No, it hadn't been taken off the wine list - it was sold out. The alternative? Perhaps it was the weather, or just that some tourists wanted a taste of old England, but by the time Little left, at least a few of the booths were beginning to fill. Though no one knows what plans the Nobles have, it seems the names Aberdeen and Angus Steak House may well live on in all their faded glory.
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