Sports promoter Barry Hearn to receive civic honour

Sports promoter Barry Hearn is due to be awarded a civic honour commemorating his work in Essex.

Brentwood Borough Council intends to make the 77-year-old an honorary freeman of the borough at a meeting on Wednesday.

Hearn's sports promotion company, Matchroom, is based in the town and he was key in making it the home of snooker's English Open.

He said he was "honoured" to be granted the title, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Hearn specialised in snooker when he founded Matchroom in 1982, but later expanded his empire to include boxing and darts.

Matchroom moved from Romford in east London to the Mascalls headquarters it now occupies in 2005.

"The property has been the headquarters of our expanding business ever since," Hearn said.

Senior figures at the company, including Hearn's son and chairman, Eddie Hearn, starred in a fly-on-the-wall Netflix documentary, which aired in 2025.

According to the Sunday Times rich list, the pair are the third wealthiest people in UK sport, with a combined worth of £1.035bn.

Hearn joins former javelin world champion Fatima Whitbread on the prestigious list of those who have been granted freedom of the borough.

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