TOWIE Mick: My life in Thurrock (From Thurrock Gazette)

TOWIE Mick: My life in Thurrock

12:10pm Wednesday 3rd October 2012 in News

MICK Norcross owns a huge nightclub brand, has a dedicated fan base, is followed by thousands of ardent Twitter fans and features in one of the best loved TV shows on our screens – TOWIE.

But that success didn’t come overnight. A Thurrock man through and through, Mick grew up in the borough, living in Grays, Tilbury and now Bulphan.

After living in Thurrock for 43 years, the TV star says he loves the borough and believes there’s no place like home.

He was four when he moved from Blackburn to the Woodside Estate in Grays, after his father took a job at Tilbury Docks.

Sitting in the office atop his Sugar Hut empire, Mick, 48, told the Gazette: “I went to St Thomas Junior school then on to St Cedds in South Ockendon.

“As a youngster, I raced pigeons for various clubs in Grays, I was in the Scouts and remember shopping in the town centre when there was a Marks and Spencer there. It’s sad Grays is no longer what it once was.

“I then started an apprenticeship at 16, working at Tilbury Docks, repairing ships and welding. I enjoyed that. I got to travel the world doing repairs.”

While working at the Docks, Mick married his first wife, during which time he had two sons – fellow The Only Way is Essex star Kirk, 24, and Daniel, 27, who is manager of the Sugar Hut in Brentwood.

He then formed his own company which operated out of the Docks, before splitting with his first wife.

He remarried some years later and had two more children – Mason, who is 11 and at Gable Hall in Corringham, and Holly, five, who is at Corringham Primary School.

Mick began investing in property in the late 1990s which gave him the money to invest in the Sugar Hut, a modest looking club on Brentwood High Street. He took 100 per cent control of the Sugar Hut group in 2008.

It was through the club that he became involved in TOWIE, though he was reluctant at first.

He said: “The TV show started to show an interest in the club and in Kirk.

“At the time, Kirk was portrayed as owning the club as I wasn’t happy to be featured.

“After seeing the first series, I became involved. I didn’t think it was right a 22-year-old was being seen to own a club.”

From there, Mick has become something of a star. He regularly attends red carpet events and is a Thurrock-man-done-good.

He added: “When you’re working hard, every man dreams but as life goes on, I think the aim for me is just to be successful.

“Being in the public eye has been difficult, but I do my best to respect everyone. It just comes with the lifestyle.

“I give a lot to charity. I’m getting a lot out of it, so I put a lot back.”