BILLIONAIRE football club owner Mike Ashley has added another £550m to his fortune in the last year.

The Newcastle United owner has cemented his place as the richest man in the North-East, according to the annual Sunday Times Rich List due to be published this weekend.

His sportswear empire, Sports Direct, returned record six-month profits last year, giving Mr Ashley an estimated personal fortune of £2.3bn, making him the 31st wealthiest person in the UK and far and away the richest in the region.

The North-East’s only other billionaire is Anita Zabludowicz, who grew up in Newcastle and now shares a £1.5bn property and hotel fortune with husband Poju.

They are joined in the top five by Mark Fenwick and family, owners of the famous Newcastle department store; financier and philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer, who last year paid £15m to buy Auckland Castle and its Zurbaran paintings; and land owner, the Duke of Northumberland.

The South Shields-based Barbour family, headed by Dame Margaret and daughter Helen Barbour, are the only new faces in the top ten, up from 13th place with a £175m fortune based on sales of their fashionable outdoor jackets.

Meanwhile a new arrival in the top 20 is discount entrepreneur Anthony Solomon, who established the Famous Brunswick Warehouse discount shoe chain, before selling the business for £23m and investing in cut price book and stationery chain The Works. His estimated £100m fortune puts him in 17th place.

Dropping out of the top ten is Middlesbrough FC chairman Steve Gibson, whose personal wealth based on his transport business was estimated to have fallen by £20m over the year to a mere £145m, taking him down to 13th place in the list.

Tumbling out of the list altogether is Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne, who as recently as 2011 was the region’s third richest man based on the success of his health club chain, but has now dropped out of the top 20.

North Yorkshire’s wealthiest man is retired supermarket boss Sir Ken Morrison, who lives near Boroughbridge and whose fortune of just over £1bn places him third on the list in Yorkshire just ahead of Canadian-born duty free shopping tycoon Robert Miller, who owns the 32,000-acre Gunnerside Estate, in Swaledale.

Keeping their place in the Yorkshire top ten are construction magnate Terry Bramall and Internet entrepreneur Peter Wilkinson, both of whom live in Harrogate, while York-based Shepherd family maintain their top 20 place thanks to their construction interests and Scarborough property magnate John Guthrie, who rises to 16th in the list.