Acclaimed chef, Aiden Byrne, has been announced as the guest speaker at this year’s North East Cheshire Business Awards. From a career that started at the Stanneylands Hotel in Wilmslow, Aiden has worked in professional kitchens throughout the country and was the youngest chef to ever receive a Michelin star aged just 22.
Along with owning The Church Green gastro pub in Lymm, Aiden is now Executive Chef at 20 STORIES, D&D’s first restaurant in Manchester, which boasts a fantastic dining room in the sky and a wealth of fantastic reviews!
Alongside his hugely successful restaurant career, Aiden has been a familiar face on a host of popular culinary TV shows – from Masterchef to Saturday Kitchen to Great British Menu … and more!
With his second book now in the pipeline, Aiden’s adventurous and varied career will provide lots of material for a thoroughly entertaining appearance at the North East Cheshire Business Awards.
Whether you have entered the awards or not, book your tickets here for an evening of celebration, glamour, fun and a taste of celebrity chef!
You can also contact the Awards team on 01625 665940 or via email at info@necbawards.co.uk
Webbox Ltd, with their WebRTC product atap2chat are one of the 2,000 worldwide start-up businesses that have been selected from 20,000 applicants to attend Websummit Lisbon 2018 in November on the Alpha Start-up Program.
atap2chat is the next big thing to hit the global real-time communication software and personal WebRTC market. atap2chat inspires businesses to be more person-focused with instant, flexible communications whilst saving time and money having five products within the one atap2chat software.
Webbox Ltd is an innovative technology company based in Macclesfield owned by Jon Hunter and Fabio Mazzieri. The company has an exciting future ahead as their development team is expanding to meet demands of bringing new products to the market to solve worldwide technology needs.
Fabio and Jon commented “We are very excited about attending the Websummit in November. Websummit has become Europe’s largest and most important technology marketplace, a crossroads for the world’s largest buyers and sellers of technology, alongside many of the world’s most disruptive emerging technology companies. We are very proud to be exhibiting there and flying the flag for start-up businesses based in Macclesfield.”
If you are currently using multiple software products for online customer engagement, internal business communication and training and wish to save time and money whilst increasing customer engagement and online sales by 22% then contact sales@atap2chat.com, visit the website www.atap2chat.com or call Fabio on 01625 344030.
The UK’s leading spa resort group Champneys announced on 1st October 2018 its purchase of Mottram Hall. The acquisition of the 18th-century Grade II-listed Hotel and Spa is the latest addition to the Champneys Group’s expanding portfolio of properties.
Champneys, owned by Dorothy and Stephen Purdew, has purchased Mottram Hall from real estate investment company Aprirose. The asset was previously part of the QHotels portfolio. Champneys are planning a £10 million refurbishment programme, including a £5 million redesign of the hotel’s current spa facilities.
The redevelopment will include a 20 metre swimming pool, new wet and thermal experiences, plus the addition of 18 new treatment rooms. There are also plans for new conference facilities, an extension to the club house on the Championship golf course, and an increase in the number of bedrooms from 120 to 150. Work is due to be completed by the end of 2019.
Champneys’ owner Mr Stephen Purdew said, “Mottram Hall gives our brand a broader geographical spread with a presence in the North West. It’s a fantastic property and we’re delighted to be adding it to our collection of properties within the Champneys Group. We’re now planning a considerable investment project which will take place over the next year.”
Champneys current properties are primarily based in the south of England, with four spa resort locations at Forest Mere, Henlow, Springs and Tring; six city spas in the South East; along with its hotel and spa at Eastwell Manor in Kent and spa on the Marella Explorer cruise ship.
Alan Whiteley, Managing Director at Champneys said: “Mottram Hall is a property I know well from my De Vere days, and a hotel that Stephen and I put on our radar four years ago. It’s our ambition to make Mottram Hall the number one destination hotel and spa resort in the North West.”
Gary Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Aprirose said: “It has been a pleasure working with the team at Champneys. Mottram Hall is a fantastic asset which they will no doubt evolve to the next level. We look forward to developing our relationship further with Champneys in the future.”
Built in 1721 by Nathaniel Booth, Mottram Hall was converted into a hotel in 1940. The property has been owned since the mid 1970’s to 2014 by the De Vere group and underwent a £6 million refurbishment during 2012/2013. In November 2014 QHotels secured ownership of Mottram Hall.
Mottram Hall’s General Manager, Deirdre Billing, said: “The hotel has a strong reputation in the region as Cheshire’s finest golf resort. I’m delighted the investment from Champneys will allow us to strengthen our offering and continue to position Mottram Hall within the luxury spa market.”
North Cheshire Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise held one of our regular ‘Meet the Chamber’ breakfast events last week at the lovingly restored Charles Roe House in Macclesfield, home to Pinches Medical; a private GP surgery offering personal healthcare to families and businesses throughout Cheshire. We were joined by local MP, David Rutley, as guest speaker.
At the well-attended meeting, which was kindly hosted in collaboration with Ian Pinches, David updated local businesses on the opportunities for companies arising from the ongoing initiatives to regenerate Macclesfield town centre, as well as the positive role that the local business community can play in taking forward these vital plans.
David also spoke further with the group on the positive progress that continues to be made in promoting the Cheshire Science Corridor, including the recent £20 million investment at Jodrell Bank, to develop its new ‘First Light’ heritage and discovery centre, to help inspire the next generation of scientists. Representatives from local businesses then had the opportunity to ask David about a range of local and national issues affecting business.
Ian Pinches provided a passionate overview on the history of the iconic Charles Roe House building and took guests on a tour, showcasing not only the GP surgery on the second floor, but also the Arts Cafe on the ground floor and the spectacular Copper Room on the first floor which can be hired as an event space.
On the day, David was also pleased to once again meet with the Chamber’s Chief Executive, Sue Bowden, to discuss the Chamber’s ongoing and exciting work to attract yet more local companies to join this dynamic network of local businesses.
Speaking after the meeting, David said, “It was great to once again have the opportunity to speak to local businesses about the real and positive economic potential in Macclesfield and North East Cheshire, and to see representatives from so many local firms present. It is clear that the Chamber continues to go from strength to strength, and I hope yet more local businesses will look into the benefits of being part of this exciting and growing organisation.”
If you would like to learn more about the Chamber and the benefits of becoming a member, contact Claire Dunlop at claire@northcheshirechamber.co.uk or 01625 665940.
Seventeen teams of golfers took part in a successful first Charity Golf Day event for chartered accountancy firm Langricks at Shrigley Hall in Macclesfield and raised over £3300 to help money education for children.
Langricks has made an ongoing commitment to DebtAware – the specialist education arm of the national Debt Advice Foundation – to raise funds to support a unique ‘Money Skills for Life’ programme in primary schools.
The successful programme, which has been devised by children for children, operates in around 160 schools in Lancashire, but funds are needed to roll out the teaching into Cheshire and Yorkshire and across the UK.
Golfers endured blustery conditions for the good cause and family solicitors, Athi Law, from Sheffield, came out top dogs in the team 4 ball competition with a brilliant score given the weather.
Nearest the pin was Langricks’ own Chris Howells, the firm’s new Assistant Manager, and longest drive was won by Martin Bennett, playing as a guest in the CurveLine Design team.
Chris Langrick commented: “It was a great turnout and we are thrilled with the initial money raised – it is going towards financial literacy in the young which we are passionate about helping to develop.”
Brian Souter, Education Manager at DebtAware, also spoke about the charity’s work and progress made since launch four years ago. “We are a small charity tackling big issues so are hugely grateful for Langricks and their support to date.” He called for help in opening doors in Cheshire schools and got a great response from golfers turned Governors and others with a keen interest in their own children’s financial education.
Raffle prizes on the night which helped contribute to the total included a signed Liverpool shirt by Steven Gerard, home match tickets to Huddersfield Town FC and a basket of Italian delicacies from Casa Italia in Wilmslow.
For more information please contact Sue Souter of Souter PR on 01625 839319, 07866 676123 or email sue@souterpr.co.uk.
DebtAware is the education arm of the national charity Debt Advice Foundation which provides free and impartial debt advice to anyone worried about loans, credit and debt. DebtAware was established to offer school children the chance to understand how to manage money to try to prevent them from getting into debt in the future. For more details on DebtAware’s Money Skills For Life programme visit www.debtaware.org
Langricks has been trading for eight years and provides a range of accountancy and business advisory services. These include financial modelling and forecasting, business planning and due diligence services associated with mergers and acquisitions. The firm employs nine people from their Wilmslow offices with a satellite office in Huddersfield and works for a wide range of regional and national SMEs. It aims to become a top 100 UK accountancy firm in the next 10 years.
Customer engagement agency, Big Brand Ideas, brewed up a record amount of voucher redemptions and media hits for National Pub Fortnight, on behalf of Ei Group, the largest pub company in the UK, through a two-phase PR campaign.
The PR strategy was focused highlighting the role that the local pub plays in the community and was led by Big Brand Ideas’ engagement team who executed extensive national and regional media outreach. This included promoting National Pub Fortnight’s giveaway of 50,000 free drinks via a consumer interest campaign.
Ei Publican Partnerships, the leased and tenanted division of Ei Group, saw a 241 per cent increase in voucher redemptions compared to last year, along with a 48 per cent increase in the number of pubs visited during the two-week initiative.
The app saw a 201 per cent annual increase in sign-ups and nearly a third of sign ups converted to redemptions. The campaign coverage stood at over 15.5 million views with 94 pieces of coverage secured in just three weeks. The agency’s media coverage also resulted in more than 4,000 direct visits to the campaign websites.
The team also conducted a survey which found that people value the pub as a local amenity, which was only third to the local shop and doctor’s surgery. To emphasise the results from the survey, Big Brand Ideas conducted a stunt to ‘put the pub at the heart of the community’ where pubs hosted local business for a day.
Jon Dale, Head of Corporate Communication at Ei Group said: “Big Brand Ideas must be congratulated in speedily getting to the core of the challenge ahead and swiftly turning the objectives into a well-orchestrated consumer interest campaign that was fun, newsworthy, timely and most importantly effective.
“Not only did it get the media talking in a creative and engaging way, it contributed to a significant positive shift in drink sign ups, voucher redemptions and pubs visited.
“Since their appointment I have been impressed by the energy, creativity and passion shown by the entire Big Brand Ideas team.”
Anna Thomas, PR Director at Big Brand Ideas, added: “This campaign allowed us to think of creative ways to bring local communities together as well as engaging with digitally savvy consumers. We found that people really do value the pub as a local amenity and crafted a picture story to reflect this. We saw significant increases in footfall to Ei Group’s pubs during the initiative and the conversion rate surpassed all our expectations.”
Hairdresser Vici Rogers and Lauren Owers in the Lord Eldon pub. Landlord Mark Gillick behind the bar. Photo credit: Dave Thompson/PA Wire
Janice Harding sells flowers to Trevor Mullineaux outside the Ye Old 3 pub. Photo credit: Dave Thompson/PA Wire
About Big Brand Ideas
With offices in Macclesfield and Manchester Big Brand Ideas has over 40 staff who support a range of B2B and B2C clients across its brand, creative, web, search, content and PR divisions including Nextbase, Pulsant, Martson’s, Arighi Bianchi and GBG Group.
To add to its service offering, it has recently added a dedicated engagement team which brings years of PR, content and social media experience to Big Brand Ideas.
The engagement team offers a combination of creative, content, engagement and technical skills, all connected by deep understanding of the evolving media and social media landscape.
With a clear promise of results, its unique approach doesn’t just drive engagement, but connects audiences with brands to build long lasting relationships.
