Alice and Stephen discuss a long-serving chief executive, funding for a honey producer, and a new venue for The Ivy.
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00A long-serving chief executive, funding for a honey producer and a new venue for the Ivy
00:05featuring today's business briefing.
00:12I'm Stephen Favell.
00:13And I'm Alice Bird.
00:14Well, Stephen, we'll kick off today's briefing with news that the chief executive of Liverpool-based
00:21engineering consultancy Curtains has revealed his plans to retire after 40 years at the
00:27business.
00:28So Rob Mellon was actually employed by Bill Curtin himself in 1981, originally as an apprentice.
00:35He then worked his way up.
00:36He joined the board in 1999 and became chief executive in 2004.
00:42Now during that time, the business has grown a lot.
00:44It's changed a lot.
00:45It now operates from 14 locations and is also transitioned to employee ownership trust.
00:52You might remember that we recently covered their most recent financial accounts, which
00:55showed that turnover growth above expected levels.
00:59So they're doing really well.
01:00And over the last few months, the business has been lining up a successor who's been
01:05named as Neil Parkinson.
01:07Now Neil has also been with the business for a really long time, has been there for 30
01:12years.
01:13And he'll officially take up that position on the 1st of January 2025.
01:17So a nice new challenge for the new year.
01:20Yeah.
01:21Yeah.
01:22We've spoken about this a couple of times, haven't we, Curtin?
01:23Yeah.
01:24So yeah, good to see that there's still progress and things happening there.
01:26So it's good to see.
01:27Yeah, definitely.
01:28Well, over in Wales, we've got news from Hilltop Honey, a big honey producer over in Mid Wales
01:34in Newtown.
01:35They've secured a ÂŁ10 million funding package from Santander.
01:38Now you may know the name from supermarket shelves here in the UK, but they are now hoping
01:44to expand that out into the US, Middle East, Australia, using this sort of funding package
01:50they've got there.
01:51At the moment, sales are about ÂŁ33 million a year.
01:54They're hoping that they can expand that out to about ÂŁ50 million next year.
02:00The funding is also going to help them increase their stock and they're talking about recruitment
02:04as well.
02:05So yeah, one to keep an eye on because it sounds like they've got big plans.
02:09Yeah.
02:10It's always nice as well to cover businesses that are based in kind of less written about
02:14areas because we write about Cardiff a lot in Wales, places like that.
02:18So it's nice to have something from Mid Wales.
02:20Yeah, I think that's good.
02:21Yeah.
02:22Helps us to branch out.
02:23Yeah.
02:24Well, we've got lots of food-related stories on today's briefing, actually, because I've
02:27got some news about The Ivy, which is set to open its 41st restaurant this autumn in
02:33Canterbury.
02:34Have you ever been to The Ivy?
02:35I can't say I have yet, no, but I know they've been doing a lot of expansion in the last
02:39few years.
02:40Yeah, they have.
02:41They recently actually secured planning approval to open one in Liverpool.
02:46And they also, we just covered the fact that they're going to be launching one in Northern
02:50Ireland soon.
02:51That's their first one in Northern Ireland.
02:53The Canterbury site will be based on the corner of the Parade and Rose Lane.
02:58It'll have capacity for up to 180 guests and is also expected to create 140 jobs, which
03:03is really good news for the local community.
03:07It'll also have a private dining room with space for 16 people.
03:11So nice for kind of corporate events and also birthdays, those types of things.
03:16Yeah.
03:17And then, starting with dining for our last story of a different kind, Trinity Leeds owner
03:22Lansac has submitted plans for its Trinity Kitchen street food venue.
03:26They're looking to expand that.
03:28Now, Trinity Kitchen opened in 2013 and it features a revolving mix of street food, vans
03:35and permanent restaurants as well.
03:39It's featured about 300 different vendors, I believe, since it opened.
03:43So it's been a success story there and it's helped spotlight a lot of independent businesses
03:47in Leeds.
03:48Yeah.
03:49Under the new plans, Lansac are hoping to create 72,000 square foot of new space, including
03:54a new terrace overlooking City Square.
03:58That would help attract new brands and they said will hopefully help create jobs as well.
04:02Now, the plans have just gone in.
04:04They're hoping that subject to approval from the council, they can start work next spring.
04:08So hopefully things should move quite quickly.
04:11Yeah, that's actually quite an exciting one for me because Trinity Kitchen is my go-to
04:16when I go to Leeds if I want something to eat.
04:17So definitely one that I'll be following.
04:20If you would like more information on that story or any of the stories we've spoken about
04:24today, feel free to go to insidermedia.com.
04:28While you're there, you can subscribe to our newsletters as well as our magazines.
04:32I think that's all from us.
04:33That's it for me.
04:34Well, thank you for watching.
04:35Goodbye.