DQ 11: Made In the North

WINTER/SPRING

2014

dq MAGAZINE

ISSUE 11

M @Asquithmark

EDITOR’S WELCOME

T

he media has an unhealthy obsession with London and the South East. The capital also enjoys an inordinate amount of power and influence with not only our parliament located there, but also arguably the most recognised politician in the UK governing the city in the significant form of Mayor Boris Johnson.

But there is no point in bemoaning London’s success. Instead we need to find ways of benefitting from the fact that we have one of the world’s most successful cities on our doorstep; supporting the HS2 initiative to improve connectivity between the North and the South; taking better advantage of Media City; and perhaps most importantly celebrating the great things that we in the North have contributed and continue to contribute to our country’s lifestyle, culture and economy.

With that in mind, we have used the first DQ of 2014 to highlight 50 of the greatest things that have been ‘Made in the North’. To whittle the number down to just 50 was a task in itself, and we are sure that there are people, places and projects that you would have included rather than those we have selected. Equally we are sure that you will enjoy reading our small contribution to promoting the North.

Our first issue of the New Year also reviews some of the great events that Downtown have hosted in the last quarter of 2013, including award dinners in Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester.

You will find all your usual favourites here too with columns from Frank McKenna, Michael Taylor, Jim Hancock and Roger Jonas, not forgetting our Uptown Girl and our ‘Leading of Leeds’ feature, written this month by PR guru Tim Downs.

Read on, have a fantastic New Year and we’ll see you at a Downtown event soon.

Yours Sincerely, Mark Asquith Head of Communications Downtown in Business

CONTACT DQ For advert enquiries please contact us at: enquiries@downtownquarterly.co.uk Or Call us: 0151 600 5141

/Downtown Quarterly @DQDowntown

THIS MAGAZINE IS WRITTEN, DESIGNED AND PRODUCED BY THE DOWNTOWN IN BUSINESS TEAM, AND PRINTED BY CALLPRINT © DOWNTOWN IN BUSINESS. Downtown in Business can accept no responsibility for the veracity of the claims made by the advertisers. The views expressed are not necessarily the views of the publisher (DIB)

Website: www.downtownquarterly.co.uk

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M @DQDOWNTOWN

CONTENTS the

livercool awards

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TOTALLY FRANK

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COLUMNS

17

LEADING OF LEEDS

LIVERCOOL 2013

FEATURES

Totally Frank

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The Taylor Report

9

Just Jim

11

Uptown Girl

13

Just Jonas

15

The Leading of Leeds Tim Downs

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DQ Icon - David Peace

DOWNTIME 33

SPONSOR FEATURES Bruntwood

30

Ph.Creative

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Lancashire Business Awards 2013

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Lancashire Business Growth Conference

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It’s Liverpool Conference

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Livercool 2013

46

Smart City

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Mancoolian Awards 2013

50

DQ Cool List

52

Downtime

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dq

MAIN FEATURE

MADE IN THE NORTH

TOP

50

The North of England has provided the world with fantastic inventions, big personalities, cultural icons, sporting heroes, inspiring buildings and leading entrepreneurs.

In this issue, Downtown celebrates the North and features 50 of the greatest things that have been ‘made’ in this part of the country.

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DQ ICON

TOTALLY FRANK Frank McKenna is the founder and chief executive of Downtown in Business. Before establishing the Downtown brand, Frank was a full time politician, serving as the leader of the North West Regional Assembly, deputy leader of Lancashire County Council and a Parliamentary Assistant.

2014 IS GOING TO BE A GOOD ‘UN Unemployment down, inflation down, predictions of growth up; 2013 ended up being quite a decent year – but I’ll predict that 2014 will be even better.

The economy has turned a corner, business confidence has returned, and during the next twelve months that confidence will deliver enterprise, jobs and growth for UK Plc. and for the North of England.

In the regions where Downtown operates, there is even more reason to be optimistic. Leeds will host the Tour de France, a tremendous coup for the city region and an event that will elevate Leeds’ international standing and generate significant interest in Yorkshire. With the new Trinity shopping mall now open, and a 13,000 seat arena, Leeds will be looking to build its visitor economy, whilst maintaining its position as a leader in the professional and advanced manufacturing sectors.

Lancashire has been working hard to put in place a business support package that is private sector friendly and can deliver for ambitious companies in the county. Its BOOST initiative is the most comprehensive project of its kind that I have seen, and Lancashire County Council and the Local Enterprise Partnership deserve huge credit for genuinely listening to businesses and establishing a programme that will really work for Lancashire firms.

Manchester continues to deliver major regeneration and infrastructure schemes, and its plans for Airport City will take the city to another level again. Greater Manchester continues to demonstrate the importance of good civic leadership, private-public sector partnerships that work, and the ability to avoid complacency and continue to drive forward with visionary strategies that build on past successes. I expect Manchester to lead the pro HS2 campaign and lobby for the acceleration rather than cancellation of a project that will benefit the whole of the North, but arguably Manchester in particular.

Liverpool will host the biggest international business event the UK has seen since 1951. Max Steinberg and his team at Liverpool Vision are organising a six week jamboree of activities that will take place in June and July, with Downtown holding a significant series of high profile events during the International Festival of Business’ ‘Cities & Enterprise’ week. Over 140 countries are already signed up to IFB, and some top speakers have been booked. Again as a showcase for what the Liverpool city region has to offer, it couldn’t get much better.

As for Downtown, well 2014 sees us mark our tenth anniversary. As you can imagine we have a whole host of special events, parties and celebrations in store for you, so watch this space.

PAY PEANUTS GET...

Our Westminster politicians are once again in the spotlight over their financial arrangements, as the independent review looking at MP’s pay recommended an 11% pay increase. This was met with outrage from the mass media, Daily Mail readers and the Taxpayers Alliance, who all had a field day slaughtering the proposal, aided and abetted in their disdain by those honourable members with slim majorities who took to the news studios vowing to reject any such wage hike.

On the back of the MP’s expenses scandal it is perhaps understandable that few have any sympathy for those who represent us in the House of Commons, and the Palace of Westminster is hardly bulging with big political beasts at the moment.

However, if MP’s are not allowed to decide their own salaries, and we are going to rubbish and ignore the findings of expert independent panels, how will we ever get to a point where MP’s are being paid the rate for the job?

And, if we continue to treat MP’s with distrust, disrespect and contempt, then how many good ones will remain? As importantly, how many talented individuals will bother to put themselves forward as potential candidates in the future?

Clearly being an MP is not only about money. Indeed, it should have little to do with money. But the cash reward has to be fair, and it has to be attractive enough to ensure that parliament does not become full of wealthy folk who can afford to live in London and run a home in their constituency whatever the remuneration; or ‘average’ performers who see 65K a year for a 24/7 job as a big salary.

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M @DOWNTOWNFRANK

WHAT WOULD SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE MEAN FOR THE NORTH? 2014 could see Scotland separate from the rest of the UK. The Independence referendum takes place in September, and having been way behind in early polling, the Scottish Nationalists appear to have gained some momentum in recent months with an effective charm offensive from its leader Alex Salmond, combined with a lackluster approach from the ‘NO’ campaign which is being led by former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling.

The resurgence of support for Independence reminds us once again of the importance of charisma and personality in modern politics. Salmond has both in abundance, and whilst Darling has a huge intellect, he is hardly likely to match Scotland’s First Minister when it comes to rallying the troops.

Nonetheless, the discussion and debate in the run up to the autumn poll will be fascinating, and will continue to highlight the fact that, even without total independence, the Scots have enjoyed significant devolved powers through its own parliament for over a decade now.

How long will it be before the regions of England begin to demand similar devolution that would enable the charismatic and big personality politicians to take on the Alex Salmond or Boris Johnson role in areas like the North West and Yorkshire?

FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN In an early issue of DQ I announced that I was slowly, but surely, falling out of love with my first love – football. The game, I argued, had become sterile, predictable, was full of overpaid Nancy boys and the Premier League had destroyed the English game. I was attending football matches at Goodison Park because it was something I had always done, rather than it being something I wanted to do. My hobby had become a duty.

Despite my moans and groans I continued to renew my season ticket at Everton, but as this season started in August there was little to suggest that things were going to get better. How wrong could I be?

The Blues’ new Manager Roberto Martinez has reintroduced a brand of football that is more ‘school of science’ than ‘dogs of war’ – and he has done this whilst getting positive results too. As I write, Everton are fifth in the Premier League, and look as likely as anyone to finish in the Holy Grail that is the top four. Of course, this resurgence of my team is the predominant reason for my rekindled love of the beautiful game. But it is more than that.

The fact that a change of managers at what are now described as the ‘big clubs’ (the franchises that are United, City and Chelsea) has led to the most open title race in years. There are genuinely seven or eight teams vying for the top spot, rather than the usual one or two horse race that we have had to suffer for more seasons than I care to remember. That any team CAN beat anyone on any given match day has made this season exciting and football interesting again.

Come the end of season and I fully expect Man City to have regained the title, but they will have to work bloody hard to do so. And, even if Everton fail to maintain a challenge this term, I can console myself in the knowledge that we now have a manager who has returned my football club to the values and principles that made me fall in love with the game in the first place. ‘Grinding out results’ may ensure Premier League status, but it doesn’t entertain! And if all that wasn’t enough, we have produced Ross Barkley. England, you’re welcome.

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In the end my gut instinct tells me that, despite Salmond’s best efforts, the Scots are too cautious to take a leap of faith into the unknown, and that the lack of economic clarity offered by the Nationalists, coupled with doubts over what Scotland’s relationship with the EU would be if they were to opt out of the union will see the status quo maintained.

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M @MARPLELEAF THE TAYLOR REPORT Michael Taylor is the chairman of Downtown Manchester in Business. He is an events host, broadcaster and award winning business journalist. He has started a new venture called Discuss, which hosts topical debates. He also works with clients on brand and communications strategies, these include government-backed coaching service GrowthAccelerator, Deloitte, the ICAEW, Seneca and the Prince’s Trust.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE ASPIRANT NORTHERN T RIES?

I

grew up in the north, but it was in a Tory area. For me Tory was normal. This wasn’t the North of Frank McKenna and David Peace, where you wore your yellow Cole Not Dole sticker with pride. Where the Labour votes were weighed rather than counted. This was the City of Lancaster, where our MPs were Elaine Kellett Bowman and Mark Lennox Boyd. It was where standing for socialism in 1983 made you out to be a bit of a nutter.

I keep a close eye on what Ged Mirfin has to say on this and many other matters. A northern Tory and a councillor in Lancashire who has some keen observations to make on all of this: “Political affiliation has become less “My Dad was a self-employed milkman and my Mum a nurse. Political debate around our dinner table about aspirant lifestyles, and more about was about what an idiot Arthur Scargill was and the maintenance of living standards.” why surrendering nuclear weapons would be akin to inviting the Red Army to invade our shores.”

He goes on: “Are we perhaps witnessing the first indications of negative social mobility, and what Marxist-tinged sociologists have dubbed the “Proletarianisation of the Bourgeoisie”? Embourgeoisement theory posits that as a result of their economic efforts, working class people tend to assume the lifestyle and individualistic values of the so-called middle classes. The question is, has the process gone into reverse?

One’s position within the middle class – and with it middle class attitudes – are not necessarily fixed or irreversible.”

Their equivalents from the Girls Grammar School were there too. Attractive girls with a bit about them, who you’d never see at the punk gigs we went to, or the CND meetings at the Trades and Labour club. No, this was the Lancaster Young Conservatives. Me and my mate did some childish graffiti in the toilets, insulted a few people and left. But what bothered me more than anything was that this lot weren’t meant to be having a good time, Tories were anti-fun.

I wasn’t born into Labourism or a Trade Union tradition. My Dad was a self-employed milkman and my Mum a nurse. Political debate around our dinner table was about what an idiot Arthur Scargill was and why surrendering nuclear weapons would be akin to inviting the Red Army to invade our shores.

The demography of Britain is changing. The last couple of years have seen record levels of new company formations and new businesses. According to Start-Up Britain 500,000 new businesses were started in 2013. That enormous figure may mask a multitude of different stories – it includes one-man bands, sole traders, kitchen table eBay traders, white van men, shell companies as well as fully fledged companies with dreams of world domination.

Even when I took to knocking around with the lads I knew through football, few of them had anything positive to say about the divisive issues that faced the working class. They were for patriotism, working hard, getting off your backside and wishing they could get a £20,000 pay off from a job down a pit like Scargill and his mob. I mention all of this because there seems to have been a selective memory loss about what the North was like during the 80s. It wasn’t a sea of rebellion and insurrection against Thatcher.

Boris Johnson has tried to create a view of what the Tories stand for – a statement that we can’t all be equal. It’s a refreshing statement of what he is for, even if you don’t go along with him (and I don’t, by the way). David Cameron has defined himself by what the Tories aren’t and what Labour isn’t either.

There is a theory that George Osborne in particular is hoping these people will also become Tories. But Labour has as much a claim to this as the Conservative Party. Small Business Saturday, a stunt imported from the US, was modestly successful as a branding exercise for Chuka Umunna.

Many people quite liked her. Many people started their own businesses – often in the teeth of a workplace culture of sloth, petty theft and entitlement. I remember one lad I knew describing one of his mates thus – “a typical Labourite – you know, going off sick and always bloody complaining.”

While I have remained unconvinced about Labour’s authenticity about the aspiration economy, it poses equally as big a headache for the Conservatives, especially in the North.

When I went to University it was the aspirant working class kids from the Home Counties that were politically apathetic around University but were sufficiently attracted to the surge in

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I remember stumbling upon a disco in the church hall in the city centre one Friday evening. In there were all the sporty lads from our school, the rugby team, the hockey crowd and the quiet lads who did well in their exams.

Thatcherite capitalism that they ended up working for Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch, or became feisty entrepreneurs. They may have also been imbued with a loathing of racism, a sense of fairness, but they were the people who quietly voted Tory in 1992. Where has that layer in society gone now?

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M @JimHancockUK JUST JIM Jim Hancock has held the top jobs in political journalism at Granada and BBC North West. Now he’s working with some of the country’s top companies in hosting their conferences. Recent commissions include facilitating a national conference for HS2 Industry Leaders Group attended by Lord Deighton and Sir David Higgins and hosting a conference of international companies which make up the consortium building the Mersey Gateway bridge.

FROM ROBERT PEEL TO RACHEL REEVES

O

ver two centuries the North of England has produced great politicians. They were either born here or came to know the North by sitting for one of our many colourful constituencies.

Bury born Sir Robert Peel had a huge impact on British politics by effectively creating the two political parties that are in government today. He split the old Tory Party in the 1840s when he repealed the Corn Laws. His Peelite supporters went off to form the Liberal Party (now the Lib Dems) whilst the Tories transformed themselves into the Conservative Party. Peel also cracked down on child and female labour in the factories and founded the Metropolitan Police.

Harold Wilson, as PM, once famously sorted out a docks dispute in Liverpool’s Adelphi Hotel. He knew what the answer was to the country’s problems. In 1963 he said the future lay in the white heat of the technological revolution. He declared there was no place for restrictive practices, but the country wasn’t ready to make the reform until Margaret Thatcher came to power.

Liberal William Ewart Gladstone was born in Rodney Street Liverpool, was educated in Seaforth, represented South Lancashire in parliament and went on to be Prime Minister four times. Along with his Tory rival Disraeli, he dominated Victorian politics but still had time to rescue fallen women on the streets of London.

Wilson’s great ally was Barbara Castle, another great northern politician. She represented Blackburn for thirty four years and as a Minister introduced landmark legislation on equal pay and wearing seat belts in cars. Her major failure was “In Place of Strife” a proposal for legislation to end wild cat strikes.

The next great Liberal leader was born just down the, soon to be built, Ship Canal, in Manchester. However Lloyd George only lived in Chorlton for two months before moving to Wales. He went on She was succeeded in Blackburn by Jack Straw who went on to to become Prime Minister in the Great War succeeding Herbert hold four senior Cabinet posts. Despite this he always had time Asquith who had been born in Morley near Leeds. The early to get on his soap box to address his constituents in the town part of the last century was a time of Liberal domination after centre. the defeat of Conservative Prime Minister Arthur Balfour who represented East Manchester and lost Yorkshire produced many leading his seat in the Liberal landslide of 1906. members of the Labour governments “Harold Wilson, as PM, once famously sorted of the late twentieth century. Leeds out a docks dispute in Liverpool’s Adelphi The Liberals were as stone faced as MP Denis Healey was Chancellor of the Hotel. He knew what the answer was to the the Tories on the issue of votes for Exchequer at a time when the British country’s problems” women, one of the great causes of the economy was so weak, the International early twentieth century. The suffragette Monetary Fund was called in. Hull’s struggle was led by Emmeline Pankhurst. Born in Moss Side in John Prescott was Deputy Prime Minister under Tony Blair who Manchester in 1858, she was later supported by her daughter failed to give him sufficient support to entrench a system of Christabel in a campaign of direct action. regional development agencies and assemblies to make them democratically accountable across the North.

Soon women had the vote and were entering parliament. Among them was “Red Ellen” Wilkinson born in Ardwick she went on to Finally, who are the Northern politicians to watch as we complete hold Cabinet office in Clement Atlee’s Labour government. the second decade of this century? I’ll give you four women: The tide was turning against the Liberals as Labour claimed the North from them both at national and Town Hall levels. In local government the most formidable husband and wife team were in Liverpool where Jack Braddock was leader of the council in the 1950’s whilst his wife Bessie represented the Exchange division in parliament for 25 years.

From Leeds, Labour’s Rachel Reeves is well equipped to become Chancellor of the Exchequer in a Miliband government. Wigan’s Lisa Nandy and Wavertree’s Luciana Berger are both Cabinet material, but likely to beat them both to the Cabinet table is the Conservative Employment Minister Esther McVey.

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One of the greatest northern politicians was Harold Wilson.

Born in Huddersfield and educated at Wirral Grammar School he represented Huyton in Merseyside for over thirty years. He won four elections for the Labour Party. His critics said he was more a crafty politician than a statesman, but I think that was unfair. He was Prime Minister in the sixties and seventies when Britain was in decline and the trade unions were strong. The Transport Union was led by Garston born Jack Jones. He fought for his members as fiercely as he had fought the fascists in the Spanish Civil War.

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M @vbrownhpc UPTOWN GIRL Victoria Brown is the Managing Director of High Performance Consultancy Ltd (HPC) and OneHR software. HPC is an international HR outsourcing service provider to the SME market.

CAN THE NORTH CULTIVATE, RETAIN AND ATTRACT TALENT? There is still a massive marketing job to be done by the agencies responsible for promoting places like Leeds, Liverpool, and Lancashire and, to a lesser extent Manchester, to those top professionals and inward investors who we need to attract to really grow our economy.

The other concern I have in some sectors, for example Sales and Commercial roles, is there is a very limited pool of talented individuals being grown and groomed within the North. As I have mentioned, filling positions at senior executive levels has normally resulted in bringing someone from the South to the North.

We have been inundated with sign-ups from the South for exactly that reason.

“There are certainly some very clear, positive Business Owners are more conscious We desperately need to change this and indicators that make the North an attractive than ever of the bottom line, and they we all have a responsibility as Northern proposition for UK and international are searching for value for money – business owners to bring about this without having to compromise on quality companies.” change. service. They can achieve this from businesses in the North, enjoying an There have been some interesting figures average of about a 30% reduction in price. In current economic to suggest that we are at least starting to bridge this talent pool times when business owners are holding on more tightly to their gap. Young people in the North of England are 70% more likely to purse strings, this makes perfect financial sense. enrol on an apprenticeship than their southern peers, according to a new report commissioned by AAT (Association of Accounting As a HR practitioner I am constantly providing salary Technicians). Young Londoners were the least likely to be on an benchmarking figures to my clients. It was interesting to find in apprenticeship programme. This included affluent areas such as a survey conducted by ‘Marketing Week‘ earlier last year that Kensington and Chelsea (0.78%) and Redbridge (1.74%). there is not a particularly significant salary difference between the North and South. An example would be a Marketing Director The report further reveals that whilst apprentice take ups can be in the North of England averaging at £69, 687, compared with a partly attributed to industrial composition, unemployment levels salary of £74, 612 in the Capital. and differing rates of economic activity – none of these variations are sufficient enough to explain the huge divide between the It would appear that the salary gap in many sectors is closing, North and South. whilst the cost of living continues to be significantly lower this side of the Watford gap, so why wouldn’t high growth businesses Add to this a new found determination from our region’s colleges opt to set up in the North? There are certainly some very clear, in offering genuine vocational training and support; and the Sales positive indicators that make the North an attractive proposition Academy initiative recently launched by Winning Pitch, and there for UK and international companies. is good reason for optimism.

However, that is not to say there are not difficult challenges in this part of the world too, not least in the area of recruitment.

Having been involved in seeking talented individuals for senior roles within the North West over the last year I have found a skills gap in the indigenous labour market, and a lack of willingness for some to re-locate here due their negative perception of the North. This has been disappointing and I have found myself wondering if I am in HR or PR at some points in 2013.

Overall, it is all looking rather positive on the Northern front. We have the businesses investing, the salary gap narrowing and the cost of living remaining significantly lower. If we pull together and grow and nurture our up and coming young talent, then why would any of us ever take our business elsewhere………. I do like the shopping in New York though – I wonder if I can convince McKenna to set up a Downtown there?

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ecently I read an article in the Sunday Times about a tech company that chose to forsake London and head to Manchester to set up. Having just recruited in London myself, as we embark upon an aggressive sales pitch to the South East market to build on our growing customer base there, I can appreciate why so many start-ups are shunning the cost of operating in the capital. We intend to keep our HQ in the North, with offices in Liverpool and Manchester, maintaining low overheads and being able to pass those efficiencies on to the client.

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M @RPJonas JUST JONAS Roger joined Downtown in 2008 to support the development of our ambitious events programme throughout the North. He is passionate about working for a business that makes a difference and is recognised for its effectiveness in supporting local economies.

DIVIDED WE ARE STRONGER Downtown in Business has many robust partnerships in Liverpool, Lancashire, Manchester and Leeds; and each location has a very different unique DNA, which in itself breeds a parochial pride, and why not for god’s sake? The downside is when beyond the boundary, battles commence, evoking the age old chant (for best effect, please sing this) “We’re better than youoooo!” This should have no place outside of the footy stadium, and even then, those who sing loudest don’t necessarily win!

Anyone I know South of Birmingham, believed that the golden paved streets of London was the place where they would find fame and fortune, and subsequently make the pilgrimage to chase success. All but one of these friends, family members and acquaintances have changed, some beyond belief. The “one,” well he dropped dead from a heart attack brought on by the inevitable over indulgence in class A, a seemingly cool thing to do at the time!

Head down, don’t make eye contact, get on the treadmill and, heaven forbid you should smile.

If this was the lifestyle I wanted, I would have followed in the footsteps of those who made the trek South.

“The North is idiosyncratic, has enviable assets, a distinct sense of humour, mixed with a characteristic and sentimental humility.

Whatever we do... the North-South divide will NEVER go away.”

I don’t particularly have an issue with the evident North-South divide, but I do get vaguely irritated by the predictable gripes. I’m not so naive as not to understand the economic and policy setting impact on us from the Capital, and I am comfortable that the “smoke” achieves more global focus than any other city in the UK. I simply accept the diversity in cultures and attitudes and focus more on my Northern roots.

We need to stop any regional scrapping, place less emphasis on our Southern gripes and, maintaining our uniqueness, do our best to work together. The North is idiosyncratic, has enviable assets, a distinct sense of humour, mixed with a characteristic and sentimental humility. Whatever we do, and I mean whatever, the North-South divide will NEVER go away.

From all of the European cities that I have visited, a divided attitude seems the acceptable norm, but here in the UK the division feels more bitter and apparent. The Dutch attitude, the home of my Brother, is to get your own house in order before expending energy concerning yourself with the neighbours. The Dutch rarely seem to engage in pointless competitiveness and recognise that the core cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Haig are the powerhouses of the Netherlands, and, let them get on with it. For a country the size of Wales, their attitude, economy and lifestyle puts the UK to shame!

What can change is US, and how we choose to move forward.

Simples!

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I

was made in the North, my parents were made in the North, in fact, I know for sure that the past 6 generations of my family were made in the North too. So forgive me if a hint of parochialism creeps in a bit!

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M @AberfieldPR THE LEADING OF LEEDS Tim Downs is a former journalist and director at the award-winning Aberfield, one of the fastest growing communications consultancies in the North of England. Originally from the North West, Yorkshire has been his home for the last 12 years.

TIM DOWNS

I

t seems that these are heady days to be associated with Yorkshire. Just as 2012 ended with the news that the county would host the Grand Depart in 2014 (much to the chagrin of central government), 2013 ended with the announcement that Hull had won the right to call itself the UK Capital of Culture in 2017.

interference from Government, so that it can improve speed and reliability of road and rail links, join up the City Region as an economic area and better connect us to London and other northern city regions.

On a more local level, Leeds celebrated the end of the year by hosting the 60th Anniversary Sports Personality of the Year, at its new First Direct Arena. Likewise, Bradford was able to celebrate final confirmation that construction of the long-awaited Broadway shopping scheme will start in January.

And yes, it’s also about improving and regenerating our cities - our economic catalysts - in a joined up way, to provide the appropriate resources that people need in order to flourish.

In some quarters 2013 was actually billed as the year that Leeds, too often referred to as a sleeping giant, woke up and began to flex its muscles on a wider national and international stage.

I’ve already mentioned Bradford’s Broadway development but there is also its City Centre Growth Zone. In Leeds this includes the rejuvenation of the South Bank, to include the new City College campus and new Leeds College of Building, and critically ensuring that NGT, the modern high-volume transport system that will link these into the city centre, is progressed.

Alongside the Arena there was the £350m Trinity retail development, the only one of its type in Western Europe last year, the Aire Valley Enterprise zone, planning consents on Hammerson’s Victoria Gate and a new city proposition to boot.

The reality is that whilst significant, all of this activity has been a prelude of what’s to come for Leeds and the city region.

“Whether we like it or not the strategic development of our region needs to be matched with a strategic approach to how we market it.”

The next few years offer a level of opportunity that hasn’t existed since the 1990s and goes way beyond the property and development sectors that continued to boom (unsustainably) in to the noughties.

But there is another area that will help us to take advantage of the opportunities that exist and it is another area where collaboration is the only approach that will generate the right results and that is how we communicate.

Whether we like it or not the strategic development of our region needs to be matched with a strategic approach to how we market it.

The increased level of self-determination through the devolution of funding via the Local Growth Fund, the maturing of the Local Enterprise Partnerships into their roles and the cementing of the City Region relationships, where once competitive cities get used to working for mutual benefit, will be the critical factors in ensuring that these opportunities are realised.

If we continue to act separately and in isolation, both in terms of budgets and messaging, it’s too easy to be criticised for spending on something which is often misunderstood and is sometimes seen as controversial and unnecessary, without an understanding of its true purpose.

What this hints towards is that the success of Leeds and the wider region is not about the number of cranes creating a skyline of gleaming tall buildings, but about the key organisations and influencers across the region working collaboratively to deliver priorities in a strategic and joined up way.

And we only have six months to ensure that we all know what we should be saying. In July this year the eyes of the world will be on Yorkshire as the Tour de France rolls into town. We will get one chance to tell our story and to demonstrate that we are a future-focused region that deserves an international reputation for being at the forefront of social and economic development.

It’s about the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Fund being allowed to build its £1 billion improvements fund, without

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It’s about working with our education establishments, from the schools and colleges through to our great universities, to bridge the skills gaps, provide unique apprenticeship opportunities and to encourage the commercialisation of our world-leading academic research and development work.

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M @DQDOWNTOWN MAIN FEATURE

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50 MADE IN THE NORTH The North of England has provided the world with fantastic inventions, big personalities, cultural icons, sporting heroes, inspiring buildings and leading entrepreneurs.

In this issue, Downtown celebrates the North and features 50 of the greatest things that have been ‘made’ in this part of the country.

To whittle the number down to 50 was a huge challenge in itself, and there will be some things that we have missed that you will think should have been the first on our list. Nonetheless, we have come up with a mighty impressive selection, and if your particular favourite doesn’t feature, there is always next year!

In the meantime enjoy what we have put together and remind yourself – if you needed any reminding – what a great place the North of England is and how lucky we are to be part of it.

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M @DQDOWNTOWN THE THREE GRACES

THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL

The Liverpool waterfront is graced by three of the most famous and iconic buildings on the planet. The Port of Liverpool Building, the Cunard Building, and the Liver Building with the famous Liver birds sat atop keeping watch over the city and the River Mersey. The main reason for Liverpool’s World Heritage Status.

Built by a group of Manchester industrialists who were fed up at paying taxes to the Port of Liverpool – the Manchester Ship Canal was an audacious and reckless endeavour that summarises the city of Manchester at its impetuous best. The mind boggles as to the scale of it at the time. Construction started in 1887; six years and £15 million later (equivalent to about £1.65 billion in today’s money) they’d created the largest canal in the world. It connected the Port of Manchester to the sea and it quickly became Britain’s third busiest, despite being 40 miles inland. But success was short lived and as shipping sizes grew, over time, it wasn’t big enough for modern vessels. From a peak in 1958, with 18 million tons of goods a year, it has now declined to 7 million. That said, there are high hopes that the canal owned by Peel has plans to ship 100,000 containers a year by 2030, as part of the Atlantic Gateway project.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH The Lakeland poet and the best known of the romantic poets. His legacy and potency is a well established reason for millions of tourists to visit the English Lake District in search of his muse and those daffodils. Born in Cumbria, he was fired up by the fervour of the French revolution, travelling widely. In 1799, after a visit to Germany with Coleridge, Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy settled at Dove Cottage in Grasmere where he wrote his best known poem, ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’.

In 1802, Wordsworth married a childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson. The next few years were personally difficult for Wordsworth. Two of his children died, his brother was drowned at sea and Dorothy suffered a mental breakdown.

His political views underwent a transformation around the turn of the century, and he became increasingly conservative, disillusioned by events in France culminating in Napoleon Bonaparte taking power.

GEOFF BOYCOTT

THE CHRISTIE HOSPITAL “Deaths from cancer in Manchester are declining” was the news before Christmas 2013. A fact that is in no small way related to the outstanding work done by the Christie, Manchester’s exemplary cancer treatment hospital. It’s a research business and an organisation of some considerable scale, with an annual turnover of £173 million, 2,500 staff, 350 volunteers and 20,000 public members. The great affection for the Christie in the whole of the region is probably because of the way in which cancer touches so many lives. Figures released today show that eight out of the top 10 areas with the most improved cancer survival rates nationwide are in Greater Manchester. As the Manchester Evening News reported in 2013, back in 1996, cancer patients had around a 50-50 chance of surviving, but 15 years on the odds are stacked in their favour with two thirds of patients surviving a cancer diagnosis.

MICHAEL OGLESBY & BRUNTWOOD No commercial property brand in the country has the presence and profile in its home cities that Bruntwood has. When Michael Oglesby sought to change the profile of his business, he adopted the service cultures of hotels and airlines, bringing a whole new relationship with customers instead of ‘tenants’.

Always prepared to think differently, the business also embraces the arts and the cultural sector – sponsoring a significant playwriting prize – as well as key events like the Manchester International Festival. Michael Oglesby is also a senior paternal figure in the Manchester family of organisations and networks, using his influence to promote their better way of doing business, but also standing up for the cities of the North.

FRED PERRY There are statues and streets in Stockport named after the town’s best known son, the last Englishman to win Wimbledon, Fred Perry.

An international ladies man as well as a sporting legend, Perry dated Marlene Deitreich and Mary Lawson and was married to three different film stars and models.

His sporting legacy is vast, but so too is his gift to fashion. In response to the popularity of the t-shirts with the crocodile motif, created by his French rival Rene Lacoste, Perry gave his name to the Laurel Wreath brand, which thrives to this day.

OASIS There was something mesmerising and intoxicating about the way Oasis burst onto the music scene in 1993. Sneering, full of attitude and driven by a force of sibling fury, the Gallagher Brothers captured the time like no other band. True sons of Manchester, the progression from clubs and pubs to stadiums was done with a swagger and a thorough understanding of the Beatles song book. Much as it’s easy to pick apart their stealing of lines and riffs, the musicianship, the bullying and the defeat in the battle of the bands to Blur, the truth is there has been no band even close to Oasis since. No band to capture the moment and the post-Thatcher, pre-Blair mood better.

“Is it my imagination, or have I finally found something worth living for?”

PASSENGER RAILWAYS MOSI – the Museum of Science and Industry now sits at the very same site as the start of the world’s first passenger railway – from Manchester to Liverpool in 1830. Originally designed as a freight route, the railway was a triumph of Victorian ingenuity and perseverance. And although Liverpool MP William Huskisson was killed on the day, the popularity that rail travel unleashed led to rail mania and the most popular mode of modern transport was born.

THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE Of the founding members of the first organised professional league in April 1888, the majority were in the North. It was conceived in Manchester, in the Royal Hotel, which is now marked by a plaque on Market Street. When the league kicked off in September the 12 founding members were: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston North End, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

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The very embodiment of the stubborn Yorkshireman, Geoffrey Boycott is probably not loved, but at least respected. Best known for long innings at the crease and a cautious approach to building up runs, it never made him a popular character. Yet for all that reputation he notched up an impressive record of centuries over his 22 year career at Test and County level: 8,114 runs in 108 Test matches for England. He was the first England cricketer to pass 8,000 Test runs and, as of 2014, is sixth on England's all-time run scoring list (behind Alec Stewart, Graham Gooch, David Gower, Michael Atherton and Colin Cowdrey). His average of 47.72 runs over 193 innings is the highest completed career average among England players since 1970.

The beauty of Boycott is that he couldn’t care less what anyone else thought of him, a style that he takes into his often brutal analysis of the game on radio and television.

ROGER CASHMAN Downtown Manchester’s chairman Michael Taylor created the character Roger Cashman on a blog in 2006 and then later on Twitter. He then contributed a column under that name for North West Business Insider magazine for four years. Cashman was a hugely popular part of the magazine, one of those characters that captured a truth, without it actually being real.

Cashman’s tales of bawdy nights out and corporate swinging became the stuff of legend, more than a few people tried to do their own due diligence on who and what his fictional company RC Solutions was all about and who was behind it. Cashman’s last column depicted his financial collapse and disappearance off the coast of Puerto Banus (where else?).

What next? A book, a film, a play? Watch this space.

PAULA RADCLIFFE Two hours, fifteen minutes and twenty five seconds. That is the time Paula Radcliffe took to complete the London marathon in 2003, smashing a record she set herself each year leading up to that record time. Amazingly, it is a world record that still stands. And while the Northwich born long distance runner has been one of this nation’s greatest ever athletes, Olympic glory has cruelly evaded her. She won the coveted BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in 2002 on top of an MBE and she has never been shy to voice strong opinions about the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport.

TAKE THAT The boyband of the Nineties was pulled together in Manchester by empresario Nigel Martin Smith. Apart from Robbie Williams – who’s a Stokie – the boys were all from different parts of Greater Manchester, Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Mark Owen.

Their global Progress tour, the reunion, broke all records and took musical and dance spectaculars to another level altogether. Over 1 million tickets were sold in a single day; a world record.

But what has been even more remarkable has been the resilience and reinvention of them all – firstly the solo career of Williams, but latterly the transformation of Gary Barlow from the podgy dancer to the nation’s favourite on the X Factor.

MECCANO The small pieces of metal plates, wheels, nuts and bolts which consumed large parts of many people's childhoods was inspired by the cranes which loaded and unloaded the ships at the Port of Liverpool. Invented by Liverpudlian Frank Hornby in 1898, the first Meccano factory was opened on Duke Street in Liverpool. Meccano went on to become a global success, and was widely regarded as of the most popular lines of toys in the twentieth century. Today, the group is present in over 50 countries, and has even inspired a life size Meccano bridge which spanned a canal near the Liver Building and consisted of 100,000 individual parts, including 28,000 bolts!

Hornby's legacy still lives on today in his homeplace of Maghull, where there is a local pub affectionately named 'The Frank Hornby'.

COMMERCIAL TELEVISION (GRANADA) COMMERCIAL TELEVISION (GRANADA)

TRINITY LEEDS & VICTORIA’S SECRET

Sidney Bernstein started Granada Television in Manchester to give the North a voice. And through its glory years it embodied something distinctly Mancunian and Northern – eventually spreading real influence around the whole of the region with studios at a revived Albert Dock in Liverpool.

Despite the crash of 2007, Leeds was able to deliver Trinity, the latest addition to the city’s already impressive retail offer, in March 2013. One of a tiny number of major retail developments established during the past six years and costing Land Securities £350m, the project has been hugely popular with major high street names such as Marks & Spencer, Top Shop and Apple; plus an impressive food and drink offer with brands like Yo! Sushi, Carluccio’s and Giraffe. Most impressive of all was Trinity’s coup in convincing Victoria’s Secret to open its first UK store outside of London in Leeds. If you haven’t been yet, put it on your ‘to do’ list for 2014!

But Granada didn’t just make regional programmes, they created ambitious television as well – World in Action, Brideshead Revisited, Seven Up and Coronation Street.

But the pioneering, award winning, critically acclaimed Granada of David Plowright was unfairly derided for being commercially naïve by the generation of Gerry Robinson and Charles – what they created was popular – which made it possible for advertisers to connect with mass audiences. It wasn’t that difficult to understand – but comments like Robinson’s: “we’re not in the business of getting people out of jail” a reference to the work of World in Action in campaigning programmes about the Birmingham Six set the battlelines.

THE GREAT NORTH RUN The second largest half marathon in the world, taking place in September each year, participants run from Newcastle Upon Tyne to South Shields in a race that was devised by former Olympic 10,000m Bronze medallist Brendan Foster. First staged in 1981, when 12,000 runners participated, over 50,000 now take part.

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THE BEATLES Four guys from Liverpool who quite literally rocked the world. The most famous Rock & Roll band in history. John, Paul, George and Ringo formed the band in 1960, and went on to be the best selling band in the United States, have more number one albums in the UK than any other artist and sold more singles in the UK than any other act. They have received 7 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award and 15 Ivor Norvello Awards. But more importantly they epitomise the cultural revolution of the 1960’s and ‘Beatlemania’ has secured their home city the most recognisable international UK brand other than London. Their music is still as popular today as it was ‘back in the day’ and a whole host of modern bands from the UK and the US credit the Beatles as their inspiration.

Lennon & McCartney is recognised as the most talented musical writing partnership ever.

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SCHOOL OF SCIENCE Everton can boast more years and points in the top flight of English football than any other club. They have won the league title on nine occasions, but no side graced the League Championship more than Harry Catterick’s ‘School of Science’ XI which included the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Ball, Kendall and Harvey and romped to the seventh of the Blues title successes with a haul of 66 points in the 1969/70 season.

WALKER’S BLACKBURN ROVERS They may be in the doldrums at the moment, but under the ownership of Lancashire tycoon Jack Walker they became the best team in England in 1995. Walker transformed his boyhood club from Division Two strugglers to Champions of England by using his hard earned wealth to sign players such as Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton and Tim Flowers and appointing football legend Kenny Dalglish to manage them. In one of the most exciting Premiership season finales ever, Rovers pipped Man United to win their first title in 81 years by just one point.

COMEDY GENIUS From modern day comedy heroes such as John Bishop and Peter Kay through to legends like Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise, not forgetting comedienne Victoria Wood, the North of England has been blessed with a rich vein of comedic talent for generations. Everyone has their own favourite, but is there anyone out there who doesn’t love the late, great Les Dawson?

LEEDS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL The largest film festival in the UK outside of London. Established in 1987, the festival is held in November and shows around 200 commercial and independent movies from across the globe.

WALLACE & GROMIT Preston born Nick Park created the animated characters that went on to star in a series of four short comedy movies, a feature length film and a spin off television series. Wallace is a cheese loving, absent minded inventor from Wigan, and his companion Gromit is an anthropomorphic intelligent dog.

THE BIGGEST FOOTBALL CLUB ON THE PLANET Real Madrid and Barcelona may disagree, but since the days of the Busby Babes the name of Manchester United has been an international brand associated with sexy football, superstar footballers, and for the most part trophy winning success. George Best, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, David Beckham, Eric Cantona and Wayne Rooney are just a handful of the dozens of players that fans from across the globe instantly recognise. Sir Alex Ferguson’s 18 year reign turned the brand into a trophy winning machine, and they have now been champions of England a record 22 times!

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GRAND NATIONAL The greatest steeplechase in the world, hosted at Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool. First run in 1839, the race is now the most valuable jump race in Europe with a prize fund of £975,000 in 2013. The Liverpool meet in April is always one of the highlights of the social calendar too – and if you fancy coming along this year with Downtown, we have a fantastic exclusive hospitality package available to our members.

Contact chris.mckenna@downtowninbusiness.com for details.

Daniel Craig, arguably the coolest actor on the planet, was born in Chester and brought up in Liverpool. He starred in a string of movies, most notably Layer Cake, and the acclaimed TV drama Our Friends in the North, before bagging the role of James Bond in 2004 and becoming the most authentic of all 007’s to date.

FREDDIE FLINTOFF

DIXIE DEAN There have been so many fabulous footballers to have graced the game from the North of England, and greats like Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney, Bill Liddell, Bobby Charlton and his brother Jack are among hundreds who could be in any Football Hall of Fame. But in the end, the game is all about scoring goals, and there is one man who stands head and shoulders above all other in terms of knowing how to hit the back of the net; the infamous William Ralph ‘Dixie’ Dean. The Birkenhead-born centre forward was an Everton hero who bagged an incredible 60 league goals in one season, 1927/28. He is the most prolific goal scorer of all time. He won two league championships and one FA Cup with the Goodison Park club, and scored 349 goals in 399 Everton appearances. If Gareth Bale is worth £80m, what price would have Dixie Dean been today?

LIVERPOOL METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL The old Liverpool ditty goes ‘if you want a Cathedral we’ve got one to spare’ – but it is the iconic Anglican building that makes our list, rather than the unique Catholic ‘wig wam’ which is situated just half a mile away. This incredible structure took almost 100 years to complete. It is the fifth largest Cathedral in the World, and contests the title of largest Anglican Cathedral with the incomplete New York St John the Divine Cathedral.

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Lancashire lad Flintoff came to national prominence when he played a major role in reclaiming the Ashes for England in 2005. In the same year, the cricketing all-rounder was awarded the MBE and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. He is a ‘work hard, play hard’ kind of guy, and since retiring from cricket he has embarked on a series of new adventures, including a stint in boxing and a successful media career. He has also smashed 14 Guinness records in one day for Sports Relief in a twelve hour marathon against the clock, raising £1 million for charity.

FRIEDRICH ENGELS The author of The Condition of the English Working Class and then the Communist Manifesto, formed his views while observing the plight of mill workers in Manchester and wrote most of his damning prose in the Chethams Library. Friedrich Engels is one of the most attractive and contradictory figures of the nineteenth century. Born to a prosperous mercantile family in west Germany, he spent his career working in the Manchester cotton industry, riding to the Cheshire hounds, and enjoying the comfortable, middle-class life of a Victorian gentleman. Yet Engels was also the co-founder of international communism - the philosophy which in the 20th century came to control one third of the human race. He was the co-author of The Communist Manifesto, a ruthless party tactician, and the man who sacrificed his best years so Karl Marx could write Das Kapital. Tristram Hunt called him the Frock Coated Communist in a brilliant biography – a tale that relishes the diversity and exuberance of Engels’s era: how one of the great bon viveurs of Victorian Britain reconciled his raucous personal life with this uncompromising political philosophy.

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THE BEST 007

WE’VE WON IT 5 TIMES Up until recently the Anfield giants held the record for most English titles won.

That honour has been taken from them, at least for the time being, by their bitter rivals Man United. However, Steven Gerrard’s inspired performance in the Champions League Final of 2005 in Istanbul, where he dragged his side back from a three goals half time deficit to defeat Italian side Milan on penalties, gave the Reds their fifth European Cup. And no British side is likely to take that record from them any time soon.

STUART MACONIE AND MARK RADCLIFFE

LEEDS RHINOS The most successful Rugby League Club in the history of Super League, Rhinos were founded back in 1870, but did not win their first championship until 1961.

Since then they have won nine in total as well as three World Club Challenge titles. They have also won the Challenge Cup eleven times.

RICHEST FOOTBALL CLUB ON THE PLANET In the shadow of their illustrious neighbours for more years than they would care to remember, the takeover of Man City by the Mansour family back in 2009 gave City fans a genuine reason to blast out their signature tune ‘Blue Moon’. A Premier League title and an FA Cup win since, and an impressive victory at the home of European Champions Bayern Munich earlier this season, would suggest that ‘the noisy neighbours’ may just be ready to make a genuine challenge for Europe’s premier club competition.

Much attention on the BBC’s move to Salford Quays rightly focuses on Blue Peter, Radio5 Live, Breakfast News and Match of the Day. But the niche radio station Radio6 Music is that little bit of Northern grit in the oyster and feels ever so at home. Key to that success is the presence of Maconie and Radcliffe on the station. Both have also written books which tell of their own stories of Northern life, including Cider With Roadies and Pies and Prejudice, a lively and warm travelogue of the North. Like Bill Bryson with a better record collection, he also has a good ear for stories. Maconie also curated the ‘The People’s Songs’, a stunning journey through music. Radcliffe has that same easy charm and has lit One of Lancashire’s leading tourist attractions, the Tower was opened in 1894, a construction inspired by the Eiffel Tower it rises to 518 feet 9 inches and it up Glastonbury coverage for many years. Somehow it all just feels right. is a Grade 1 listed building. Home to the famous Blackpool Tower Ballroom as well as many other iconic tourist attractions, it remains Lancashire’s most recognisable landmark.

BLACKPOOL TOWER

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M @DQDOWNTOWN THE INVINCIBLES Preston North End have not enjoyed the best of times in recent years, but if you know your history you will be aware that the ‘Lilywhites’ were the original ‘Invincibles’ when they won the inaugural Football League championship and FA Cup ‘Double’ in 1888/89 without losing a game.

ANGEL OF THE NORTH A contemporary sculpture designed by Antony Gormley and towering over Gateshead in the North East. The Angel represents three things; first to signify that beneath the site where it was constructed coal miners worked for two centuries; second to grasp the transition from an industrial to an information age; and third to serve as a focus for our evolving hopes and fears.

GLORY YEARS The decade 1965-1975 saw Don Revie’s Leeds United become a major force in the English game and a strong European performer too. Among the many highlights during the ‘glory years’ was a record breaking 29-match unbeaten run of league games during the 1973/74 season, two league championship wins, one FA Cup success, a League Cup win, two Inter City Fairs Cup successes, and a host of top players for the Elland Road faithful to enjoy, including Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles, Peter Lorimer, ‘Sniffer’ Clarke, Jack Charlton and ‘Bite Yer Legs’ Hunter!

From the Trafford Centre to Media City; the Atlantic Gateway to Liverpool Waters, John Whittaker’s property development company Peel Holdings has transformed the North of England with huge investments in massive regeneration and infrastructure projects. Worth an estimated £2,300m placing him 31st in the Sunday Times 2013 Rich List, Whittaker is one of the most influential businessmen in the UK, proving that you don’t have to be PR hungry to achieve great things.

JAMES BARTON & CREAM An idea that started with a club night in a Liverpool warehouse and went on to become a worldwide brand. Entrepreneur James Barton was the consistent driving force that took Cream from Liverpool’s backstreets to international acclaim. Synonymous with Creamfields music festivals across the globe, the Cream brand produces dance albums, attracts the most famous DJs to its events and has recently been acquired by Live Nation entertainment for a significant amount of cash, making Barton a very wealthy man.

TONY WILSON A North West legend and DQ Icon, Wilson was a genius with a fierce passion for the North of England. Best known as a television presenter and broadcaster on Granada’s early evening news magazine programme, he also hosted music show ‘So It Goes’ and gave the Sex Pistols their TV debut.

His life was filled with great projects, ideas and campaigns, some more successful than others. He led the campaign for a North West parliament back in the early Noughties. He was a contributor to several regeneration projects, including East Lancashire’s Pennine Lancashire initiative. As a music mogul who owned the Factory Records label he coined the phrase MADchester, talent spotted Joy Division and the Happy Monday’s and opened iconic Manchester super club the Hacienda. There was a movie made about him, with Steve Coogan portraying Wilson in ’24 Hour Party People’, and several books have been written about him since his untimely death in 2007. Anything else? Well he inspired the establishment of Downtown Liverpool in Business through his involvement in the McEnroe Group in Manchester in the 1990’s, a private sector lobby group so named because they said the original plans for Manchester’s regeneration following the IRA bombing ‘could not be serious’. Oh, and he introduced DIB chief executive Frank McKenna and Downtown Manchester chairman Michael Taylor to one another!

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JOHN WHITTAKER & PEEL

LEEDS FESTIVAL

ALDER HEY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL Every year this amazing facility in Liverpool cares for over 270,000 children and young people from across the country. A centre of excellence for Cancer as well as spinal, heart and brain conditions; Muscular Dystrophy, childhood Lupus and a designated children’s major trauma centre, Alder Hey is opening a new hospital in 2015 next door to the current site. ‘Alder Hey in the Park’ has been designed and inspired by children and will cost over £200m, and promises to be one of the most modern and effective children’s health facilities in Europe.

The Leeds festival is an annual music festival that runs simultaneously with the Reading festival on the August bank holiday weekend. It has won NME’s Best Festival Award for 2013 and has been attracting music fans since 1999.

Headliners have included Red Hot Chili Peppers, Franz Ferdinand, Foo Fighters, Guns N' Roses, Eminem and Oasis.

In 2014, the festival will take place over the weekend of 22nd to the 24th August and has already announced Blink-182, Jake Bugg and Disclosure to be playing. Bottling acts offstage (being forced off stage by a barrage of audience-thrown bottles and cans) is a long-standing tradition at the festival, and boasts victims including Bonnie Tyler and rapper 50 Cent.

‘PUNK POETRY’ BY JOHN COOPER CLARKE “I’ll tell you once and I’ll tell you firmly, I don’t ever want to go to Burnley,” – so says the bard of Salford. Cooper Clarke was a sight to see at Manchester punk gigs in the late 70s, a wild mass of spiked hair, a fag in the corner of his mouth and an unmistakable Salford curl to his accent. He also inspired a short lived Yorkshire trend for ranting poets – Seething Wells, Little Brother and Slade the Leveller – but Cooper Clarke is the one who has lived on and kept true to his edgy messy brief.

GRAPHENE

FOOTBALL CASUALS

The wonder material one atom thick was discovered at the University of Manchester by two Russian born scientists. In one of those wondrous Friday afternoon sessions the duo found it by shaving slivers from a graphite pencil and a slice of cellotape.

In time it landed Professor Andre Geim and Professor Kostya Novoselov a Nobel Prize and a new parking space next to their lab at The University of Manchester. But what is Graphene? It is the thinnest material known and yet also one of the strongest. It conducts electricity as efficiently as copper and outperforms all other materials as a conductor of heat. Graphene is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that even the smallest atom helium cannot pass through it.

Cockneys will have you believe that lads started dressing for the football in jeans and polo shirts as an offshoot of the suburban soul boy look of London’s sprawling estates. Truth is, the Liverpool ‘scally look’ and Manchester derivative of the ‘Perry Boy’ was a northern invention. But it was also a movement and a look that emerged almost uncommented on from the streets of our cities.

The chasing of new exotic labels and the seeking of one-upmanship that went with it were a direct consequence of Liverpool Football Club’s excursions into Europe. Emporiums like Hurleys in Manchester and Wade Smith in Liverpool became magnets for the look, while the real trend setters experimented with new looks around the Oasis market. As the movement morphed and turned, again Manchester adopted flares, then a scruff look, while Liverpool’s scallies took to Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd and Spliff. All of this and more is told lovingly in the book Northern Monkeys, dressing and messing at the match and more

by William Routledge.

MANCHESTER’S ‘DOUBLE ACT’ The political leader Sir Richard Leese and chief executive Sir Howard Bernstein has provided the city with a visionary, dynamic and stable civic leadership that has delivered an unprecedented period of regeneration and economic growth for the best part of a quarter of a century. Acknowledged as the smartest local authority ‘partnership’ by political friends and foes alike, among the highlights of their 20 plus year reign has been the transformation of Manchester city centre following the IRA bomb in 1996, the Commonwealth Games in 2002, continuing development of the hugely successful International Airport, and, most importantly, positioning Manchester as THE place to do business in the UK. The downside? When they go it will be the equivalent of United losing Fergie!

WORDPRESS With almost 61 million websites across the world and 40 million new posts published on its platform each month, WordPress is one of the truly remarkable stories of the internet age.

But as Manchester-based media news site Prolific North revealed, one of its two founders was a Stockport lad. And while one founder has gone on to ‘rockstar’ status in the global tech community and a net worth estimated at $40million, the other lives in virtual anonymity in Stockport running his own small web development company. For Mike Little, there are no magazine profiles or keynote speaking appointments. There are no lists naming him one of the top 10 most influential people online, as Business Insider named Matt Mullenweg, his co-founder, but his contribution to the web is immense.

BOOTHS SUPERMARKET The award winning retail store was established in Lancashire in 1847 by 19 year old tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth. The family owned independent supermarket now boasts a chain of over 30 branches across the North of England. The Booths business model is to compete on quality rather than price with its motto ‘to sell the best quality goods in shops staffed by first class assistants.’ Anyone who has visited a Booths facility will be aware that it is a motto that is met and maintained at all times. In 2006 Booths achieved second place in the prestigious World’s Greatest Food Retailers List, and many a celebrity can be spotted shopping at its swanky Media City venue.

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WONDER WOMAN: JESSICA ENNIS Had Yorkshire been a country, then it would have finished twelfth in the London Olympics’ medals table in 2012, with seven gold, three silver and two bronze.

They were fantastic games for the whole of the country of course, but it was Sheffield’s supreme athlete Jessica Ennis who epitomised the spirit of Team GB more than any other. Romping home to victory in the Heptathlon was the ultimate performance during ‘Super Saturday’ as the Olympic Gold was added to her impressive collection of honours which includes a World Championship (2009); World Indoor Championship (2010); and European Championship (2010).

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Bruntwood has revealed a number of exciting new developments at its Cotton Exchange building in Liverpool.

The family-owned property firm, which is celebrating its 25th year of business in Liverpool, has already undertaken a multi-million pound refurbishment of the Bixteth Street building in recent years, including the introduction of Liverpool's fastest internet connectivity, attracting some of the city’s most innovative growing businesses in the process.

Rather than rest on its laurels, Bruntwood is now making a further major investment to deliver several new projects that will not only improve the experience of existing customers but also underline its commitment to maximising the appeal of this iconic Liverpool address.

The Joy of Six While plans for both Cotton House and the former Registrar Office space on Old Hall Street are at an advanced stage, the imminent focus of Bruntwood’s plans for the 186,000 sq ft Cotton Exchange centres upon the building’s sixth floor.

The early months of 2014 will see the birth of three new cutting-edge spaces; The Old Hall, The Common Room and a range of suites for growing businesses.

The Old Hall This purpose-built, 100-capacity event space offers a stunning backdrop for all manner of corporate and social events, right in the heart of the Commercial District.

Taking its name from the adjacent street that was once home to the original Neoclassical façade of the Cotton Exchange, The Old Hall features a vaulted ceiling, original wooden floors and a range of flexible seating arrangements.

The Old Hall is set for a flying start, with a variety of events planned by Bruntwood, including partnerships with organisations such as Downtown Liverpool In Business, The Law Society and The Business Desk.

0800 731 0300 bruntwood.co.uk 30

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Suite success The sixth floor features a new collection of suites designed specifically to accommodate and support the growth ambitions of young, entrepreneurial businesses.

A dozen individual suites have been created, varying in size from 130 sq ft to 303 sq ft, each including plug and play internet connectivity and completely flexible terms, perfect for start-up and grow-on businesses in the creative, media and digital sectors.

This latest addition follows the successful introduction of eight small suites on the first floor of the building, which saw four suites secured within the first two weeks of its launch.

The Sixth Floor Common Room Bruntwood famously prides itself on being a property partner with its customers, rather than a landlord to its tenants, an approach which gives the firm a unique understanding of the needs of businesses.

It is little surprise, therefore, that the third strand of its sixth floor development plans is a communal lounge area that promises to enhance the working life of resident businesses and their employees on the sixth floor.

The Sixth Floor Common Room features free wifi and comfortable seating areas, offering a perfect space for residents of the sixth floor to meet, eat and share ideas.

25 years of Bruntwood in Liverpool This year marks the 25th anniversary of Bruntwood’s arrival in Liverpool.

Colin Sinclair, director of property marketing at Bruntwood, said: “Our 25th anniversary of doing business in Liverpool is a crucial milestone for Bruntwood and we plan to mark it in a number of ways.

“Ensuring the continued success of our Liverpool properties is a major part of our strategy and we are really excited by the continued potential for growth at Cotton Exchange, which is already home to dozens of ambitious, entrepreneurial businesses.

“The success of our first floor suites gave us real confidence to launch The Sixth and we are looking forward to seeing The Old Hall become one of the city’s most revered bespoke venues. Meanwhile, we hope our customers will enjoy the extra breakout and winddown space offered by the Common Room.

“We will reveal more about our 25th anniversary celebrations during the coming months, but I can confirm they will be quintessentially Bruntwood and unmistakably Liverpool.”

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DQ ICON D A V I D

P E A C E

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DQ ICON

Our DQ icon this month is the extraordinary Northern writer David Peace.

That description of Peace as a Northern writer isn’t just a recognition of his birthplace and upbringing – Wakefield, Manchester Poly, the terraces of Elland Road – but his intense interrogation of Northern life in his epic historical novels. Since his first work was published, covering Yorkshire in the Seventies: corrupt, sexist, violent; tinged with the fear of the Ripper murders; he has attempted to delve deep into the dark heart of the North.

GB84 dealt with the Miners’ Strike of 1984 and Peace tells the story through a series of monologues interspersed with staccato stories of some key characters in the strike. His style is urgent and mesmerising, you get drawn into, sometimes repulsed by it, but he has an incredible ear for voice and an eye for detail. His use of structure and language is challenging and powerful: Dirty Tories. Bastards. And the scabs. Dirty bastards. Secret state. Stop at nothing to crush our class.

Q: Like many people I came to your work via the Damned United which I thought was outstanding. I don’t really get enthusiastic about authors, especially British authors, but I loved your take on a very specific era of British working class culture and heightening it into a Greek epic. Although the book was dark in its portrayal of Clough as a human being, do you feel the film of the book was played for laughs instead of delving into the psychosis of an obsessive man and a footballing culture that now appears utterly alien?

But his style is also rooted in deep research; he says it takes a year to research and a year to write one of his books. GB84 also bravely based fictional characters around real characters like Thatcher’s bag man David Hart (always referred to as “the Jew”) and the strange figure of NUM chief executive Roger Windsor (Terry Winters). Scargill and Thatcher are viewed from a distance.

David: Thanks, Phil. Originally, the people who produced the film pitched it to me as being a homage to Lindsay Anderson and This Sporting Life, in particular; black and white, very dark and very gritty etc. I was excited because I felt that was very much in keeping with the book. But that isn’t the finished film and that was initially very disappointing. But that said, I think it is a bit churlish if writers moan about the films made of their books; they could always have not sold the film rights. And I have to say, the film brought people to my books who might not otherwise have read them. And so when people tell me they read GB84 after seeing the film of The Damned Utd then that makes me think more kindly of the film.

He gets closer though to the central public figures in his two novels that have tackled football. Damned United was principally about Brian Clough’s 44 days at Leeds United. It has been beset with controversy and litigation, a risk for any writer who includes real living people.

Q: Similarly with Red Riding Trilogy and the TV adaptation, the tone was a lot darker but again I didn’t feel the production captured the ‘horror’ (in its truest sense) of the books. Were you included in any of the production meetings and were you happy with the final result?

In his most recent epic – 700 plus pages long – Peace attempts to present a new angle on Bill Shankly. When I first heard this I thought, “ouch”. How can he, how dare he, pick into the memory of such a loved and revered figure as this? And to a loved adopted son of a city not best known for a thick skin.

David: Well, I was much more involved with the Red Riding films; Tony Grisoni, the scriptwriter, talked to me a lot about his scripts and my books. Similarly, Andrew Eaton, the producer, involved me as much as was possible given that I live in Tokyo. And I do think they are great films and with some tremendous performances from an outstanding cast. And for example, and to be honest with you, 1974 is a book I have lot of problems with now; I think the violence in the book is gratuitous and overdone. But I think the film has a great deal more empathy and sympathy for the characters and, especially, the victims.

So I actually prefer the film to the book. The great shame is that 1977 was never made. It was the best of the scripts and by far the darkest and I think it would have a cast a long shadow over the other three films. But, for various reasons, Channel 4 decided to fund only three films. But, hopefully, 1977 will one day be made as a stand-alone film.

What emerged was a change for Peace’s style, a quest not to seek out badness, but goodness. A quest for a better way to live a life through an era that was tough. As the author Frank Cottrell Boyce said in his review of Red or Dead in the Observer; “Here he has changed tack and written a book about what it means to be good, about the sheer work it takes to be good, about the challenge of staying good when the world treats you badly.”

At an event in Manchester’s National Football Museum he mused on his next likely subjects: Geoff Boycott and Harold Wilson.

Writer Phil Thornton interviewed David Peace when he visited Liverpool on his tour to promote Red or Dead. He has generously given us permission to use it for DQ this month.

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David: Absolutely; one thing I tried to capture and detail in the Red Riding books was the casual and ingrained misogyny – along with the corruption, racism and violence – of that time and place. To me, it is all part of the nature of power and the way it is always abused. And so the recent revelations – about men like Jimmy Savile, for example – are not really revelations to most of us who grew up in that time and place.

Q: As a trade union activist during the miner’s strike, I couldn’t finish GB84 because I found it too upsetting. It got me angrier and angrier as I read it and found myself remembering the entire black propaganda machinations of the state (the BBC and the newspapers) being turned on the miners during that time. If anything made me realise that there were indeed (in the words of the Queen) ‘dark forces at work of which we understand little) it was the way the miners were defeated. Yet even today after Hillsborough, after Savile, after the Hacking scandal, after

Bloody Sunday enquiry and numerous historical cases of kids homes, young offending centres, churches and proven links between the police, the secret service, the politicians and the media the ‘establishment’ still call you a conspiratorial writer. You said on Newsnight that the miner’s strike was ‘unfinished business’ so you obviously feel that there’s’ still a lot to come out.

David: I know exactly what you mean about GB84, Phil. As I researched it and wrote it, I just felt angrier and angrier about what had gone on during the strike. I mean, coming from a traditional Labour and Trade Union household, and living in Wakefield at the time, I supported the miners, wore my Cole Not Dole sticker and played in bands at benefits etc. But I don’t think, at the time, I fully comprehended the sheer scale of the forces ranged against the miners and also the sacrifices that families made. And so there was anger and there was also guilt, on my part, for not comprehending and doing more at the time. And it is still unfinished business because there still has to be a reckoning. And I hope the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, inspired by the Hillsborough campaigns, will bring about that reckoning. And if people are interested in knowing more about the campaign and want to support it, have a look at their website: http://otjc.org.uk/ Q: I don’t think that all the documents relating to Hillsborough will ever be released, especially the ones that will point the finger at Thatcher and the Tory government. Now the IPCC enquiry s finding ‘new’ documents that the panel hadn’t seen but even now, I still think there

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Q: You grew up in the urban north at the same time as I did and one aspect of the culture of that time that I feel is always overlooked was the sexual depravity that got glossed over as ‘dirty old men’ instead of paedophilia and a popular culture saturated in titillation whether that was On The Busses, Benny Hill, Man About The House, even the Two Ronnies. The idea was that young teenage girls were attracted to fat middle aged men, even if they looked like Reg Varney. There was also the myth of the nympho housewife and although these stereotypes seem rather twee and comic, nevertheless it gave rise to men like Fred West and Peter Sutcliffe. Do you agree that rather than being a ‘laddish’ decade the 70s were actually deeply disturbing?

DQ ICON

are files that will have either been destroyed or locked away. I also predicted that Bettison would be the fall guy and that no-one in real positions of power would ever have to answer for what they did and said. He’s now being linked to all manner of covert police cover ups and dirty deals which makes me think he’ll spill the beans at some point (or be paid to keep quiet). Do you think that Bettison himself is worthy of a book?

David: You are absolutely right, Phil. And I’ve heard there are a number of books now being written about Hillsborough and Bettison.

But I’d rather have a trial than a book and, as you say, I hope the prospect of prison might make the man finally blow the whole thing wide-open. But even trials and prison sentences can never be any kind of compensation or vindication for what the families have suffered. It is unforgivable.

Q: You obviously spend a lot of time researching your subjects then applying a psychological motivation for the characters whether that’s ego, greed, sexual gratification or ‘evil’ (if evil can ever be defined but sadistic delight in inflicting pain on others whether that’s Sutcliffe or Thatcher). How do you approach each book, do you gather your information and research and then give yourself a set amount of time to write it?

Generally, it takes about a year to research each book and then a year to write it.

Q: You seem to be very far away from the ‘Young British Writer’ set (although most of these ‘young’ writers are now well into their 40s) both geographically and stylistically. Comparisons have been made with James Ellroy and I can see elements of his style in your work but I think your choice of subject matter is way more grim than his vast global conspiracies – I have a theory (another theory) that NO ONE is clever enough to conspire at that level but basic self-interest, greed and incompetence, maintaining the status quo is at the heart of every law and war. I think you are more in the tradition of Kelman than Ellroy, would you say that’s fair?

David: Yes, I agree with you. 1974 was particularly influenced by Ellroy but, and particularly with Red or Dead, James Kelman is much more of influence these days. Not only in terms of his style but also the way in which he refuses to compromise his beliefs. I also agree with you on the nature of conspiracy; the conspiracy is capitalism, and all its structures and webs, the compromises and crimes it forces most of us to collude and participate in, not men in raincoats, smoking cigarettes in the shadows.

Q: With Red or Dead you return to both football and iconic managers of the 70s. Were you nervous about returning to this area or did you feel that with Shankly, there was enough scope to tell a more optimistic and positive story of one man’s obsession with the game.

David: Yes, I didn’t want to write The Damned Utd, II. And I did feel, for a long time, that while I had tried to highlight the corruption and crime in society, I had not really offered any alternative. For me, Bill Shankly does represent a different way of thinking, a better way of living. And so that was my hope for the book. Particularly thinking of kids like my own, who are 13 and 16, and who have gone through their entire school lives never once hearing the word Socialism.

Q: I met Shankly with my dad once outside Anfield and he did possess this messianic aura. Grown men felt blessed to be in his company and there was a kind of Puritan work ethic that drove men like Shankly, Busby and Stein. With the retirement of Ferguson who was perhaps the last of that breed, the British game now seems to be controlled by dull pragmatists and technicians. At board level, old school spivs like Louis Edwards, Ken Bates, Ron Noades, Doug Ellis and Peter Swales have been replaced by global franchise gangsters for whom each club is merely an entry in a portfolio. Yet football has never belonged to the fans, footballers and managers have always been expendable and chairmen and administrators have always been incompetent and corrupt. Gazprom United will no doubt rule world football soon but is this necessarily a bad thing?

David: One thing that struck me, again and again, researching and writing Red or Dead was, as you say, that football has never belonged to the supporters, the players or the managers. The clubs have always been owned by the men with the brass. But what also struck me was the way in which men like Shankly, Stein and Busby – coming from backgrounds that were much harder and poorer than most of us (not all of us) will ever know – through their sheer bloody-mindedness and hard work, their sacrifices and struggles, taking on the owners and the directors, created clubs in their own and the supporters’ image. And even in times as dark as these, I still do find that inspirational.

WRITTEN

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MICHAEL

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Why you should become an online publisher in 2014…

Liverpool produced the UK’s first daily newspaper to cost a penny, in 1855. 105 years later, a Liverpool bank became the first to use a computer, processing 30,000 paper accounts in five hours. Today, Liverpool Daily Post no longer exists. Two years from now Barclays, which bought Liverpool’s IT-pioneering bank in 1969, will have a share of more than a billion customers across the planet that use mobile phones for banking.

While one Liverpool name evolved, the other struggled to embrace new technology and paid a heavy price.

In 2014, which one will you be?

From print to pixel in a few short years: With an interest in publishing, marketing and PR stretching back into the early 1990s, we’ve seen technology impact on our industry too. Ph Creative is very much a product of the digital age, but within our team are managers, writers and designers who remember well the days of print media.

Before the Internet reached into our lives, marketing was mostly about advertising in print publications or through brochures, direct mailers and leaflets. For adverts, we paid handsome sums of money for limited space in newspapers and magazines, often through specialist media buyer agencies. For our own literature, we had a supply chain of writers, graphic designers, printers and distribution services, the latter often requiring data purchases or use of third-party publication “stuffers” who put our products into delivered newspapers.

If it wasn’t print, it had to be TV and radio advertising and sponsorship. Only firms with massive marketing muscle could afford the eyewatering sums for primetime advertising, and on top of this employ the skills of production companies to create their promotional slots.

At Ph Creative, none of this is a leading marketing consideration any more. Yet all our customers are publishers. So how and why do they do it?

@Phcreative

Creating your customer space online If a billion people will be banking on mobile phones, then billions more are plugged into the Internet. That’s the new customer pool, the TV primetime slot. But like TV, there are so many channels and so many spaces where you can appear, it’s difficult to make your presence felt. Just like we record and pause TV, and filter out what we don’t want to watch, so the Internet gives people astonishing flexibility in screening out noise and focusing on only that which interests them. Some businesses may see this as a barrier. For our customers it’s an opportunity.

They have embraced the idea of digital marketing. We call it inbound marketing. We convert digital passers-by into window shoppers, those window shoppers into shop browsers, and finally those browsers into buyers. Technology has developed to such a point that the actual process of winning customers is virtually indistinguishable from the traditional or “real world” methods. To take our shop analogy, you hand out flyers to passers-by to get them to look. Your window dressing helps creates interest. Then once your shop assistant has engaged with them, they’re ready to buy.

So the online marketing process is the same, only the tools are different. Your shop or website needs to be attractive and functional.

That’s just the start, of course. You need to be out there, networking with your customers, talking to them and perhaps giving them a flyer with an offer and directions of how to find your business. If you can help them solve a problem, they’ll like you and trust you for it. On the Internet, this is where social media and blogging comes in. These are your communication channels, your networks and flyers. This is where your customers are looking to engage with you, and publishing information that is interesting to them will appeal and generate digital word of mouth.

The Internet makes all this relatively easy and possible. Businesses that may have once relied on local newspapers for advertising have understood that even more effective marketing can be done online. With newspapers closing, the traditional PR route of publishing press releases is becoming more restricted, and less effective. At the same time, opportunities to spread news online have multiplied. Businesses create their own publishing space, built around blogs and social media pages and accounts, and treat this as their newspaper or broadcast PR and advertising.

Essentially, businesses now use online space for publishing their media. That makes them publishers. Like any well designed print publication, these spaces are attractive, easy to navigate, and can signpost you to other interesting news and places. The major investment needed is less about money and more about time. It takes dedication to maintain any online publishing space. Sometimes, without the support of creative agencies such as Ph Creative, businesses start with good intentions to publish and promote online, but quickly run out of direction and resource. A shop that doesn’t regularly change its display soon becomes bland and boring, and customers walk on.

Publishing Online in 2014 will give you digital wings…

Like a well-known energy drinks brand, publishing online now will give your business wings. Why? Because the Internet is evolving that way. A newspaper’s reputation was built on quality and relevancy. Now the Internet is delivering information based on those same principles. If you’re publishing relevant and high quality material, people will see it, absorb it, and engage with you.

Major search engines like Google are effectively promoting businesses for giving value to their customers in this way, and punishing those that don’t. Even if you remain a sceptic of blogging, white papers, graphics and video, and using social media for business, knowing that doing it enhances your reputation online, and helps you rank higher when people are searching for information relevant to your business, is surely a reason to start believing in it.

Ph Creative customers do, and are reaping rewards. It’s one thing to get excited when visitors to your website and your publishing space jump threefold, as it did for one customer. But to see how a customer travels a digital path to become your customer is really what makes us tick. The technology exists to track the customer journey. So we can see that the guy who commented on something you wrote on Facebook two weeks ago, read your blog last week, then clicked from your blog to an enquiry form, sent you an email asking for a meeting.

A rule of marketing was to always ask how people found out about you. Now you don’t need to.

Publish online and build your business and reputation The Liverpool Daily Post built an outstanding reputation during its 158-year history. It was bought religiously by many thousands and trusted by tens of thousands more. It created compelling, high-quality content that people sought after and wanted to talk about. What it didn’t do was seize the online publishing concept sufficiently, and its impressive life came to an end.

Take up where they left off and use 2014 to start building your publishing dynasty online, and your business will follow and grow with it.

winners Networker of the Year Male Ryan Gibson - The Write Angle Networker of the Year Female

Sarah Warren – UCLan Best use of Social Media Donna Beckett - Beckett & Co. Solicitors Employer of the Year Magma Digital Best PR and Marketing Agency Kara Rose PR Best Digital Agency

Fat Media Best Newcomer Lantei Compliance Services Best Legal Company

Forbes Solicitors Best Financial Firm/Business Bank Bibby Financial Services

t

he annual Lancashire Business Awards for 2013, hosted by Downtown in Business in association with BMW Bowker and Lancashire Life magazine, took place at the spectacular Stanley House in November. Here entrepreneurs, business leaders and decision makers from across the county came together to celebrate the success of companies in Lancashire.

The Master of Ceremonies for the evening, Jim Hancock, expertly took us through proceedings that saw the irrepressible Michael Finnigan from i2i win the Man of the Year award and Preston’s College Principal Lis Smith honoured as Lancashire’s Woman of the Year.

Best Accountancy Firm Champion Accountants Best Property Firm

Conlon Construction Best Hospitality Venue Stratos Best Hotel The Tickled Trout Business of the Year

Scancapture Woman of the Year

Debbie Pettitt - Marsden Rawsthorn Solicitors Man of the Year Michael Finnigan - i2i Chief Executives Awards Bowker Motor Group Contribution to Lancashire Lis Smith – Preston’s College

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LANCASHIRE BUSINESS

GROWTH CONFERENCE

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M @DQDOWNTOWN “The best business event held in Lancashire for many a year” was how one delegate described Downtown’s inaugural Lancashire Business Growth Conference that was held in November 2013 at Brockholes Nature Reserve.

Over 100 delegates packed into the venue to hear from a host of business leaders, entrepreneurs and business support agencies about a wide range of topics, including business growth, marketing, social media, exporting and access to finance.

Speakers included the inspirational Michael Finnigan, the Managing Director of i2i and Lancashire’s ‘Man of the Year’; Lis Smith the Principal of Preston’s College; UCLANs John Lansdale; Lancaster based American entrepreneur Melissa Burton; Peter Gaunt from Winning Pitch; Shazan Quereshi the CEO of Rejuvenate and the head of Marketing Lancashire Ruth Connor.

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Delegates were also treated to a blistering and entertaining spot from Yorkshire entrepreneur Ajaz Ahmed, whose ‘Cut the Crap’ presentation was seen as the highlight of an outstanding conference, closely followed by the lively social media tricks and tips presentation from the guys at 3ManFactory.

The event was supported by the county’s BOOST project, a multi million pound business support initiative that is helping Lancashire businesses fulfil their growth potential.

For more information about BOOST please visit the website www.boostbusinesslancashire.co.uk or contact Downtown Lancashire’s Business Development Manager Tracey McKenna, e-mail: tracey.mckenna@downtowninbusiness.com

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CONFERENCE

A range of top business leaders, entrepreneurs and decision makers facilitated discussions on key economic development issues such as digital connectivity, transport, housing and health and Mark Basnett from the LEP told delegates about the comprehensive business support services available to Merseyside companies in 2014.

There was also the latest on the Liverpool city region Combined Authority from Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson, followed by a debate and discussion on whether Liverpool needs a metro mayor, and leading business personalities including the CEO of the Women’s Organisation Maggie O’ Carroll offered advice and tips on how to grow a business.

The stand out conference highlight was Frank McKenna’s fascinating interview with property entrepreneur Andrew Rosenfeld, who sold a business back in 2004 for £600m and has since gone on to establish a series of companies, whilst also heading up the NSPCCs hugely successful FULL STOP campaign, and acting as a special advisor to Labour leader Ed Miliband.

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uilding a Greater Liverpool was the theme of the third annual ‘It’s Liverpool – the Business Conference’ hosted by Downtown in Business in association with the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, the Business Improvement District Company Ltd and Project EV at the Hilton Hotel in November 2013.

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livercool awards

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t has been eleven years in the making and continues to grow from strength to strength.

Livercool was indeed the awards dinner to be seen at in Liverpool in 2013, rewarding individuals for their prowess in business. Over 400 executives, influencers and decision makers flocked to the Crowne Plaza on November 14th to support and congratulate some of the city’s finest business minds.

Frank McKenna took the helm as the host with the most and caught everyone’s attention in his opening speech by highlighting some of the many outcomes that Downtown has achieved over the years. This was far from egotistical rhetoric, rather an emotional testimonial to the loyalty and commitment of both his team and the many members that Downtown has worked with over the past 9 years.

As always, the Crowne Plaza maintained the qualities they have become renowned for, which is why it remains the spiritual home of the legendary Livercool Awards.

Their investment in the refurbishment of both the main ballroom and now the stunning reception area places them in amongst the best function venues in the city.

There are too many individuals to mention who were recognised on the night, but one does stand out in particular. The Paul Rice Award goes to an individual who has achieved remarkable things under adversity. There could be no other recipient than the amazing Francis Malloy, Chief Executive of Health at Work. Francis lost her son Michael last in a tragic coach crash on his way home from the Bestival music festival on the Isle of Wight. The entire room was upstanding as her name was announced and remained standing whilst she accepted her emotional award. A remarkable lady indeed!

Downtown Liverpool in Business celebrates its 10th year in 2014. We have the fantastic City of Liverpool Business Awards at the Sefton Park Palm House on Thursday 17th July 2014 and of course the widely renown Livercool awards 2014 in November.

2014 promises to be our best year yet!

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winners Male Sexy Networker John Haynes - International Coaching Academy Female Sexy Networker Rebecca Keegan - Seen Liverpool Apprentice of the Year Mikey Durgan - MSP Global Ltd Employee of the Year Jayne Smith - Document Direct Rising Star of the Year Dave Brown - Apposing Business Development Manager of the Year Frank Rogers - Brown Turner Ross Best Legal Advisor Helen Broughton - Morecrofts Financial Advisor of the Year Hilene Henry - Wilson Henry LLP

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Property Personality of the Year Lawrence & Katie Kenwright - Signature Living Digital Entrepreneur of the Year Bryan Adams - Ph.Creative Marketing and Communications Personality of the Year Gary Bond - Bond Media Man of the Year John Baker - Jockey Club Racecourse Woman of the Year Denise Barrett-Baxendale - Everton FC Business Personality of the Year Andy Bounds - Andy Bounds Ltd Paul Rice Award Frances Molloy Chairman’s Award Gemma Bodinetz & Deborah Aydon - Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatre

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These included technology guru and Futurologist Tom Cheesewright, author and serial business founder Emma Jones MBE, Online Ventures CTO James Welch, CEO of TheEword Al Mackin, Transport for Greater Manchester’s Director of Strategy Dave Newton, New Economy Chief Executive Mike Emmercich, CEO of Salford’s Biospheric Foundation Vincent Walsh, MOSI’s head of collections Jack Kirby and TNT’s Sales Director Andrew Goddard.

After several hours of head-spinning presentations and Q&As - which touched on subjects as diverse as Graphene, selfmonitoring rubbish bins, Tel Aviv’s start-up culture, 3-D printing, promiscuous smartphones, worm farming, HS2, silent discos and a disappointed air bnb host called Brian - proceedings were brought to a close by Gavin Elliot, award winning architect and Chair of BDP’s Manchester studio.

Gavin took the audience on a rollercoaster journey of ideas and concepts that began with his upbringing in leafy Oxfordshire, gave a crash course in Manchester’s recent social and cultural history, and ended with a proposal to transform the ‘wastelands’ of outer Manchester into theme parks, urban farms, open-air fitness facilities and other amenities which would improve the quality of life for everyone in the city.

Michael Taylor, chairman of Downtown Manchester In Business, who produced the event said: “Over a single morning our audience were treated to ten outstanding presentations that were both enlightening and provocative. Any one of the topics touched on could have filled a whole day of debate, but by keeping the format diverse and succinct delegates were engaged and challenged rather than brow-beaten by detail or ground-down by lengthy power-points.

“SmartCity 2013 delivered exactly what I hoped it would; bright and dynamic people sharing their insights and passion with a room full of people who were receptive to bold ideas and fresh thinking. It was a great success.”

In addition to the conference, there was also a large exhibition featuring stands from companies such as Aegis, Baker Tilley, Bruntwood, BUPA, Pannone, RSM Tenon, Video News Agency, Shepherd and Turner Parkinson who are closely involved with the smart city agenda.

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ovember saw Downtown host SmartCity 2013, a dynamic conference on the issue of smart cities and knowledge-based regeneration. The packed event, which was held at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), was opened by Manchester City Council’s Director of Communications Sara Tomkins who set the scene regarding Manchester’s potential to be a truly world-leading smart city.

Following Sarah’s opening address delegates were inspired, entertained, challenged and provoked by a range of talks given by some of Manchester’s most innovative and influential policy makers, entrepreneurs and visionaries.

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ho knew that, in its inaugural year, the Mancoolian Awards held at the fantastic Lowry Hotel on Thursday 17th October 2013 would end up being the most talked about awards event of the year?

The 250 strong business revellers took full advantage of the less formal lounge suit and cocktail dress atmosphere, creating a somewhat rowdy night for all concerned, celebrating the huge success of the good and the great from Manchester’s business community.

THE

MANCOOLIAN

Sir Howard Bernstein took centre stage during his brief address at the top of the evening, praising the impact that Downtown has made in Manchester during the past three years. His refusal to miss this great event on the night of his wedding anniversary is testament of his support for Downtown throughout those years. His lovely wife Vanessa joined Sir Howard on the top table, enjoying a slap up meal and great company to boot!

AWARDS 2013

Downtown’s chairman, Michael Taylor was the master of mirth for the evening, entertaining the guest with his usual articulate offbeat humour with the odd interjection of irreverent banter from the voice in the corner, event manager, Roger Jonas!

winners

To make the evening even more special, headline sponsors, Melbourne Server Hosting definitely went the extra mile Sexy Networker: Male by providing giant pink logoed Lollipops for all of the nights Chris Marsh – UKFast winners and also a treat for every Mancoolian guest.

Sexy Networker: Female

Jen Smith – JMW Solicitors

The riot continued long after the official bit was over with

the aftershow highlight of a photo booth and dressing up Employee of the Year Rionne Williams – Online Ventures Group box. They say the camera never lies..... !

Rising Star An exceptional night was had by all and we now look Jasen Jackiw – PRYMO Surface Solutions

forward to the slightly less riotous City of Manchester Business Awards which returns to Manchester Cathedral on Thursday 20th March 2014 .

Marketing & Communications Personality of the Year Sandy Lindsay – Tangerine PR

Financial Advisor of the Year Sharon Thorne – Deloitte Professional Advisor of the Year Laura Harper – Ward Hadaway Property Personality of the Year Rowena Burns – Manchester Science Parks Man of the Year Michael Di Paola – Studio North/Twitfaced Woman of the Year Jennie Johnson – Kids Allowed Entrepreneur of the Year Tim Bacon – Living Ventures Charity Award in association with the Factory Youth Zone

Michael Howard – Urban Bubble Chairman’s Award Vikas Shah - Swiscot Group Tony Award Al Makin – theEword

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ROSS BARKLEY The young Everton midfield maestro is being compared to a host of world class players including Gazza and Michael Ballack. At just 20 years of age he is already seen as England’s best hope of achieving anything like success in the Brazil World Cup later this year. And he was, in every sense, made in the North!

The second annual Women in Business awards will be hosted by Downtown Liverpool in Business in association with the Women’s Organisation on the afternoon of Friday 14th March 2014 at the magnificent Hilton Hotel. The event is heading for a sell out, so don’t be disappointed and book your tickets at:

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WOMEN IN BUSINESS AWARDS 2014

Walk in the door. Make yourself at home. Take it all in and enjoy it. Albert Square Chop House is a pub where you can get great British ales, a range of good beers, some of the best wines in the North West and beautifully prepared, satisfying food. It’s a restaurant, where you can enjoy fine dining, British style. As well as an event venue, stylish, superbly appointed and equipped, where you can stage conferences, hold business and board meetings, host intimate private dining, dreamy wedding receptions, and throw parties for birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, family celebrations, and any other excuse you can think of.

CO

ALBERT SQUARE CHOP HOUSE

What’s great about it is that you’re inside a magical building, where there’s always a warm welcome, friendly professional staff who know their business, real quality in everything from the food and drink to the fabric of the building and its furnishings, and everything you need to make a day, a lunchtime, an evening or an event special. www.albertsquarechophouse.com

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The world’s leading cyclists will line up in front of Leeds Town Hall on Saturday 5 July 2014 for the start of the first stage of the 2014 Tour de France. The opening stage will cover 120 miles and travel through Harewood, Otley and Ilkley before heading through the Yorkshire Dales and finishing in Harrogate.

TOUR DE FRANCE 2014

The second stage begins in York, and will be a hilly 125-mile test featuring the challenging climbs of Holme Moss before finishing in Sheffield. Day three sees Le Tour head south, starting in Cambridge and heading to London passing the London 2012 Olympic Park with the stage finish on The Mall in front of Buckingham Palace.

EPIC EVENTS

CITY OF MANCHESTER BUSINESS AWARDS 2014 Celebrating all that is great about Manchester’s business community, the fourth annual ‘COMBAs’ take place on Thursday 20th March 2014 at the superb Manchester Cathedral. Hosted by Downtown Manchester in Business in association with Manchester City Council, the event will reward those companies that have helped to significantly grow the cityregion economy during the past twelve months.

To book your tickets please email lucy.cort@downtowninbusiness.com

FAT MEDIA Lancashire based digital marketing agency Fat Media are fast becoming the company of choice across a whole host of industries after picking up a number of top awards recently.

Fat Media offer a range of services from website development and design to digital marketing, e-commerce, marketing strategy and more. Innovation, creativity and a constant stream of impressive new developments certainly sets them apart from their competitors.

Alongside their impressive credentials, a team of over 60 specialists and a host of top clients make this agency certainly one to watch for 2014 and we couldn’t resist including them in this issue’s DQ Cool List!

For more details visit: www.fatmedia.co.uk

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Downtown In Business

GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH DOWNTOWN – Liverpool City Region New Markets & Growth Programme

FOR FREE!

Downtown in business has been successful in winning European Funding, which means we can give businesses in the LIVERPOOL CITY REGION 12 hours of project work for free.

This free support can be used for any of the following areas: CONNECTING YOUR BUSINESS: Attend bespoke business events where you will meet entrepreneurs, business owners and decision makers to help you grow your business.

SELL MORE STUFF: It doesn’t matter what business sector you are in, or how great you think your product is – if you don’t sell, you’re in trouble. We will provide you with expert help, support, tips and advice on how to improve your company’s sales performance.

INTELLIGENCE: By signing up to this initiative you will receive up-todate briefings on public affairs; changes in legislation and the latest news on what is happening in local, regional and national business agendas.

Contact us today to see if you are eligible for this free support while it lasts.

If you are interested or have any queries, please contact us on:

0151 600 5141 ERDF.indd 1

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DOWNTIME

ABode Manchester T: 0161 247 7744 E: reservationsmanchester@abodehotels.co.uk W: www.abodehotels.co.uk ACC Liverpool T: 0151 703 7268 E: kate.nolan@accliverpool.com W: www.accliverpool.com Alma De Cuba T: 0151 702 7394 E: info@alma-de-cuba.com W: www.alma-de-cuba.com

Blackhouse Grill Leeds T: 0113 246 0669 E: www.blackhouse.uk.com Bierkeller Tel: 0845 533 3000 E-mail: jademorris@burningnightgroup.com W: www.liverpool.thebierkeller.com Chaophraya Manchester T: 0161 832 8342 E: manchester@chaophraya.co.uk W: www.chaophraya.co.uk Chaophraya Liverpool T: 01517076323 E: Rachael.clarke@chaophraya.co.uk Chaophraya Leeds T: 0113 244 9339 E: leeds@chaophraya.co.uk W: www.chaophraya.co.uk City Wine Bar & Kitchen T: 0151 294 3344 W: www.citywinebar.net Crowne Plaza Liverpool T: 0151 243 8000 W: www.cpliverpool.com EastZEast Ibis Hotel T: 0161 244 5353 E: info@eastzeast.com W: www.eastzeast.com EastZEast Liverpool T: 0151 707 9377 E: info@eastzeast.com W: www.eastzeast.com EastZEast Preston T: 01772 200084 E: info@eastzeast.com W: www.eastzeast.com EastZEast Riverside T: 0161 834 3500 E: info@eastzeast.com W: www.eastzeast.com Everyman Playhouse T: 0151 706 9115 E: development@everymanplayhouse.com W: www.everymanplayhouse.com Glovers Bar T: 01772 561410 W: www.gloversbar.com

Gusto T: 0151 708 6969 W: www.gustorestaurants.uk.com Hard Days Night Hotel T: 0151 236 1964 E: enquiries@harddaysnighthotel.com W: www.harddaysnighthotel.com

Merchants Bar & Restaurant T: 0151 702 7897 E: dining@62castlest.com W: www.62castlest.com Neighbourhood T: 0161 8326334.

W: www.neighbourhoodrestaurant.co.uk Novotel Liverpool T: 0151 702 5100 E: h6495-sl@accor.com W: www.novotel.com

Hilton Liverpool T: 0151 708 4200 E: lauren.leonard@hilton.com W: www.hilton.co.uk/liverpool

Palm Sugar Lounge T: 01517076654 E: Rachael.clarke@chaophraya.co.uk

Holiday Inn Preston T: 01772 567 000 E: enquiries@hipreston.com W: www.hipreston.com

Piccolinos T: 0161 835 9860 E:piccolino.manchester@piccolinorestaurants.co.uk W: www.piccolinorestaurants.co.uk

Il Forno T: 0151 709 4002 E: info@ilforno.co.uk W: www.ilforno.co.uk

Radisson BLU Leeds T: 0113 236 6000 E: natalie.boyne@radissonblu.com

Kuckoo T: 01772 825080 E: Bookings@kuckoorocks.com W: www.kuckoorocks.com La Tasca Leeds T: 0113 244 2205 E: emma.cottam@latasca.co.uk La Vina Liverpool T: 0151 255 1401 E: donna.davies@fiesta-nights.co.uk La Vina Manchester T: 0161 835 3144 E: emma.cottam@latasca.co.uk Legacy International Hotel T: 0844 411 9028 E: res-prestoninternational@legacy-hotels.co.uk W: www.legacy-hotels.co.uk/legacy-preston Liverpool Empire Theatre T: 0151 708 3200 E: JayneLloyd@theambassadors.com W: www.liverpoolempire.org.uk Sapporo Teppanyaki T: 0161 831 9888 E: Manchester@sapporo.co.uk W: www.sapporo.co.uk Signature Living T: 0151 236 0166 E: info@signatureliving.co.uk W: www.signatureliving.co.uk Stratos T: 01772 888880 E: stratos@sanmarcogroup.co.uk W: www.sanmarcogroup.co.uk Manchester House T: 0161 835 2557 W: www.manchesterhouse.uk.com Malmaison Liverpool T: 0151 229 5000 E: ssimons@malmaison.com W: www.malmaison-liverpool.com

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Radisson BLU Liverpool T: 0151 966 1500 E: info.liverpool@radissonblu.com W: www.radissonblu.co.uk/hotel-liverpool Restaurant Bar & Grill Leeds T: 0113 244 9625 E: rbg.leeds@therestaurantbarandgrill.co.uk W: www.individualrestaurants.com Restaurant Bar & Grill Liverpool T: 0151 236 6703 E: rbg.liverpool@therestaurantbarandgrill.co.uk W: www.therestaurantbarandgrill.co.uk Restaurant Bar & Grill Manchester T: 0161 8320082 E: Cherryl.Pinnington@ircplc.co.uk W: www.therestaurantbarandgrill.co.uk Royal Exchange Theatre T: 0161 833 9833 E: box.office@royalexchange.co.uk W: www.royalexchangetheatre.org.uk The Grill on New York Street T: 0161 228 1444 W: www.blackhouse.uk.com The Living Room Liverpool T: 0151 236 1999 W: www.thelivingroom.co.uk The Living Room Leeds T: 0113 3800 930 E: leedspa@thelivingroom.co.uk The Richmond T: 0151 702 5820 E: info@therichmondliverpool.com W: www.therichmondliverpool.com Tickled Trout Hotel T: 0844 879 9053 A: Preston New Road - PR5 OUJ Signature Hotel Tel: 0151 236 0166 E-mail: info@signatureliving.co.uk Web: www.signatureliving.co.uk

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Angelo’s T: 01772 257 133 E: info@angelospreston.com W: www.angelospreston.com

Grill on the Alley T: 0161 833 3465 W: www.blackhouse.uk.com

Downtown In Business

THE BUSINESS

VOICE OF THE

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