Home News Archive

Cutting corners in the licensed trades is a recipe for disaster

SARAH Smith, Partner and Joint Head of the Licensing Team at Sintons LLP, offers advice to operators on maintaining standards during the recession. Read

Check before you spend on catering for the smokers

The ban covers virtually all enclosed public spaces, from bars and restaurants to shopping arcades and even company cars. There is virtually total compliance. Read

Pubs close at an alarming rate

UNLIKE post office closures, which have communities marching in their streets in protest, the alarming rate at which our pubs are closing appears to be going unnoticed. Read

Get ready for a rainy day

THE dreadful weather over the summer months not only cast a gloom on holidaymakers in the North East, but had a major impact on the leisure sector. Read

Smoking out a rates cut

THERE has been a change in the attitude of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) about how the legislation on smoking in public places has affected various types of property. Read

WITH last Monday’s Pre-Budget Report taking up most of the headlines one could be forgiven for having missed a series of other important announcements from the government which will have a critical impact on the UK as a place to do business for years to come and which will have a direct impact on the delivery of key elements of the PBR.

Part of the PBR set out a commitment by the Government to bring forward elements of public capital spending to the sum of £3bn from 2010/11. Read

December 3: Business-related time management workshop, Victoria Road Board Room, University of Teesside, 1.30-4.30pm, public event. To book, call Eileen Wicks on 01642 384640 or email e.wicks@tees.ac.uk

December 4: Renewables Round-up seminar hosted by the Energy Industries Council (EIC) and the North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) on opportunities for firms to be involved in renewable energy projects, The Wilton Centre, 10am-3pm. EIC and/or NEPIC members £42.30 for delegates, £176.25 for exhibitors, non-members of either, £117.50 for delegates, exhibitors £587.50 (includes one free delegate place). To book email northern@eic-uk.com or fax 01642 345615. Read

Sarah on Adessi team

MARKETING agency, Adessi, has welcomed Sarah Coulson to the team at its head office in Newcastle. Read

Marketwise bucks trend

SPECIALIST market research agency Marketwise Strategies has bucked the recruitment trend by adding three team members to its expanding work- force over the past year. Read

Katie joins Cosmetic Dental Clinic

EXPERIENCED dental nurse Katie Symm has joined The Cosmetic Dental Clinic in Newcastle. The 23-year-old, from Newcastle, is the third professional to be appointed this month and has joined the practice as a full time member of staff. Read

Support the hub of your community

VISITING a friend last week I passed a number of previously bustling pubs locked, dark and for sale. Four are shutting their doors for the last time every day, and 20,000 across the country are in danger of following them. Read

THE absence of major corporate news and the closure of US markets for the Thanksgiving holiday kept London investors on the sidelines today.

The lack of direction from Wall Street meant the FTSE 100 Index trod water in the first hour of trading. Read

Just where are the new industries?

ONE apparent major omission from the Chancellor’s Statement causes me some concern. Read

ARRIVALS

Today: Christine Y, Amsterdam; Arco Axe, Rochester; Mount Robson, Curacao; Selandia Swan, Rotterdam. Read

HSBC sponsors ncjMedia Business Awards 2008.

HSBC is delighted for the third year running to be associated with the most prestigious Annual Business Awards in the North East. Read

Great North record of small firms’ growth

SMALL companies are key to the growth of the North East economy and contribute billions of pounds to the UK’s wealth every year. Read

TOM IS A PRIZE STUDENT

A TEESSIDE graduate has been honoured with a special award for his outstanding performance. Read

It’s time for cold turkey, or we will all be stuffed

THE package of tax cuts and increases in public spending announced by the Chancellor yesterday will not prevent a deep and long recession. The net injection into the economy, £20bn, is a lot of money in every context except the depth of the hole in which we find ourselves. It’s worth about 1% of national income, less than half the stimulus package likely to be implemented in the United States over the next few months. Read

Tax change is a political landmark

ABOUT half an hour before the Chancellor took to his feet in the House of Commons yesterday, one of Britain’s leading industrialists predicted we had reached a “seminal moment” in the history of the UK economy. Read

PBR was a mixed bag for North

YESTERDAY the CBI not only published our 10-point plan setting out how government could respond to the current economic crisis via the Pre-Budget Report but we also launched the results of a major survey of UK-based companies which examined how the financial shocks of recent weeks are spreading across the whole economy. Read