Water boss heads forum
A PROMINENT figure in the North-east business community has been chosen to replace Alistair Arkley as the head of the Northern Business Forum.
John Cuthbert, managing director of Northumbrian Water, will take over as chairman from Mr Arkley, who has chaired the forum since 2003.
A former board member of regional development agency One NorthEast, Mr Cuthbert has also, through his chairmanship of the Regional Skills Partnership, dedicated time to working on the skills agenda in the region.
He said: “I am delighted to have this opportunity to chair the Northern Business Forum and look forward to working even more closely with our leading business organisations.
“It is a very effective forum in which to communicate, exchange views, pool information and formulate a broad business position on issues affecting business here in the region.”
As reported in the Evening Gazette yesterday, Mr Arkley’s Teesside pub company has been snapped up in a £32.6m deal.
Brewer and pubs operator Greene King has acquired Billingham-based New Century Inns, which consists of 49 tenanted and leased pubs.
Mr Arkley has been a leading figure in the Tees Valley since becoming managing director of the Camerons Brewery in Hartlepool in 1985.
He went on to raise £30m to establish Century Inns which floated in 1995.
The role of two Stockton-based law firms in the multi-million pound sale of New Century Inns was also praised today.
Both Dickinson Dees, which has an office at Teesdale, and the Endeavour Partnership - which is also based at the Thornaby business park - have been congratulated by Mr Arkley.
He said: “As a North-east businessman, I always want to use local talent when I can and my decision to use Dickinson Dees and Endeavour in this highly-complex and crucial deal has been thoroughly vindicated. I am very proud of both firms.
“They have both done an excellent job, enabling a complex deal to be completed successfully within a very tight time scale.”
