Robyn and Laurence discussed the results of a historic hospitality business, the South West of England Rich List and development plans at a landmark Liverpool development.
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00:00Results for a historic hospitality business, redevelopment plans for the Albert Dock in
00:06Liverpool and the Rich List in the southwest of England. That's all coming up in today's
00:10business briefing.
00:17My name is Lawrence Gilganan.
00:19And I'm Robin Hewson.
00:20Morning, Robin. So, we'll start with a story which caught my eye, which is results for
00:25North Waits. They're a sort of hospitality business, a brewer. They've got pubs. They've
00:30also got hotels. And they put out some interim results. And their operating profit had gone
00:36up. And the reason for that, actually, was because they had a sort of luxury hotel on
00:41the backs of Windermere.
00:42Oh, lovely.
00:43Yeah, absolutely. You know, it really got me thinking, I can't fancy an autumnal break.
00:46Oh, absolutely.
00:47And if there was, the Lake District sounds like a good place to go. But yeah, so Langdale
00:51Chase, it had been getting refurbished. And it reopened. It's sort of got various accolades.
00:57I think it was mentioned by Condé Nast and so on. And that's really boosted the business
01:02in their half-year results.
01:03But the chairman of the business did take time out to have a little pop at the government
01:08for their recent budget. And things that caught his eye were the sort of increased national
01:14employers, national insurance contributions, and also the increased national living wage.
01:21And I think the point was that this has more of an impact on hospitality than maybe other
01:24industries. But we'll have to wait to see how that goes.
01:26And they've had a hard few years already, haven't they?
01:29Exactly. And I think the idea is perhaps it will deter people from maybe expansion or
01:34you know, they can't give people as many shifts or whatever. So it was a bittersweet story
01:39anyhow. But good to see them doing well. And also good to see a new hotel because it was
01:44the photographs of this Langdale Chase was really fantastic, overlooking Windermere.
01:49Oh, wow.
01:50Really good. So good one to see. And talking of sort of landmark places, I understand you've
01:55got news about redevelopment at the, I said the Albert Dock, I should have said the Royal
02:00Albert Dock.
02:01Yes, the Royal Albert Dock. Some public realm improvements there. So it's going to be about
02:05new green space and improving accessibility, things like that. I mean, it's really nice
02:10around there already, isn't it?
02:11It is. It's fantastic. I've always, I live on the Whirl and always enjoy a trip to the
02:16Albert Dock, which is normally to go to the Tate or some of the restaurants there. Of
02:20course, the Tate is currently being redeveloped, but they have an involvement in the ownership,
02:25don't they? So what are the plans?
02:29So I think there's going to be things to improve visitor experience. And it's all about kind
02:32of celebrating the culture and the heritage of the docks. And it's going to be a Liverpool-based
02:37design studio, Planet, who are going to be working on this. And I think it's phase one
02:43of a series of plans. So it will be over the next few years. So if they get planning
02:47approval, work will be starting in 2025.
02:49Fantastic. And it's a scene for some of our events, isn't it?
02:52Yeah, absolutely.
02:53Is that the Titanic Museum? Is that a work?
02:55Yeah, Titanic Hotel.
02:56Hotel, sorry. I'm thinking Belfast.
02:59Yeah, we do our Liverpool Property Awards there and things like that. We've hosted Liverpool
03:03Waterfront Breakfast and all sorts. So yeah, we're kind of back and forth between Manchester
03:08and Liverpool a lot on the North West team.
03:09Fantastic. Well, it's a real asset for Liverpool, so I'm sure this development is going to enhance
03:14it yet further. Away from the North West and down in the South West of England, we've got
03:20our latest rich list.
03:22Another one?
03:23Exactly. So since autumn, we started out in the North West and then we've had Yorkshire.
03:29And now we've got our rich list from the South West. The main list has been published. I
03:32think James Dyson is at the top, the Hoover entrepreneur.
03:37Yeah, no surprise there.
03:38Or vacuum cleaner entrepreneur. I don't want Hoover on the phone. Yes, exactly. But we've
03:42done various interesting breakout lists in each region. And today we have published the
03:46wealthiest women in the South West. So that's one for people to go and take a look at. It's
03:52as all of our lists, it's compiled by Robert Watts, who does the Sunday Times rich list.
03:58So real stamp of authority there. So some interesting reading for people.
04:03And the opposite end of the country again, we're going up to Grimsby with a fascinating
04:08take that they're looking to bolster their capabilities in film.
04:13Yeah, they want Grimsby to be the go-to hub for film and TV. So it's actually quite surprising
04:19how many things have already been filmed there.
04:21Give us some examples.
04:23So there's Atonement, the film, and This is England, the TV show and things like that.
04:28So they've already kind of got this existing kind of relationship with film and TV. Now
04:34Port Operator Associated British Ports is looking for investors to kind of ramp that
04:39up and create this real hub there. And it's giving Liverpool a run for its money.
04:43Yeah, we've mentioned Liverpool and of course they are. They sort of see themselves as the
04:46Hollywood of the North.
04:47Yeah, this is what Capital and Centric are saying. That's what the Littlewoods building
04:50is going to be, the Hollywood of the North. So there might be a bit of a healthy competition
04:54there.
04:55Well, I mean, it's great to see, isn't it? And you do occasionally see great processions
05:01of trucks going down the motorway for these. So they have a big budget and a lot of money
05:05and the money goes into the local economy as well. So, excellent. Well, I look forward
05:09to hearing more about Grimsby plans in due course.
05:11Yeah.
05:12Well, to find out more about the stories we've been discussing, go to insidermedia.com. There
05:16you can subscribe to our newsletters, you can subscribe to our magazines and find out
05:21more about upcoming events. That's everything from us. See you next time.