People on the move: Harrison Drury; Clarke Nicklin; The Manufacturing Growth Fund; Napthens; Crowne Plaza and Staybridge Suites

North West law firm Harrison Drury has kicked off the new year by promoting five staff members.

Daniel Boulton and Hannah Hughes have been promoted to senior associate and associate respectively in its commercial property team.

James Robbins, an insolvency and business recovery specialist in the firm’s dispute resolution team, becomes senior associate, while employment lawyer Sarah Astley has been promoted to associate.

Kerry Southworth, who started with the firm as a paralegal in July 2015, has also received a promotion after becoming a graduate member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx).

Gavin Wright, chief exeuctive at Harrison Drury, said: “All five of our newly-promoted staff have impressed us and our clients immensely in the time they’ve been with us.

“As we continue to grow, it’s essential we develop our people and create new opportunities to attract and retain staff. These promotions are all about recognising excellent work and making it possible for people to progress their careers with us.”

Harrison Drury employs 120 staff across its five North West offices in Clitheroe, Garstang, Preston, Lancaster and Kendal.

The firm has twice been named in the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Small Companies to Work For list in 2016 and 2017.

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Laura Frost has joined Cheadle, Greater Manchester accountants and business adviser Clarke Nicklin as ts new marketing manager and takes over from Chelsea Maher as she leaves to pursue her travelling dream after nine years with the business.

Frost will now lead the company’s marketing department and will be the main contact for The Stockport Business Awards, which are coming up in October, 2018.
This will be the seventh year for the prestigious award ceremony which is held at Stockport Town Hall.

Frost has more than 10 years’ experience in marketing and PR within professional services, and joins Clarke Nicklin from Altrincham-based property law firm PLS Solicitors.
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The Manufacturing Growth Fund has appointed a new manufacturing advisor to deliver its manufacturing fund in Lancashire.

Alan Reid is an elected member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and has more than 30 years’ experience in the manufacturing and engineering sector, most recently as managing director of B&M Longworth.

He is a chartered mechanical engineer with a degree in mechanical engineering from UCLan, which he obtained as a mature student.

Born and bred in Lancashire, Reid was awarded an MBE for his volunteer work with youth services in Blackburn.

He joins a team of advisers who are passionate about the manufacturing sector and growing businesses through operational efficiency and increased productivity.

Manufacturing specialists are available to support businesses anywhere in Lancashire, providing consultancy to help them implement strategies and processes which will have the greatest bottom line impacts.

Reid said: “When I sold my shares in B&M Longworth, it gave me nine months to take stock of what I wanted to do next.

“I thought about consultancy and then this job came up, which was ideal as it allows me to use my skills to help other businesses. I’ve experienced running a business with a £1.5m turnover that exported to the Far East and USA that not only met the criteria for supplying the likes of Rolls Royce, but also dealt with small businesses employing only a handful of people.”

Anne Campion, manufacturing sServices manager for the Manufacturing Growth Fund, added: “Alan brings a fresh perspective to the manufacturing offer in the North West. He has experience as a business owner, and has received funded support from the former Manufacturing Advisory Service, which means he is ideally placed to advice manufacturing and engineering firms on their growth strategy.”

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Napthens has appointed a new head of Cumbria to lead the law firm’s growth in the region.

Jamie Allison, the firm’s head of Real Estate, will take over from James Todhunter, who joined the firm two years ago when its Kendal office opened and will now take up a number of consultancy roles advising small businesses on funding and business development.

Allison has a network of business connections in the county and has been working closely with the Cumbria teams to develop Napthens’ profile in the region.

Since Napthens established its presence in Cumbria, the firm has continued to grow and is now particularly known for its strength in property, rural and litigation, as well as private client services including wills and estate planning.

Allison said: “This success has been partly due to Napthens’ expertise in sectors such as leisure and tourism, residential and commercial development and rural business – a perfect fit for the Cumbrian marketplace.

“As demand continues to grow, Napthens’ ongoing development and plans for further growth have created new opportunities and we are actively recruiting lawyers across a number of our services including commercial property, conveyancing, rural and litigation.”

Shru Morris, chief executive of Napthens, said: “Jamie is an obvious fit to lead the next stage of our development in Cumbria.

“Over the last two years he has played a major role in the firm’s growth in the area, helping to firmly establish us as part of the county’s business community. I look forward to working with Jamie as he continues this hard work.”

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Four new recruits have joined Manchester’s first dual-branded hotel as its opening date edges closer.

Christian Bendixen, Martin Sromek, Nathaniel Farrell and Paul Davies are all now on the payroll at the 19-storey Crowne Plaza and Staybridge Suites which will open to the public soon.

The building, containing 328-rooms, sits on Manchester’s bustling Oxford Road Corridor and is the city’s first ‘double pack’ concept hotel or ‘double decker’.

Davies has become operations manager of Staybridge Suites after joining from iQ Student Accommodation.

Farrell, who has spent four years as a chef in Copenhagen, is now executive head chef at the hotel and links up with the team following a spell at Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel.

Joining the Crowne Plaza as food & beverage operations manager from Holiday Inn Manchester City Centre is Sromek, where he was operations manager.

Bendixen, from Denmark, has been named rooms operations manager at the Crowne Plaza. He worked at Hilton Manchester Deansgate most recently and also enjoyed spells at the Radisson BLU Hotel Sea Plaza Dakar, Senegal and Radisson BLU Scandinavia Hotel Aarhus, Denmark.

General manager Andrew Fletcher said: “We very much believe we’ve made four fantastic appointments.

“With the opening of the first dual-branded hotel under one roof in the north of England now imminent, we feel we are building a talented team that has solid foundations and a strong can-do attitude that will look after our guests well.”