Your top 10 reads: bus breakdowns, country club acquisition and northern expansion

THIS week’s hit parade features the holy trinity of business news stories: an administration, and acquisition and a business expansion.

On Thursday, family-run bus and coach company GHA went into administration, following a winding up petition from HMRC for unpaid taxes.

Its sudden demise caused some disruption to bus services across Cheshire. The latest from Cheshire East Council is that it has found new operators for most routes – with many that are not yet being serviced resuming on Sunday or Monday.

At the start of the week, news broke that online retailer The Hut Group had acquired the upmarket Hale Country Club & Spa.

The fast-growing firm plans to rebrand the club’s gym facilities as Myprotein and expand its health and beauty facilities under its Lookfantastic beauty brand.

Exciting stuff but let’s hope it doesn’t mess about with Fuzen, the club’s Japanese Izakaya restaurant which seems to be one of Cheshire’s best kept secrets – better than Australasia I’m told by those in the know.

The final story to make the top three was confirmation of what TheBusinessDesk already knew – that law firm Shoosmiths is to open a second northern office over the Pennines in Leeds later this year.

When we first heard rumours of Shoosmiths’ plans back in April, we were told by the firm that it had “no current plans for Leeds”. What a difference three months makes.

And finally, a request. It’s Sunday, you have five minutes to spare?

Please fill in our quick survey and tell us what you think would help your business grow, improve productivity and create more investment and opportunity across the North of England.

We will use your answers to inform a series of round table discussions on how the North’s economy can be rebalanced. The details will then be published on our website and in a supplement in the autumn.

The top 10:

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