Yorkshire Business Masters 2011: Vote for your Yorkshire Grit winner
A COMPANY hit by floods, an outdoor retailer forced to diversify and a pub saved from closure have been shortlisted in the Yorkshire Grit category in TheBusinessDesk.com’s Yorkshire Business Masters 2011 awards.
Readers are being invited to vote for who they would like to win from the shortlisted entries.
Every day this week we are profiling the entries shortlisted across the six categories.
Readers of TheBusinessDesk.com have the opportunity to vote online for the entries that impress them the most before the awards are presented at the Yorkshire Business Masters 2011 event at Aspire, in Leeds, on June 16.
The shortlist in each category was drawn up by a panel of judges chaired by Andrew Palmer of the CBI with Yorkshire Forward chair Julie Kenny; Finance Yorkshire chairman and Sheffield City Region LEP chairman James Newman; Yorkshire International Business Convention founder Mike Firth; Stephen Martin, chief executive of Clugston Group and Paul Fullerton, agent for the Bank of England in Yorkshire.
Yorkshire Grit
Atkinson Saws
Chris Walker is the managing director of Atkinson Walker (Saws), a long established family saw manufacturing business based in Sheffield.
Not long after the business was split between various family members, and Mr Walker and his wife Marg took sole control of the saw manufacturing part of the business, the company was badly hit by the Sheffield floods of 2007.
Rather than close the business, the pair looked to safeguard its future and set about the clean up operation, and also secured finance to invest in new machinery and processes.
Half the workforce’s jobs were saved despite the devastation and the business currently employs 20 people.
Go Outdoors
John Graham is co-founder and managing director of GO Outdoors, the fast growing Sheffield-based retailer of outdoor equipment and clothing.
By the mid 1990s Mr Graham had become a world class climber but needing a job applied to work in a small shop in Hathersage selling high end outdoor equipment. Despite being unsuccessful he offered to fit out the shop if they gave him a job, which they did.
Moving to work as manager at Sheffield’s CCC Outdoors, Mr Graham bought the business alongside retail and property entrepreneur Paul Caplan in 1999.
Following a motorcycle accident in 2007, Mr Graham evaluated the business and invested in sophisticated IT, while an expansion plan was embarked upon.
GO Outdoors now boasts 30 stores, has annual sales of more than £100m and recently attracted £28m investment from private equity firm 3i.
Durham Ox
Michael Ibbotson took over The Durham Ox – saving the pub from the receivers – 12 years ago, and has developed it into a fine dining venue.
The pub in Crayke, North Yorkshire, has been developed by Mr Ibbotson to boast guest bedroom accommodation, a bar extension, a private dining suite, a garden marquee and terrace.
Following the success of The Durham Ox, Mr Ibbotson, alongside business partner Chris Blundell, has launched Provenance Inns which boasts The Carpenters Arms, Felixkirk The Oak Tree Inn, Helperby, in its portfolio.
The focus of Provenance Inns is on the origin of not just the food and drink, but also the provenance of the buildings, architecture, local communities, local trades, produce and recipes and Mr Ibbotson is keen to invest in the pub industry at a time of uncertainty in the sector.
TO CAST YOUR VOTE FOR THE YORKSHIRE GRIT AWARD CLICK HERE
You can vote for winners in other Yorkshire Business Masters 2011 categories:
TO CAST YOUR VOTES FOR THE YORKSHIRE NEWCOMER AND YORKSHIRE ADVISER AWARDS CLICK HERE
To request tickets for the event please click here
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