2021: Our most-read stories of the year

Everything changes and everything stays the same. As we head into Christmas 2021, businesses are once again hamstrung by a lack of clarity of Covid-19 – just as they were last year.

Despite this, the past year has thrown up some truly intriguing tales from across the East Midlands. We’ve seen companies innovate like never before – and we’ve seen others fall flat on their faces. Some big names to disappear this year include construction firms nmcn and Wildgoose, while others such as Surescreen and Octavian UK have powered ahead, creating hundreds of new jobs in the process.

TheBusinessDesk.com has come through 2021 older, wiser and ready to face what 2022 has to throw at us. Before we get there, though, let’s look back and see what stories were popular with you. Over 1.4 million if you read our website this year. Here, then, are the Top 10 best read stories of 2021 across the East Midlands.

1. Government advises against all but essential travel in and out of Leicester
The Delta variant put beleagured Leicester on even stricter lockdown in May. The city had already been living under regulations for a year when the government issued new Covid-19 guidance to those living and working in Leicester that they should meet outside rather than inside where possible and avoid travelling and and out of affected areas unless it was “essential”.

2. Jobs lost as Derby manufacturer calls in administrators 
Around 70 people are thought to have lost their jobs at Derby manufacturing firm Garrandale after administrators were called into the firm. Birmingham firm Butcher Woods have been drafted in to look after the day-to-day running of the company after GMB Manufacturing, which trades as Garrandale ran out of cash. The firm was set-up in the 1970s and had traditionally worked as a supplier to train companies.

3. Housebuilder swoops for historic Derbyshire mill complex
In March, Clowes Developments sold the historic Milford Mills to Derbyshire-based Chevin Homes. Chevin Homes approached Clowes with a plan to transform the historic building and applied for permission to demolish some factory buildings whilst retaining all the historic features including the mill building, famous 40m chimney and village school.

4. Lincolnshire holiday park operator in talks over £250m sale
As we headed into a brighter summer, one of the UK’s biggest holiday park operators was on the verge of being sold to the former owner of Formula One. Away Resorts looked set to be snapped up by CVC Capital Partners in a deal worth £250m. Away Resorts owns nine venues – including three in Lincolnshire at Tattershall Lakes, Beachcomber and Boston West.

5. Rolls-Royce boss under fire for comments on age of workforce 
Also in June, The chief executive of Rolls-Royce, Warren East, came under fire for saying that his firm’s workforce is “a bit old”. East was reportedly speaking at a technology conference in London when he made the remarks about one of the main challenges he faced when joining the firm was the age of its staff. East allegedly said: “The lot of any leader of a business such as ours is you have to get the people on side. And to me joining Rolls-Royce one of the challenges I saw was our workforce was frankly a bit too old.”

6. Leicester clothing boss jailed for six months
In February, a Leicester clothing manufacturer was jailed for six months after failing to provide adequate company accounting records. Ezazali Ahmed Namaji, of Osbourne Road in Leicester, was the sole director of Miss Pebbles Clothing, a cut and trim garment manufacturer incorporated in February 2015. The company traded from premises in Layton Road, Leicester, and employed up to 50 people until March 2016 when Ezazali Namaji placed the business into liquidation, owing the funds to the tax authorities and a further £44,000 to other creditors.

7. Plans revealed for 40-storey skyscraper in Nottingham city centre
In March, our exclusive story revealed plans for a huge skyscraper in Nottingham. Code Students wants to build a 40-storey skyscraper, called Victoria Works, behind the Victoria Shopping Centre in Nottingham which would house 1,546 students. The scheme took a major step forward in January after a contractor was appointed to demolish a building next to the Victoria Shopping Centre in Nottingham city centre.

8. Wedding and conference venues call in administrators as lockdown bites
Also in March, we revealed that two hotel, weddings and conference venues had closed after administrators were called in. Grant Thornton was been appointed to look after the day-to-day running of Sundial Group and Woodside Conference Centre on February 22, leaving Highgate House Hotel in Creaton, Northamptonshire, and Woodside Conference Centre in Kenilworth closed – and unlikely to reopen.

9. Former F1 driver buys Donington Hall estate and reveals grand plans
In April MotorSport Vision (MSV) bought the Donington Hall Estate comprising Donington Hall itself, former office building Hastings House and the Lansdowne workshops building. The firm, owned by former F1 driver Jonathan Palmer, wanted to turn Donington Hall into a 40-room luxury hotel.

10. Derby entrepreneur buys out his Dragon
In August, Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Ed Hollands, who received backing from former Dragon Jenny Campbell, bought her out three years after she invested in his mobile advertising business. The 27-year-old graduate of the University of Derby came through all lockdowns with his business DrivenMedia and said he was now ready to go it alone.