North West business briefs: Tapi Carpets and Floors; Medicash; Vanquis Bank; Secret Garden Glamping; Groobarbs; Be.EV
Several jobs have been created with the opening of a new Tapi Carpets & Floors store in Speke, South Liverpool.
The store has opened at Unit A2 on the New Mersey Retail Park Speke, Speke Road.
Martin Harris, founder of Tapi Carpets & Floors, said: “We’re delighted to announce our store is open in Speke.
“We’re continuing to offer customers a gorgeous collection of floors suitable for all budgets and design styles.
“Tapi Carpets & Floors is the brainchild of a team of 10 specialists with extensive experience who founded the brand in 2015, with a passion to bring choice and outstanding service at great value prices.”
He added: “Our highly experienced Tapi team is committed to offering customers a totally different instore experience and style. We’re really excited to bring our offering to Speke.”
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Emma Whitby, ,Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, left, and Sue Weir
Liverpool-based health insurer, Medicash, has announced its 500,000 policyholder milestone alongside its latest charity project to support the NHS.
Founded in the charity hospitals of Liverpool in 1871, Medicash has, across its 152-year history, become both the UK’s oldest and largest corporate health cash plan provider. This month, the company has announced that it has reached its half million policyholder milestone, marking rapid and significant growth in the past few years.
To mark this historic milestone, the company’s charitable arm, the Medicash Foundation, is embarking on a massive £2.1m project to support NHS hospitals and facilities across the North West over the course of the next four years. The first hospital to receive funding as part of Medicash’s latest charity undertaking is the newly established Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool.
The foundation has announced that, through a partnership with Clatterbridge Cancer Charity, it will be helping to fund a new post for a trainee research advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) to support the centre’s cutting edge clinical trials and research.
Sue Weir, chief executive of Medicash and Medicash Foundation trustee, said: “The phenomenal growth that Medicash has seen in recent years is the direct result of just how much we value good health and wellbeing in the modern world. I’m overjoyed to have the support of our policyholders and wider community in helping to fund our NHS’s vital services.”
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Malcolm Le May
Vanquis Banking Group has launched a £2.5m community investment scheme focused on several areas, including Liverpool, Leeds and London.
The Vanquis Banking Group Foundation will invest in initiatives focused on social mobility and financial inclusion with the aim of supporting children and young people to achieve their full potential across the UK. The foundation will see Vanquis increase the size of its scheme to support access to affordable school uniforms across the north of England. The project has already provided £100,000 to support more than 1,000 pupils across Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester, and Blackpool with uniforms alongside long standing community partners School-Home Support and the Dixons Academies Trust.
The commitment to funding its school uniform project will rise to £125,000 in 2023/24 with uniforms provided to pupils in London, as well as Croxteth, Fazakerley and Broadgreen in Liverpool, and Chapeltown in Leeds.
Today’s announcement continues Vanquis Banking Group’s work with community partners and schools, including the Bradford District Community Foundation and the London Community Foundation. The Vanquis Banking Group Foundation will draw together these projects alongside Vanquis’s partnerships with the National Numeracy Trust and Outward Bound Trust, supporting local disadvantaged children and families through access to education programmes.
Malcolm Le May, Vanquis Banking Group chief executive, said: “Making sure children can get to school and have the skills they need to succeed demands a long term commitment. I’ve seen the difference we can make for individual families with our partners’ help, and I’m determined to do more. As families deal with the challenges of rising prices month after month, financial inclusion is more important than ever.”
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Derry Green
The Secret Garden Glamping, a glamping site in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, is set to continue its rapid expansion after receiving a £250,000 loan from Lancashire County Council’s Rosebud Finance.
The Secret Garden began as a project during the first coronavirus lockdown. Founder, Derry Green, built a single glamping pod for his children to enjoy, sharing his construction journey on Facebook. After the glamping pod caught the attention of UniLAD and LADbible, the story went viral across social media. Noticing a gap in the market for unique glamping holidays, Green decided to commercialise his idea, creating a bespoke glamping experience. Within 24 hours of listing the pod on Airbnb, The Secret Garden was fully booked for two years.
Given strong demand for the first pod, Green secured planning permission and built an additional seven pods across a four acre woodland site. In order to cater to the ever-growing waiting list, which currently stands at more than 50,000, Green has grown his team to 14 over the past two years. Since its launch, the business has amassed a social media following of more than 600,000, making it the second most followed holiday site in the country.
Having become the most booked glamping site in the UK, Green was introduced to Rosebud by Cassim Patel at Access to Finance (A2F). The loan will be used to complete the business’s current site, having secured planning permission for an additional five pods to meet continued strong demand. With the consolidation of the Skelmersdale site, Green is now looking to expand to another site within the local area, helping to drive the area’s tourist economy.
Derry Green said: “It’s hard to believe that a small project for my kids during lockdown has grown into the business it is today. The rapid growth of our site has been incredibly exciting to see, not only creating unique holidays for people to enjoy, but also bringing significant levels of tourism into Skelmersdale and the surrounding area to help uplift the whole community.”
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Groobarbs
Groobarbs Field Kitchen has announced plans for a new five-acre market garden as it looks to future growth.
The field-to-fork restaurant, located in the grounds of Groobarbs Wild Farm in High Legh, Cheshire, opened in August last year and has enjoyed significant success since launch. The new market garden will see a £35,000 investment in the business, with 10 half-acre plots wrapping two sides of the impressive modern-rustic Field Kitchen. From here guests can enjoy a first hand view of the produce to be experienced as part of Groobarb’s rotating weekly menu.
Among the new crops to be introduced are cucurbits, brassicas, root vegetables, salads, and herbs. A wild-flower garden will also be encouraged to bloom.
Owner and farmer at Groobarbs Wild Farm and Groobarbs Field Kitchen, David Fryer, said: “We are committed to providing guests with the freshest, locally grown produce possible. With the introduction of our new and expanded market garden we look forward to further increasing the breadth of home-grown seasonal ingredients to be enjoyed in our menus and our veg boxes, and to inviting guests to experience the beautiful natural surroundings.”
Work on the new market garden has already begun and will launch this summer. On completion guests will have the opportunity to walk the five-acre market garden along with the grounds of the farm, providing the opportunity to learn more about the Field Kitchen’s seasonal harvest.
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Trafford Borough Council has announced its latest sustainability push – installing a wave of EV chargers in partnership with charging network Be.EV.
Two dozen state of the art chargers are set to go live across Trafford throughout the summer, all of which is funded by Be.EV with a contribution of the profits to Trafford Council. Most of the chargers will be rapid or ultra-rapid, which can charge a typical EV to 80% in 20 minutes to an hour.
Four of the charging hubs are already switched on and ready for use, with Balmoral Road, James Street, Regent Road and Trafford town hall all leading the charge. Trafford Council began working with Be.EV in 2022 to devise an EV charging strategy that would support the needs of the entire community. Since then 41 chargers have been installed across the region serving 81 parking bays, with a further 46 chargers in the planning stage.
With its own fleet of 17 electric vehicles, which are used in services such as highways maintenance, estate management and ground maintenance, the council wants to encourage more of the public to join the EV movement. The council will retain ownership of the sites, and the chargers will be installed and maintained by Be.EV with residents benefiting not only from charging but also rental income from the sites.
Asif Ghafoor, CEO of Be.EV, said: “Thanks to progressive local authorities such as Trafford Council, Manchester is leading the North West’s EV transition. Trafford has been a fantastic partner and they’re playing a vital role in supporting the early uptake of electric vehicles. Our ongoing partnership with Trafford will see our reliable network of charging hubs continue to expand, and other councils should be taking note. Without this type of commitment from local authorities, we’ll never see a successful transition to electric vehicles.”
