NW business briefs: GymWorks; Outset Studios; Oldham Town Centre; Agent; Lancs tourism; Specsavers

GymWorks, the Skelmersdale-based leisure and fitness business, has launched its third location in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, after a £380,000 investment secured with the support of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lombard, part of the NatWest Group.

The launch of the Skelmersdale location has been a long-standing goal for co-founders Peter Guy and Craig Winstanley who have been able to accelerate their expansion plans through the deal. Through ongoing financial support from the NatWest Group, GymWorks has been able to extend its presence across the UK, starting with its first branch in Preston in 2013 and followed by the launch of a second branch in Chorley in 2017.

Royal Bank of Scotland contributed £230,000, while asset finance provider Lombard provided a loan of £150,000, which played a crucial role in securing and renovating the Skelmersdale branch. The funds from Lombard have also enabled the GymWorks team to purchase state-of-the-art fitness equipment and amenities, including air conditioning in the fitness studio.

Peter Guy, who previously worked at a fitness centre where he dreamt of running his own business, teamed up with his business partner and co-founder, Craig Winstanley, to establish GymWorks. Their mission has been to provide high quality leisure facilities at affordable prices. They said: “We wanted to create a business that we’re passionate about and in communities that we care about. We already have the knowledge of the fitness industry, but the challenge was to launch and grow a business. We took the leap with both Royal Bank’s and Lombard’s support, and our dream is now a reality.”

The new Skelmersdale branch has already created eight jobs, and Peter and Craig have ambitious plans to double the staff with additional trainers, receptionists, and more. With the continued support of the NatWest Group, the duo aim to open more branches in the future, with plans to expand the Skelmersdale site by a quarter in size and introduce additional facilities, such as a dance studio.

Anthony McGreevy, relationship manager at NatWest, said: “The GymWorks founders are some of the most ambitious and hard working individuals I’ve come across. The duo had such drive and ambition to start a business of their own and turn an idea into a successful company.”

::

Full-service podcast and video production specialist Outset Studios has opened a new studio in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

Building on the success at its two London locations, Outset is bringing its skills and expertise to Manchester and surrounding areas, offering podcast and video production services.

Once reserved for niche interests and gamers, podcasts have flourished into a global phenomenon. In the UK alone, more than 21 million people regularly listen to podcasts and, while podcasts are most popular with younger audiences, 22% of people over 56 listen to them. They are also borderless since you can publish to Spotify or Apple Music, for example, and reach a global audience.

Michael Olatunji, co-founder of Outset Studio, said: “We are so happy to be opening in Manchester. The landscape of podcasting has evolved beyond its niche origins. With significant growth in recent years, the days of casually recording content in your back bedroom with basic equipment are now behind us.

“A growing number of consumers expect quality sound and picture, as well as great content. Our passion and mission at Outset is to help our clients achieve just that and we can’t wait to get make our mark in Manchester.”

::

Sacha Lord and Cllr Shah

A £237,000 funding boost for Oldham’s high street and night time economy has been welcomed, focused on Yorkshire Street and Union Street. The funding will be used to tackle empty shops and develop the night time offer – further boosting the ongoing regeneration of Oldham Town Centre, which is now well under way.

Cllr Arooj Shah, leader of Oldham Council, met with Sacha Lord, Night Time Economy Adviser for Greater Manchester, to discuss the funding news and outline their ambitions for a thriving town centre, both day and night. Cllr Shah, who is also Cabinet Member for Reform and Regeneration, said: “We’re proud to once again be taking great strides to make Oldham an even better place to live, work and visit.

“We’ve got some great businesses here that play a huge part in our night time economy and many exciting new venues on the way including the Egyptian Room, the new Tommyfield Market and a new events space. But we hear the concerns of local people who tell us they want our town centre to have more things to do in the evening and to feel safer.”

Sacha Lord said: “There’s a lot of positive work going on to make the town’s evening offer more attractive to visitors and this funding will support that and the great businesses already in place.”

The High Street Accelerator programme is funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Oldham is one of 10 towns to successfully bid for the funding pot.

::

Publiship team members with donated books

North West-based brand and communications agency, Agent, has so far donated £14,000-worth of books to children in the region as part of its annual ‘All You Read is Love’ campaign.

Now in its fourth year, the achievement exceeds the initial goal of £10,000, making this year’s campaign the most successful to date.

Agent, in partnership with global book distributor Publiship, launched the ‘All You Read is Love’ campaign with the objective of countering the impact of reduced book budgets on young people in Greater Manchester. The campaign aims to spread the joy of reading and improve literacy levels among children facing socio-economic challenges.

Working closely with clients and partners, Agent has created a tradition with ‘All You Read is Love.’ This year, in collaboration with Publiship, the agency called on individuals across the region to participate by donating new or excellently conditioned children’s books at their Manchester and Liverpool Studios. These books will be distributed to charities and community groups working with children in the North West region.

Agent CEO and founder, Paul Corcoran, said: “We started this campaign aiming to inspire a love for reading among young minds and provide them with the tools to explore new worlds through literature. Thanks to the generosity and support of our valued partners and the wider community, we have not only achieved but exceeded our ambitious goal. We are hugely grateful to everyone that’s supported the campaign – and there’s still time to get involved.”

::

Cllr Aidy Riggott

The latest tourism figures released covering 2022 have revealed that the Lancashire tourism sector continues to show a strong recovery post-pandemic with 17 million more visitor days and nights in 2022 than 2021.

The county’s annual STEAM report, which evaluates the volume and value of visitors to Lancashire, has been released by Marketing Lancashire. The report analyses data from tourism and hospitality businesses gathered for 2022 and shows continued growth as the county recovers steadily from the impact of the COVID pandemic.

Visitor numbers rose from 51.5m to 64.8m in 2022 and the economic impact generated in 2022 increased to £4.8bn from £3.51bn in 2021, a growth of £1.29bn. Visitor numbers grew to 94.3% of pre-pandemic levels. Economic impact was at 94.9% of pre-pandemic levels, when indexed against inflation.

All areas of Lancashire have shown an increase on total visitor numbers measured in 2021 figures, but the county as a whole is still not back at pre-COVID levels yet. Coastal areas of the county are performing particularly well, and Blackpool has seen an increase in total visitor numbers which are 10% higher than the last recorded pre-pandemic year in 2019, which has been achieved by extending its traditional summer season well into the autumn and winter months.

County Cllr, Aidy Riggott, said: “The figures are highly encouraging for the county and demonstrate the effectiveness of our collaborative approach to partnership working across a broad spectrum of organisations. While we acknowledge the challenges posed by the wider economic climate, we remain optimistic and expect to see continued growth in 2023.”

::

Specsavers Burnley

A £500,000 investment is being made in a major refurbishment of the Specsavers store in Burnley’s Charter Walk Shopping Centre, as part of plans to mark its 30th anniversary.

The makeover and expansion into the former Designer Outlet unit next door, is due for completion by the end of January, and will create additional eye health and hearing services for the town.

As well as expanding the store, Specsavers Burnley is growing its team ahead of the works completion, recruiting an optometrist, dispensing optometrist, dispensing assistant and call centre operator. Meanwhile the hearing centre has invested in staff development, with two team members qualifying as audiology assistants and joining the now six-strong team.

Mark Addison, Specsavers Burnley store director said: “Over the past 30 years, we’ve experienced increasing customer demand and had started to outgrow our store space. By investing in our facilities and updating to the latest technology, we can ensure that we continue to deliver the highest standard of eye and hearing care to the local community.”

The store will also be kitted out with state-of-the-art equipment including an additional Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) scanner, which produces a structural scan of the eye, helping optometrists to detect a range of eye conditions up to four years earlier than traditional methods.