North West business briefs: Betfred; R&E Bamford; RICS; Freedom Fibre; Pure Padel; Hot Water Comedy Club
Bookmaker, Betfred, has launched a new studio and live presenters for its exclusive numbers game ‘Nifty 50’ – a fixed odds numbers game featuring five live draws a day with a jackpot of £5m pounds for every draw.
The product now has a new hi-tech purpose-built studio at the Betfred office in Birchwood, Warrington. The new studio is part of a major refurbishment project at Betfred’s headquarters.
The company has also employed two new presenters Joshua Littlehales and Grace Constantinou. Joshua Littlehales, who has worked for Tameside Radio and LADbible, said, “The new studio looks amazing, and I feel impressed each time I step inside. I feel excited to call it my professional home.”
Grace Constantinou, who is a Media and Performance graduate from Salford University, said: “I saw the studio when it was dust and walls and now to see it completed its very impressive.”
Betfred boss, Fred Done, said: “The whole idea behind Nifty 50 is for customers to win big for small stakes, and to now promote it with a purpose-built studio and live presenters I am delighted.”
Betfred commissioned Paul Sudlow to be the production designer – he came in with a wealth of experience having recently worked on ITV’s Euro 2024 studio in Berlin and the Rugby Union World Cup in 2023. The screens and lights were provided by Whitelight based in Wimbledon while Monkey Scene provided the set construction.
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Bamford team with councillors
A fourth-generation family-run business in South Ribble that manufactures and distributes animal feed and bird food mixtures has its sights set on expanding its export markets after receiving a range of funded support through Boost and its support partners.
R&E Bamford, located in Leyland, and founded more than 100 years ago, employs 53 people. The company already has export markets in Ireland and Kuwait but is looking to expand its brands across Europe, including its premium ‘Top Flight’ brand.
The firm’s trade sales manager, Elin Lloyd, who joined the business 10 years ago in an administration role, now leads the trade sales side of the business. With a vision to make 2024 the year Bamford’s launched its international growth strategy, Elin initially contacted the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) for export advice.
She was introduced to the Women’s International Networking (WIN) pilot, a DBT programme exclusively designed for female-led businesses and entrepreneurs. Through the programme Elin met Lynne Gillen, trade partnerships manager at DBT, who introduced Elin to Boost; Lancashire’s Business Growth Hub.
Elin said: “Exporting is a major decision for our business and part of the challenge to getting started is knowing how to seek the right avenues for growth. The big advantage about getting support is there is always someone out there who knows more than you on any topic, you just need to find them.”
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Stephen Ashworth
Stephen Ashworth, Chairman and CEO of Manchester-based property investment and development company, Hurstwood Holdings, has announced he is stepping down as Chair of RICS North West, after six years in the role, more than any other regional Chair has previously served.
He said: “As I step down this week, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks for the support that I have received from everyone involved in the RICS community – both from the North West and nationally.
“The past six years have been an extraordinary journey. From the day I joined the NW board as Chair, I had no idea we would face one of the most turbulent periods in the 154-year history of RICS including a global pandemic. Yet, through the challenges, we’ve made remarkable progress.”
He added: “What we’ve accomplished as a team is something we should all be proud of. Together, we became a powerful voice for RICS members in the North and our input has been heard leading to real, meaningful – and in many cases, long overdue – changes with lifelong friends made along the way.
“One of the achievements I’m most proud of is the evolution of our board. As my term drew to a close, we successfully transitioned to a new generation of leadership – an energetic and passionate group of younger members, ready to carry our efforts forward. This wasn’t easy, but it was a labour of love, and the future of our organisation is brighter because of it.”
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Richard Tang, left, and Nathan Vautier
Irlam-based ‘alt-net’ Freedom Fibre, has signed an agreement with Zen Internet, to deliver full-fibre ethernet direct to thousands of businesses across the North West and West Midlands.
The partnership will allow Zen to leverage Freedom Fibre’s cutting edge infrastructure to offer businesses dedicated high speed ethernet services and broadband across Freedom Fibre’s XGS-PON network.
The move supports the launch of Freedom Fibre’s disruptive business products and the wider ambition to accelerate the growth of its customer base across its expanded footprint, that has already passed more than 315,000 premises.
Nathan Vautier, Freedom Fibre CEO, said: “We are really pleased to be working with Zen as this allows us to deliver our high quality network services to Zen customers and accelerate our growth plans.”
Richard Tang, Zen Internet CEO, said: “I’m super excited about our new partnership with Freedom Fibre, which will allow Zen to expand its full fibre network reach to many more customers. We are the UK’s oldest ISP that still exists in its original form. I’m looking forward to launching our services shortly through Freedom Fibre’s first class fibre network.”
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Pure Padel has officially opened the region’s first indoor padel club, located centrally a stone’s throw from Manchester’s AO Arena, boasting an impressive six premium courts.
The top of the range Dutton Street venue, which officially launched to the public two weeks ago and has already welcomed more than 2,500 players, offers a bistro-style café and fully licensed bar, a pro padel shop, fully equipped changing rooms with showers, plus a raised mezzanine viewing platform overlooking a show court. Free onsite parking and wifi are also available to customers.
Pure Padel, which opened its first club in Alderley Park in October, 2023, said it has demonstrated its success and ambition through its more than 4,000 players and status as the first padel club in the North West to operate multi-site facilities. Phase two of the construction has already commenced on site as two further dry changing rooms plus two massage and physiotherapy rooms are under way.
Co-founder of Pure Padel, Sammy Arora, said: “We’re so excited to have opened the doors to Manchester’s first indoor padel club.”
Pure Padel has ambitious plans to build another 30 padel clubs in the next five years, with eight currently in planning and a further 15 in the pipeline. The Midlands and the South West of London are among the business’s target regions, as well as further expansion across its home county of Cheshire.
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Hot Water Comedy Club
Europe’s largest purpose-built comedy venue and stalwart of the UK comedy scene, Hot Water Comedy Club, has set its sights on becoming the UK’s most sustainable comedy space with support from Lloyds.
The club has recently moved into its new home in Liverpool’s Blackstock Market – a 60,000 sq ft venue made up of the comedy club as well as a food market, bars and entertainment space for live music and sport. It’s main theatre room holds 590 people, more than double the size of Hot Water’s previous home.
Since then, it has added two more theatre rooms, that hold 227 and 147 people, respectively. These new rooms allow it to host three comedy shows at the same time, providing even more space to provide a platform for touring comedians, alongside its programme of regular gigs that run every day of the week.
Now, it is embarking on a journey to make its new home as sustainable as possible, with support from Lloyds and its Clean Growth Financing Initiative, which offers discounted lending to fund sustainable investments. Having already taken the venue’s EPC rating from an E to an A, founders Paul and Binty Blair will install solar panels to further boost its eco-credentials.
Hot Water Comedy director, Paul Blair, said: “Having started out over 10 years ago with no roots in comedy, it’s incredible to think that we’re now at a point where we have the largest comedy venue in Europe. But Blackstock Market is more than just a comedy club – its food market, bar and event space means there’s something here for everyone and we’re working hard to make it one of the must-visit venues in the city.”
