Member Article

This week’s regional highlights: Oddballs, Blackpool FC and London tube strike

It’s been a great week in the Bdaily office. Our new North West correspondent, Richard Bell, joined the team at the start of the week. He is based in Liverpool, and covering news across the region - introduce yourself at richard.bell@bdaily.co.uk.

Meanwhile, in regional business, one topic has dominated the news - the Summer Budget. On Wednesday the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, unveiled the first Conservative Budget for 19 years. Focusing on hot topics such as non-doms and the welfare system, the Chancellor announced ‘just under half’ of the planned cuts contributing to reducing the deficit.

We asked businesses across the North East, North West, Yorkshire and South East to share their reactions to the Summer Budget with our readers - take a look at our round-ups to see what SMEs in your region had to say.

In North East business this week, ex-Newcastle United goalkeeper Steve Harper has received £225k funding for his boxer short company, Oddballs. In partnership with ex-Newcastle Falcons and Scotland rugby union international Richard Metcalfe and former Falcons chief executive Paul Varley, Steve set up the business to help raise money for men’s cancer charities, with ten per cent of every sale being donated to organisations concerned with testicular cancer.

In Yorkshire, Leeds City Council announced it will decide on the proposed expansion of Leeds Bradford Airport next week. Hot on the heels of the Airport’s Commission’s recommendation of Heathrow’s third runway, Leeds Bradford is hoping to expand its existing passenger terminal as well as build a commercial hub made up of an air innovation park, airport village and an air freight park for improved cargo handling.

Also in the region this week, our Yorkshire correspondent, Nick Hill, spoke to Pudsey entrepreneur, Julie Kettlewell, about how she turned her crafting hobby into a successful business venture. Almost ten years since she started to make cards from home, Julie is now successfully running her own Stampin’ Up business. Get in touch with Nick at nick.hill@bdaily for all Yorkshire news and interview enquiries.

In the North West, supporters of Blackpool FC announced a £16m bid to take over their beloved team. The Blackpool’s Supporters Trust has written an open ‘letter of intent’ to Owen and Karl Oyston, who bought the club for £1 in 1987, in which he is asked to sell “and thereby prevent any further damage being done to Blackpool FC, its reputation and its future prospects.”

In the South East, the London Underground strike dominated the news. Reportedly costing the economy around £300m, the Tube closed its doors on Wednesday evening until Thursday night. In the first city-wide tube strike in 13 years, around 20,000 staff walked out following disputes about the Night Tube service, set to launch in September, as well as a disagreement over the annual pay package offered to Transport for London (TfL) workers.

That’s all from us this week - sign up to our daily email bulletin to receive breaking regional business news in your inbox every weekday morning.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .