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Burnley Council buys Charter Wallk in boost for masterplan
Burnley Council buys Charter Walk Shopping Centre in boost for masterplan
The long-term future of Burnley town centre has been bolstered after the purchase of Charter Walk Shopping Centre by Burnley Council.
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Charter Walk Shopping Centre has been acquired by the council for £20.7 million. It was brought to market alongside neighbour Curzon Square earlier this year by Savills, who requested offers over £25.6 million.
Savills sold the shopping centre on behalf of Tristan Capital and Addington Capital. Charter Walk comprises 280,000 sq ft and also benefits from a below ground car park which generates a significant income.
Knight Frank acted for Burnley Council, whilst Geldards LLP provided the legal support.
Council leader Councillor Afrasiab Anwar said: “Burnley Council launched its Town Centre & Canalside Masterplan in 2018 and improving the retail and leisure offer in the town was a key priority within that strategy.
“Our town centre plays an important role to residents, businesses and visitors. We have a catchment area of approximately 250,000 people and it is our intention to ensure that our town centre continues to be successful and vibrant.”
An important reason for the council’s purchase of the shopping centre was to ensure it remained a priority and to once again highlight the confidence and commitment the local authority has towards its town centre.
Another key proposal of the Town Centre & Canalside Masterplan includes Pioneer Place. Plans submitted by developers Maple Grove include five retail and leisure units, the relocation of Reel cinema to the site and a 125-space car park.
THE BURNLEY BUSINESS THAT’S FEEDING OUR WORKFORCE
Many of us may know Simply Classic as the 90-seater bistro on Shuttleworth Mead in Padiham. This popular venue opened in 2002 and not only welcomes diners throughout the day but can also be exclusively hired in the evenings and weekends for events and private dinners, complete with a 24-hour drinking licence and music licence due to its location.
However, there’s much more than meets the eye behind this family-run bistro. Simply Classic is home to contract catering, vending and an outside catering company that’s growing at such a rate that it feeds many of our borough’s workforce.
Classic Cuisine was established by Robert and Ann Bradshaw in 1996 and is a family affair. Their daughter Sally runs the business with her partner Chris Burt and her sister Joanne, with Sally having experience at venues including Northcote Manor. Like Sally, Joanne worked at The Bay Horse in Roughlee, whilst professional chef Chris spent 2.5 years at Claridge’s in London and several years at The Devonshire Arms at Bolton Abbey. Whilst Sally, Joanne and Chris lead the day-to-day running and business growth of Simply Classic, they have fantastic support from all their staff, with Michael Noonan area manager at the bistro.
Burnley.co.uk sat down for a coffee at the bistro with Chris, where he told us how the company started with four staff and now has 26 in Burnley and 14 in Sheffield.
“The business started out as an external catering company called Classic Cuisine, but in 2002 Simply Classic was born from an opportunity which was presented to us via Barnfield and H Rigg Properties to open a café on Shuttleworth Mead. It was originally planned as more of a traditional café to serve lorry drivers and workers, but we knew we could do so much more with it. We came up with the idea of the Simply Classic bistro and we’ve been here ever since.”
The bistro is certainly excellent value – you can find the breakfast menu here and lunch menu here. It’s also proven popular during the lockdowns, where it offered takeaways in the form of Friday night boxes (we were shown a burger box and it looked delicious!), as well as a three-course Mother’s Day meal. Via this offer, £500 was raised for Pendleside Hospice and Simply Classic matched it, earning them Bronze Ambassador status. However, it’s the outside catering success that particularly caught our eye.
From Burnley to Sheffield
You may have come across Simply Classic if you’ve attended an event in the area, but we were surprised to hear just how much of Burnley’s workforce it feeds every day.
Chris explained: “We have a fresh on-site catering presence at many places in Burnley, one of the biggest kitchens we operated from is Victoria Mill at UCLan. We also feed the large workforce at Exertis and provide the catering at The Landmark. One of our biggest and most successful partnerships is with Boohoo. As well as providing meals for the hundreds of staff, Simply Classic also organises special events.
“Boohoo gave its staff ten days of free food at Christmas and a recent great event we worked with them on was National Diversity and Inclusion Week. Boohoo has a diverse workforce, so we chose seven nationalities and asked them what their favourite dishes were and what they missed the most. We loved doing it, and when some of the feedback said our versions were almost as good as their mum’s or grandma’s, we knew we’d done well.”
He showed us the menu and we must admit we were jealous. There was gnocchi- topped with feta, crispy bacon, soured cream and spring onions. (Bryndzove halusky) on the Slovakian day, baked rice with pork belly and black pudding (Arroz al horno) on the Spanish day and chicken koral with pilaff rice and chapattis on the Pakistani day, as well as a whole host of other nationalities, meals and snacks.
So how did Simply Classic end up in Sheffield?
When Boohoo moved Pretty Little Thing to Sheffield, it was so impressed with the catering at its Burnley site, it also decided to use them for the Pretty Little Thing Sheffield base.
Simply Classic also provides corporate hospitality for Burnley industry giants such as Velocity Composites, AMS Neve and VEKA. Another fact we learnt is that many businesses in the area have vending machines filled with fresh food that is made at Simply Classic each morning. Once made at the bistro, fresh vending machine food is delivered to the likes of Fort Vale, Coach House Antiques, Doric, Futaba Manufacturing and BCW Engineering. The vending machines have card readers on them for extra convenience and they sound like a great idea.
So, what next for Simply Classic?
“We continue to grow and are excited about the continued easing of COVID restrictions, meaning we can hopefully get back to our busy events schedule. We love doing weddings at iconic venues such as Towneley Hall and we hope that many people decide to make use of our bistro’s external terrace area, drinking and music licences for their own private events such as christenings, birthday parties, anniversaries and even work Christmas parties. We can even come to your home and cook an exquisite meal for your guests, and we are excellent value for money,” Chris told us.
Multi-million pound
Levelling Up boost for Burnley
Regeneration plans for Burnley have been given the green light after receiving a multi-million pound boost in the October 2021 Budget.
The successful bid for almost £20 million of Levelling Up funding means three major schemes to transform the town can go ahead. Burnley Council worked with the borough’s MP Antony Higginbotham to submit the funding bid.
It will see major investment in the further expansion of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), upgrades to Manchester Road railway station and improving links between the town centre and Turf Moor.
Combined, the plan is to connect expanded education facilities at the UCLan campus, through the new Pioneer Place development in the town centre and on to Burnley FC to create an economic corridor running directly from one side of the town to the other. Councillor Afrasiab Anwar, leader of Burnley Council said: “This is great news for Burnley. It follows on from the council’s recent acquisition of Charter Walk, our work on Lower St James’s Street Heritage Action Zone, and our continued work in bringing forward Pioneer Place.”
“The bid was based around three key projects within our Town Centre and Canalside Masterplan and these, along with our other developments, will mean that Burnley town centre can continue to develop, diversify and prosper.
“Having worked closely with our partners in developing the bid, I am so pleased that these projects will now be delivered. I would also like to thank our officers who worked all hours to meet the very tight deadlines for submitting the bid.
The three projects within the bid are:
UCLan Campus Expansion
Following a master planning exercise to look at how projected growth (4000 students by 2024/5 and 6000 by 2031) could be accommodated over several stages to create a thriving canalside campus, this project will include: • The purchase and reconfiguration of
Sandygate Mill. • Creation of circa 35,000 square foot of space incorporating a Knowledge
Exchange Zone, teaching and social space • New public realm including on the
George Street Mill Site to create a spine for future development, and public realm enhancements to Sandygate and Queens
Lancashire Way • Servicing and remediation of the George
Street Mill site for future phases • Towpath improvements between
Westgate and Manchester Road to create improved access to the rail station and integrate the campus with the canal.
Eastern Gateway, Town to Turf
This project aims to create a gateway between the town centre and Turf Moor, incorporating high quality public realm, a new four-way junction replacing the Yorkshire Street roundabout, cleaning and restoration work to the Culvert, and pavement widening in front of the football club.
The works will complement planned investment in the stadium, including a major facelift to the stadium stretching from the corner of Belverdere Road, including LED lighting and a major investment in the James Hargreaves stand to create a hospitality and conferencing venue.
The Town Centre Masterplan Public Realm Strategy identifies an east-west axis through the town from Turf Moor to the canalside UCLan campus. The extension of public realm works along Yorkshire street will create a mile-long promenade connecting the UCLan campus, shopping centre and Turf Moor.
Manchester Road Rail Station Access for All
In recent years Burnley Manchester Road station has been upgraded and a new direct rail service to Manchester opened via the Todmorden Curve.
This project will complete the station masterplan and will increase the overall accessibility of the station to all passengers.
The development will deliver a new footbridge and passenger lifts, creating better connections between both platforms and the main station building, increasing accessibility to a wider range of destinations for a wider range of passengers.
< Karen Ainsworth, the Chief Executive at Smile Mediation Burnley.
Centrica awards contract to Smile Mediation
Burnley business Smile Mediation has secured a contract with Centrica to deliver a skillsbased mediation programme to 16 employee relations managers within the brand’s HR consultancy services.
It’s an impressive coup for Smile Mediation, a Burnley not-for-profit which delivers community and workplace mediation services. And it’s also an impressive step to take for Centrica who wish to engage their staff via mediation and improved two-way communication and offer this service as an alternative to a formal process.
Burnley.co.uk spoke to Karen Ainsworth, chief executive at Smile Mediation, which is based on Croft Street in the town centre.
“It’s fantastic that Centrica is offering mediation as an alternative to formal processes such as grievances, as often within a workplace, it can appear that such avenues have ‘winners and losers’ and that’s not the case with mediation. Colleagues can communicate in a safe and confidential environment to come to a solution that all parties agree on.
“We’ve had amazing feedback from those who have taken part and we are so pleased that Centrica has chosen us as their preferred supplier.”
The contract commenced in 2021, with the first accredited training delivered in May.
Karen added: “We are so proud that a small Burnley-based social enterprise is delivering services to a giant brand.”
It is testament to the awardwinning Burnley business, which was established in 1998 and secured its charity status in 2002. It delivers a wide range of services within the local community, such as resolving neighbour disputes, family mediation and also teaching children and young people how to deploy effective communication skills.
One recent project was working with Cherry Fold Primary School on Cog Lane, teaching year 4 and 5 pupils mediation and therefore lifelong communication skills. In fact, Smile and Cherry Fold won the College of Mediators National Young Mediator of the Year award in 2020.
They have also worked with the women’s group at West End Community Centre.
Another important initiative was the launch of Smile Mediation’s listening service for those who felt isolated during the pandemic. You can read some of the feedback from service users on their website and it is clear how much simply having someone to talk to and listen meant so much to them.
We encourage anyone who feels isolated or has anxiety around the pandemic to reach out to Smile Mediation, as well as other services available within Burnley Together. The past year has shown us how our community comes together to support one another, and we are proud of our borough’s achievements.
Holker IT moves to Network 65
A thriving technology company has become the largest IT business in Burnley after relocating to new premises.
Holker IT has just expanded into the 15,447 sq. ft Crown House on the Network 65 Business Park – the very place MD Matthew Metcalfe worked as an engineer.
Matthew founded Holker IT in 2009 after spending more than ten years learning his trade.
Rated among the top ten IT experts in the North West, Matthew has led the rapid development of a company founded on honest and outstanding client services and on a principle of working in partnership for the good of all.
The company specialises in providing secure solutions for businesses – particularly in the energy, haulage, and education sectors.
It has built its own public and private cloud – giving more flexibility when it comes to secure solutions for clients – and has developed its own internet service provider (ISP) to offer better connectivity for clients at lower prices.
In 2020, the company acquired Burybased education specialist PC Edutech to further strengthen their offering.
The large office space, formerly the home of Lanway and Chess, boasts ample office space, conferencing facilities and a demo suite.
Holker currently employs 43 staff and has plans to expand significantly. The company is currently establishing links with local colleges to provide apprenticeship opportunities for those looking for career opportunities.
Matthew said: “Holker is the biggest IT business in Burnley. Not only do we recruit the best engineers from across the North West, but our company also provides IT support around the world for clients.
Matthew added: “We look forward to celebrating with new and existing customers who have been on the journey with us.”
Matthew said:
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