10 minute read
Newry’s Granite Exchange & The Public Eye Podcast
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Eye On The Public Eye Podcast
One of Northern Ireland’s foremost business podcasts, featuring those in the public eye, is celebrating its 50th episode. Recorded at the state-of-the-art Granite Podcast Studio in Newry, The Public Eye, sponsored by Granite Legal Services, is hosted by presenter, Sarah Travers.
Business Eye speaks to host, Sarah Travers, from Bespoke Communications, and Granite Podcast Studio Manager, Colleen O’Hare, about the journey to date in creating a podcast with over six thousand downloads, their favourite moments and what’s in store for The Public Eye.
BE: Colleen, what’s the story behind The Public Eye podcast? Our Founder, Jonathan McKeown, is a true entrepreneur, always progressing and innovating. With podcasting really growing in popularity, back in 2019, Jonathan set about building a high-spec podcast studio at our fully serviced office space in Granite Exchange. We opened the incredible Granite Podcast Studio in early 2020, full of vigour and big plans…. and then the world paused.
Once we adjusted to a new world of restrictions, we decided that the time was right to create our very own, inspirational podcast featuring leading lights in business. We have amazing businesses right here on our doorstep…world-class companies and entrepreneurs.
The Public Eye was born in October 2020, and our first episode was launched on 1st October 2020, featuring Caroline Willis, Financial Director of Shelbourne Motors.
BE: How has The Public Eye podcast evolved over the past seven seasons? Initially our guests were leading lights from our locality, but 50 episodes later, we’re now attracting guests from a broad spectrum of businesses across Northern Ireland, and we have guests coming to us to be featured.
To see the listenership figures grow and know that thousands of people have downloaded The Public Eye brings great pride to Jonathan, Sarah, the entire team and myself. The goal is to become known as Northern Ireland’s leading business podcast, and that our listeners are primed and ready for our next episode.
BE: If you had to name your ‘must listen’ episodes, what would they be? This is a difficult one to answer. There is something special about every single episode as our guests are so different, coming from diverse backgrounds and sectors. However, some of my personal favourites are the episodes featuring Richard Buckley, Editor of Business Eye (of course!) Connaire McGreevy, Founder of CTS and Ann Morgan, Former CEO of Murdock Builders Merchant. BE: Tell us in one sentence why people should download an episode of The Public Eye? For local entrepreneurs and those in business, The Public Eye is a platform that inspires others through the stories and learnings of local business people who honestly share their successes, risks, challenges and words of wisdom.
BE: Sarah, you have had the pleasure of interviewing all of the inspirational guests. What are your most memorable moments to date? Oh goodness, there have been so many. I love the stories behind the businesses from Guiseppe Fallone who overcame a debilitating stammer he’d had from a child to become a successful restauranteur to Zara McLaughlin, a young woman from the North Coast who’s passionate about ceramics. Then the determined success of Greg Bradley from BLK Box Gym equipment who is now kitting out gyms for Manchester
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United and Arsenal and much more besides. It is so powerful hearing their words of wisdom and advice. So many entrepreneurs have no business knowledge at the start but just know they’ve got a great idea and belief!
BE: Is there anything that has surprised you from the guests? Not surprising as such but I’m continually in awe of the passion, determination and resilience of each of our guests. No-one has had a smooth journey to get to where they are today, but it’s their mindset, drive and passion for their business that’s helped them to overcome obstacles and challenges.
BE: What do you think The Public Eye offers to listeners? Why are so many people tuning in? We’re a nation of story tellers and everyone has a unique story to tell. The Public Eye gives a voice to those in business who have travelled what’s often been a demanding, but rewarding, road. From sole traders to growing businesses and those heading up multi-million-pound companies, there’s learnings from every story. There have been so many nuggets of wisdom, and I have personally learnt so much from many of our guests.
For our listeners, I aim to set the scene through understanding a guest’s background, their upbringing, what makes them tick, their passions and how they came to be where they are today. If we can inspire just some of our listeners, then we’re on to a good thing.
BE: What is next for The Public Eye? As the podcast matures, the team and I have really found our groove. The amount of people tuning in to every episode is increasing every single month. Working with the incredibly professional team at Granite Podcast Studio is a dream as they ensure that every element of the podcast is managed, from the recordings to the editing, the marketing of each episode and uploading The Public Eye to all platforms. Granite Podcast Studio is already the studio of choice for many quality podcasts, with people travelling from across Ireland to record in its state-of-the-art facilities. Collectively, over 200,000 people have listened to a podcast recorded in Granite Podcast Studio. Granite Podcast Studio has made recording a podcast easy as the experienced team can take care of the entire process for its customers, including recording, production, editing and uploading.
All episodes of The Public Eye are available on major streaming platforms, including Apple, Spotify and Pod bean. To listen in, search for The Public Eye.
www.granitepodcaststudio.com
Colleen O’Hare, Sarah Travers and Greg Bradley BLK BOX
The Public Eye: Episodes include:
Richard Buckley, Editor of Business Eye Stephen Magorrian, Managing Director of The Horatio Group Connaire McGreevy, Founder of CTS
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Emerald Airlines, exclusive operator of Aer Lingus Regional, announces two new services to Cardiff and Southampton from its Belfast Base.
Already servicing Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, Glasgow, Exeter, and Manchester, Aer Lingus Regional will now operate Cardiff and Southampton routes from Belfast City Airport further reinforcing its presence as the largest airline at the city centre airport.
Commenting on the announcement, Ciarán Smith, Head of Commercial at Emerald Airlines said: “As we near the peak summer months, the launch of our Cardiff and Southampton services will provide those travelling from Belfast with more choice when planning their holidays. When quick getaways are on the top of everyone’s mind, we are offering convenient timings and low fares, increasing connectivity to and from Northern Ireland.
We are extremely pleased with the feedback we have received since beginning our operations from Belfast City Airport and believe Cardiff and Southampton are great new connections that will cater to both business and leisure travellers with direct, convenient and cost-effective flights from Belfast. In addition, we will continue to add more routes and increase frequencies over the coming months.”
Ellie McGimpsey, Aviation Development Manager at Belfast City Airport, said: “Aer Lingus Regional’s base at Belfast City Airport has been operational for just over 3 months and we are thrilled to already see expansion in both the number of routes served by the airline and the frequency of its services.
“With the addition of Cardiff and Southampton, Aer Lingus Regional will now operate routes to 8 of the 21 destinations Belfast City Airport will fly to this summer.
“We are seeing more and more passengers choosing Belfast City Airport due not only to our extensive choice of flights, but because of our proximity to the city centre – just a five-minute drive – and our excellent security processing times which average six minutes.”
Passengers can also book flights from Belfast City Airport to Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, Manchester, Glasgow, and Exeter. Passengers will be able to earn Avios points on all Aer Lingus Regional flights, providing continuity and benefits of the current services offered by both Aer Lingus and British Airways at Belfast City Airport. Tickets can be booked through AerLingus.com and britishairways.com.
Aer Lingus Regional flights will be operated by the ATR72600, the latest generation of turboprop aircraft combining unmatched environmental and economic performance.
Ellie McGimpsey of Belfast City Airport with Ciaran Smyth from Emerald Airlines
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Maxol breaks ground on £2 million Holywood expansion
Maxol, Northern Ireland’s leading family-owned forecourt and convenience retailer, has begun work to expand and develop its Kinnegar Service Station in Holywood, County Down.
The flagship development, which is part of a broader five-year investment programme, is trialling cuttingedge technology and innovation which will create the blueprint for forecourt developments across Maxol’s estate.
From the design and construction through to the site’s ongoing operations covering fuel, grocery and convenience, the guiding principle at Kinnegar is to use technology to create a measurably different service station that will enable Maxol to reduce the site’s existing carbon footprint by up to 40%. Initiatives that are being implemented in the redevelopment include the introduction of photovoltaic (solar) panels to reduce the site’s electrical import requirements; low energy CO2 refrigeration systems; exhaust air-heat pump technology to reduce heating loads; and an energy management system to monitor and control the overall energy usage on the site.
In a first for Northern Ireland, Maxol Kinnegar will deliver the first dedicated Electric Vehicle (EV) hub complete with four high-speed chargers servicing up to six vehicles at any one time. The EV hub will provide up to 200 kW in power, the highest charge currently available to the public in NI.
On the forecourt, Kinnegar will continue to service its large customer base with advanced fuels and parking facilities, which will more than double from the current 20 to 41, to ease the flow of traffic on site even during peak trading periods.
The development will see Kinnegar’s current retail space almost double in size. Customers can expect to find a much bigger range and greater choice of locally produced food including an expanded grocery offer, a large, dedicated butchery section as well as extended fruit & veg, dairy, and frozen food ranges.
A new Daily Deli will be introduced with a self-serve chicken bar and for the first time ever, Maxol will install three self-checkouts that they anticipate will handle the bulk of in-store transactions.
The double Barista Bar coffee offer will be enhanced with a brand new seating area where customers can relax in comfort, particularly while charging their EV.
Brian Donaldson, Chief Executive of The Maxol Group said: “This is a significant development for us, and it marks an important step on our journey towards being a more sustainable business. We’re bringing together a range of technologies and innovations that will create a blueprint that we will apply across our network in larger type locations. This will deliver a positive change for our customers, the environment, and our industry.
“As well as progress on sustainability, I am delighted that we’re supporting the local community with the creation of 40 construction jobs during the development and up to 20 new jobs will be created in-store when the development is completed.
“This is the first dedicated EV hub in Northern Ireland and marks the start of Maxol developing the right infrastructure on its network of service stations to support the move to electric. We are also working hard to ensure that when the development is complete, our customers can shop locally for all their daily needs in a modern, vibrant, welcoming environment. It is exciting to bring something so transformational to the area, and I’m delighted that work is underway to make it happen.”
Mark McCammond, Retail Director of Henderson Retail, Licensee for Maxol said: “We’re thrilled to see the work underway that once complete will see our customers enjoy a premium offer both on the forecourt and in-store. The expansion of the site will be welcomed by so many who shop with us regularly and we look forward to seeing the development progress in the coming weeks.”
Construction of Maxol Kinnegar will conclude in time for a reopening in October.
