Which new West business is banking on Didier Drogba? Page 6
Minister visits to inspect top export firm One of the West’s leading businesses received a visit from Lord Green, Minister for Trade and Investment, yesterday. He spent the day in Gloucestershire meeting local export champion Renishaw and other local businesses. It exports some 22 per cent of its turnover to China and is viewed favourably in Westminster for the way it has opened up new markets. Lord Green was given a tour of Renishaw’s state-of-the-art site in Wotton-under-Edge. He visited Renishaw’s preproduction facilities where the company designs its machining and assembly processes to ensure efficient pro-
Road to Hinkley
The region’s businesses have long been working towards the supply chain opportunities the £14 billion Hinkley C reactor project offers. That work has a real focus now that David Cameron visited Somerset on Monday to announce the next step in the deal FULL STORY PAGE 2
Hotel chain in administration BY JEFF WELLS wdbusiness@b-nm.co.uk The parent company of a small chain of West Country hotels has gone into administration. The Sherborne Hotel, in the Dorset town of the same name, is among those affected. It comes only weeks after it was claimed the hotel’s future was looking bright. The hotel could now be put on the market after administrators Zolfo Cooper were appointed to take control of Hollybush Hotels, trading as
Martyn Leisure Breaks. In Dorset it also runs the Prince Regent and the Russell hotels in the seaside resort of Wey-
‘It would be a great tragedy for the town to lose the hotel’ Peter Neal, Keep Sherborne Viable mouth, the host venue of the 2012 Olympic sailing competition.
It also operates Harrisons Hotel in Shepperton, Surrey, and the Sand Bay Leisure Resort at Weston-super-Mare. It employs 300 staff and administrators were appointed on October 11. Peter Neal, chairman of the Keep Sherborne Viable group, said: “It would be a great tragedy and very sad for the town to lose the hotel.” Mr Neal was part of a campaign to keep supermarket giant Tesco from building a store on the site of the hotel, on Horsecastles Lane.
The Sherborne Hotel at risk
Mr Neal said “Keeping the hotel was one of the main reasons we fought against Tesco.” A statement from Zolfo Cooper this week said it will be exploring a range of options including “the sale of all or part of the business as a going concer n”. It confirmed that all the hotels owned by the chain will continue to trade. The administrators intend to honour all bookings and deposits received from customers before it was appointed.
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Lord Green visited Renishaw in Gloucestershire on a trip to the West yesterday duction of its products. He also saw progress being made on the construction of a new building that will provide expansion for additional research and development activities, product display, training and conference facilities, and the relocation of Renishaw’s spectroscopy product line. Last month the company had its largest ever trade stand at EMO Hannover, the world’s largest show for the metalworking industry, where it successfully launched a new high speed, high accuracy contact scanning system for CNC machine tools. Ben Taylor, assistant chief executive said: “In our 40th anniversary year, Lord Green’s visit gives important recognition to the success that Renishaw has achieved as a world leader in precision measurement systems.”
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County celebrates its year of business success after shot in the arm Pages 4&5
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