About Chesterfield

Markham Vale jobs boost for Chesterfield

A Northern Ireland-based company is to move to our flagship employment site bringing the number of new jobs created to 260 in the last eight months.

Ready Egg Products Ltd has selected Markham Vale off M1 junction 29A near Chesterfield to locate its new manufacturing facility which will create 50 new jobs over two years.

Ready Egg is a key player in the egg processing industry and supplies both UK and Irish food manufacturing markets.

The firm sees the European Union as a growing market but transport costs to and from its current location puts it at a commercial disadvantage.

Derbyshire County Council’s Joan Dixon, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Economy and Transport, said:

“More and more companies are making Markham Vale their home because of its location in the centre of England and excellent transport links afforded by its purpose-built junction 29A just off the M1.”

Ready Egg’s vote of confidence in Markham Vale follows last autumn’s decision by car parts distributor Andrew Page to base its new national distribution centre there in a move that is expected to create 120 jobs.

And fast food restaurant McDonald’s created 90 jobs when it opened a drive-through restaurant on the site last September.

There was more good news for Markham Vale last month (April) with the opening of a £905,000 stretch of road linking the A632 at Long Duckmanton with the M1. The link road unlocks a further 40 acres of land for development.

Ready Egg Products plans to build a 34,700 sq. ft. warehouse on nearly three acres of land. A planning application for the development will be made by Henry Boot Developments Ltd which is managing and marketing the site for us.

The application will be determined by Chesterfield Borough Council.

Markham Vale has been granted Enterprise Zone status by the Government, meaning firms moving to some areas of the site can apply for Enhanced Capital Allowances − offering tax relief for major investment in plant and machinery.

Councillor Dixon added:

“This announcement by Ready Egg Products further underlines Markham Vale’s importance to the local economy as a catalyst for inward investment and job creation.”

Source:Derbyshire County Council

Posted in About Chesterfield, Development

Chesterfield wins a national tourism award

Chesterfield has been voted Coach Friendly Town or City of the Year at the annual Coach Tourism Awards.

The national awards scheme – organised by trade magazine Coach Monthly, and hosted by television presenter and travel and tourism expert, Judith Chalmers – recognises excellence and innovation across the coach tourism industry and includes tourist destinations and attractions.

The award follows Chesterfield also being awarded coach friendly status by the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK in February.

Chesterfield Borough Council provides reserved parking for coaches, town centre guides for visitors as well as proper rest facilities for drivers.

Councillor Amanda Serjeant, Chesterfield Borough Council’s executive member for leisure, culture and tourism, received the award in front of more than 450 tourism industry professionals.

She said: “With its rich heritage, Chesterfield has long been a destination for tourists from across the UK and the world.

“This award, and the recent coach friendly status from the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK, consolidates the tremendous work carried out by our staff to provide good facilities for coach parties and make the town clean and attractive for both residents and visitors.”

For more details about coach parties, call into the Visitor Information Centre in Rykneld Square or call 01246 345777.

Stuart Render, editor of Coach Monthly, added: “The Coach Tourism Awards is the only national awards scheme to focus specifically on the coach tourism community.

“Delivering a quality welcome to coaches, their drivers and their groups is becoming more and more important as destinations or attractions look to encourage more visitors and customers.

“Chesterfield was up against many of the UK’s leading destinations and visitor attractions so this is therefore a well-deserved and a significant achievement.

“Our winners are at the forefront in delivering excellence across all sectors of the industry, helping to raise the quality of customer service and quality across coach operators, destinations, visitor attractions and tourism industry suppliers.”

For details of all the winners and finalists go to www.coachtourism-awards.com

 

Source:Chesterfield Borough Council

Posted in About Chesterfield, Celebrate Chesterfield

New McDonalds open and trading well at Markham Vale

Following the recent opening of McDonald’s at its 200 acre Markham Vale scheme in Chesterfield, Henry Boot Developments Limited is delighted that the restaurant is trading well.

The new 3,556 sq ft McDonald’s is part of the first phase of development at Markham Vale West, where potential new occupiers are in discussions to provide supporting leisure services to cater for the growing number of people being employed at this fast growing business park.

The drive-thru restaurant was constructed in just 18 weeks and is now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The restaurant is owned by local McDonald’s franchisee Walter Wright who employs 90 full and part time staff at the restaurant.

Commenting on the new restaurant, Walter Wright said: “As a local businessman, I’m keen to ensure continued investment in the area and I’m delighted that the new restaurant has created a significant number of new jobs for local people”.

Vivienne Clements, Director of Henry Boot Developments, commented: “It’s great to see the appeal of Markham Vale go from strength to strength. We are looking to make further announcements regarding supporting retail and leisure operators in the near future. These operators will service the growing numbers of employees based at Markham Vale and the wider community of Duckmanton, Bolsover and Chesterfield.”

Find out more about Markham Vale

Source:Henry Boot

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business

Chesterfield’s premier Italian restaurant is celebrating after scooping yet another prestigious award.

Calabria, located on the sought-after Glumangate and a Chesterfield Champion, is the first establishment in Derbyshire to have been awarded the Marchio Ospitalitá Italiana Seal of Quality, which recognises the restaurant’s commitment to a truly authentic taste of Italy and accurate representation of the country’s distinctive gastronomic culture.

Restaurants must meet a list of strict criteria to qualify for the award, which includes high quality Italian-sourced produce, distinctive Italian interior design, and a great range of authentic Italian wines, among many others.

Calabria is in good company as the title is only given to the very best Italian restaurants in the world. In the UK fewer than 40 restaurants lay claim to the award and Calabria is among a select few outside London.

Since opening Calabria in January 2010, brothers Sev and Vittorio ‘Vic’ Risorto, whose family hails from the region in South Italy, have taken the restaurant from strength to strength. They have been rewarded with an impressive list of accolades along the way including Best Italian Restaurant at the Westside Restaurant of the Year Awards, Best International Restaurant in the Derbyshire Food and Drink Awards, and Team of the Year at the Derbyshire Times Business Awards.

Vic said: “We’re honoured to have received this prestigious award. Everyone in the team here plays an important part in delivering the quality that has been recognised. I’m ever grateful to Delitalia, our Italian product supplier, and all the businesses we work with directly in Calabria.

“It’s the combination of these quality Italian ingredients and the talents of the combined team that have gained this latest award. My brother and I have dedicated it to our parents, Benito and Lauretta. They have always put our needs before their own and we hope this proud moment goes some way towards thanking them.”

George Cowcher, Chief Executive of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce (DNCC), said: “Calabriais a valued member of the DNCC and the local business community and we would be delighted to work with the Italian Chamber of Commerce to recognise this well-deserved reward. Many congratulations to this excellent operation.”

Councillor John Burrows, Executive Leader of Chesterfield Council, said: “What a magnificent achievement for this taste of Italy in Chesterfield. But, of course, anyone who has visitedCalabria will not be surprised; the food quality, the hospitality, and the ambience make every visit a sheer pleasure.”

By day or by night,Calabria’s breakfast, lunch, a la carte, dinner & show, optional mid-week set and seven-course tasting menus take you on an unforgettable culinary journey. In addition, outside catering is available for corporate events and private celebrations, with the choice of a BBQ, meat roast, table or buffet-style menu served, as well as the facility to provide a licensed bar.

‘Mangiate, bevete e divertitevi’ – eat, drink and enjoy – with Calabria.

Source:Calabria

Posted in About Chesterfield, Visiting

A wonderful winner

Last month Destination Chesterfield and Crush Design invited children aged 11 and under to show off their artistic talents by colouring in our Father Christmas picture.  We are now able to announce our wonderful winner…a big congratulations to Lydia Nutt, aged 4, who clearly has a huge artistic talent!

Presenting a very pleased Lydia with £100 of art and craft materials, Crush Design commented, “We hope she will remember us when she is an internationally renowned designer.  More importantly, we hope she has loads of fun with her prize of creative fun and games.”

Thank you and well done to everyone who entered our competition – we received so many brilliant entries, which have been on display at Crush Design throughout the Christmas season.  We hope you all had lots of fun and a brilliant Christmas too.

Source:Destination Chesterfield/ Crush Design

Posted in About Chesterfield, Destination Chesterfield

Tourism on the up in Chesterfield

Latest tourism figures for Chesterfield show the town is growing in popularity as a place to visit.  In 2011 there was an increase of 9% in visitor numbers with over 3 million day visitors and 320,000 booking an overnight stay.

The boost in the number of tourists has also increased the amount of money being spent in the town by 11% since 2010.  Tourists spent over £142 million across our hotels, visitor attractions, restaurants and shops. The 11% increase is way above the 2% increase for the East Midlands region and also tops the 7% increase for the Peak District and Derbyshire figures.

The positive news also extends to the job market where the number of people employed full time in the sector now stands at 2,035, an increase of 11%.

Councillor Amanda Serjeant, Executive Member for Leisure, Culture and Tourism at Chesterfield Borough Council said: “More people are opting to holiday in the UK and we need to make sure Chesterfield promotes its many assets to attract this growing market.  We’re delighted to see these increases across tourism figures as it’s a good indicator that we are promoting and positioning the town in a positive way.”

Peter Swallow from Destination Chesterfield said: “Chesterfield is now a serious contender for attracting day trippers and longer stay visitors which is a great boost for our local economy. “

Source:Chesterfield Borough Council

Posted in About Chesterfield, Visiting

Chesterfield traders to benefit from £10k investment

Chesterfield has been successful in its bid for a £10k grant from the government for a Town Team Partner project. The bid, which was put forward by Destination Chesterfield and had the full support of the town’s MP, Toby Perkins and Chesterfield Borough Council was in response to the earlier unsuccessful bids for the Portas Pilot initiative.

Peter Swallow, Chair of Destination Chesterfield said “This is excellent news for Chesterfield, the £10,000 funding will be added to £20,000 generated by the Chesterfield Champions scheme to launch ‘Incubation Street’, a new business start up scheme for Chesterfield. These are exactly the types of initiatives Destination Chesterfield and the Chesterfield Champions Scheme were set up for and we thank them all for their contributions which will go towards supporting the growth of the next generation of businesses in Chesterfield.”

The idea behind ‘Incubation Street’ project is to support and mentor new, independent traders, including market traders, to grow their business from initial set-up on Chesterfield market through to establishing a small retail unit in the town. The scheme already has the support of the Chesterfield Champions, a group of local businesses who help promote the town offering mentoring and financial support.

Now that funding has been approved the project will develop further ideas including encouraging more flexible leasing arrangements with landlords, providing one to one mentoring and sharing best practice, promoting entrepreneurial skills based training through education providers and a further roll out of the Chesterfield Ambassadors Scheme to help promote the positive aspects of the town.

Toby Perkins, the local MP, said: “I passionately believe that as an historic market town, independent traders and small businesses are a vital part of our local economy. I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the campaign to secure this investment. I know that the ‘Incubation Street’ project will target this small amount of money to where it will make the biggest difference.”

Councillor John Burrows, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council said: “This is great news for Chesterfield and for those businesses looking to step up a gear and establish a more permanent presence in the town centre. “

For more information on the Chesterfield Champions scheme and how you can get involved in supporting the growth of the town visitwww.chesterfield.co.uk

Source:Destination Chesterfield

Posted in About Chesterfield, Destination Chesterfield

A falcon and a puppy take up residence in Chesterfield

The Yards shopping area in Chesterfield’s town centre is now home to a falcon and a puppy. The two artworks are the latest instalments of the Chesterfield Cultural Renaissance project which has delivered several pieces of unique artworks in the area over the past few months.

The project, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Chesterfield Borough Council, was set up to improve The Yards to promote local businesses and attract more shoppers.

The latest artworks, a puppy sculpture in Theatre Yard (once known as “the kennels”) and a falcon sculpture in Falcon Yard were designed by Geoff Woods from Working pArts.

Councillor Amanda Serjeant, Executive Member for Leisure, Culture and Tourism at Chesterfield Borough Council said: “I think all the sculptures look fantastic. The Yards area is an important feature of the town centre with some great independent shops. We want to attract more shoppers and visitors to help the businesses thrive and the artworks are just one way of adding a new dimension to the area.”

Lisa Swift from Altered Chic in The Yards said: “There are lots of different creative businesses in The Yards so it’s quite fitting that some artwork has been used to make the area more inviting. We often see visitors taking photographs of the buildings so this will be another added attraction to help pull people into the area.”

Geoff Wood who led the design team said: “There’s a lot of history to The Yards and we’ve used this in the design of each piece. Glove manufacturing was once a feature of the small industries in The Yards so we’ve used the symbol of the glove hand as a motif to beckon people into the Yards. We’re really pleased with the final sculptures and hope they become a much loved feature.”

The Mayor of Chesterfield, Councillor Donald Parsons and the Leader of the Council, Councillor John Burrows, will host an event to celebrate the completion of The Yard’s improvement works and to launch a ‘Name the Puppy Competition’ on Friday 2nd November at 11am.

Source:Chesterfield Borough Council

Posted in About Chesterfield

Local design star to unveil Debenhams Chesterfield Store

The eagerly awaited new Debenhams Chesterfield store will open on Thursday, 20 September.

Local designer, Ashley Thomas – whose designs are currently available as part of the Debenhams Edition homeware collection – will officially launch the store, alongside manager Natalie Collins and her new team.

Ashley studied Art and Design at Chesterfield College before going on to study Surface Pattern Design at Staffordshire University. After graduating she was invited to show her work at the ‘New Designers Show’ in London, and from this went on to work with well-known British brands such as Laura Ashley and Mamas and Papas.

Originally from London, Ashley’s family relocated to Chesterfield to start their own business in 2001, Chesterfield Cattery, which they still run to this day. Her love of animals can be seen in her playful designs for Debenhams, which include cushions, wall art, lamps and mugs.

Store manager Natalie says: “We’re thrilled that one of the Debenhams designers will be helping us to open the store on launch day especially as Ashley is a local girl, just like me.”

Ashley says: “My friends were all making jokes about me opening the Chesterfield store so it was really funny when I got the call from Debenhams to ask if I would cut the ribbon on the opening day. I’m touched to have been asked to welcome the store to my home town. I’m so excited about my newly launched collections for Debenhams, it’s such an amazing feeling knowing that my designs will be available on my doorstep.”

Once open, Debenhams Chesterfield customers will be able to enjoy the designer collections that Debenhams is famous for, including H! by Henry Holland, Principles by Ben de Lisi, J by Jasper Conran, Star by Julien Macdonald and Rocha by John Rocha.

Beauty fans are in for a treat as the store’s cosmetics hall will offer an extensive range of big beauty names such as Lancôme, Estee Lauder, Clarins, Clinique, Benefit and Bare Escentuals.

A free Personal Shopping service will be available, offering customers in need of style guidance one-on-one advice on the clothes best suited to fit their body shape and personal style.

Customers can also take advantage of an in-store ordering service, allowing them to order any Debenhams product and either pick it up in store or have it delivered direct to their home.

A Café Estro will also be found in store providing fresh coffees and pastries, hot and cold snacks such as paninis, soups and salads as well as healthy lunch boxes for kids.

Natalie adds: “The team and I have been working hard to get the store ready for launch day and we are all just eager now to get the doors open and start serving customers. We can’t wait to show off the new store.”

Debenhams Chesterfield will open to the public on 20 September at 10am.

Source:Debenhams

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business

There’s nothing vacant about Chesterfield

Chesterfield is riding high on the retail front after a national report revealed the town is bucking the north-south divide with low shop vacancy rates. The latest figures from the Local Data Company (LDC) gives a detailed insight and analysis of 506 town centres and Chesterfield is third best of the largest centres in the country with just 8.7% of shops being empty. Compared to the likes of Nottingham (30%), Stockport (28.4%) and Sheffield (26.1%), Chesterfield is one of the few top ten northern towns leading the way to keep its high streets buzzing.

Councillor John Burrows, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council said: “This is like getting a gold star on your school report! What better indication is there than when an external research company identifies your town as being one of the top retail locations in the UK?

“We’re not surprised by the news because we know the figures, we see how busy the shops and markets are and we get the feedback from visitors and investors that Chesterfield is doing something different, something right. Projects like Destination Chesterfield, investment in our tourism offer, developments such as the Northern Gateway, these are all part of mix that keeps us striving to attract more people to the town to visit, spend money, invest and live here.

“There’s still much to do to improve the local economy and reduce unemployment in the borough but a thriving, bustling town centre is certainly a major bonus and gives us a strong platform to build from.”

Vic Risorto, Destination Chesterfield board member responsible for Retail, Leisure and Tourism said: “It is excellent news that Chesterfield’s high street occupancy is once again being heralded amongst the best in England. With the exciting regeneration plans coming forward for the town centre including the Market Hall refurbishment, extension of Ravenside Retail Park and the proposed Northern Gateway, Destination Chesterfield will continue to work with Chesterfield Borough Council to support existing businesses as well as promoting our town centre to attract further investment.”

Figures from the LDC report show an increase in shop vacancies across the East Midlands from 16.7% in 2011 to 17% in 2012. Chesterfield (8.7%) is the only town centre in the region that is in the top ten with just York (9.6%) and Harrogate (10.3%) featuring amongst a predominant list of Southern based locations, including Central London, Cambridge and Kingston upon Thames. 

Source:Chesterfield Borough Council and Destination Chesterfield

Posted in About Chesterfield, Business, Destination Chesterfield

70 new jobs created at Chesterfield superstore

Chesterfield Borough Council and Jobcentre Plus have worked with one of the town’s newest superstores, The Range, to appoint 70 employees for the store.

The Range, which opened on 29th June on Lordsmill Street, offers more than 65,000 products across 16 departments including DIY, homewares, furniture, lighting, arts and crafts and garden.

The Council and Jobcentre Plus helped The Range to find suitable venues for the interviews and inductions which were part-funded by the Council’s Working Neighbourhoods Fund in order to support unemployed people into the posts. 

The Range successfully recruited 70 employees from the two interview days, 16 of whom were local unemployed people claiming Job Seekers Allowance. A further five local unemployed people were also offered work experience with a view of permanent employment if positions become available.

Councillor John Burrows, Leader of Chesterfield Borough Council said: “We’re obviously keen that any new, or existing employer, in the town takes on unemployed people within the borough so we’re delighted that The Range has located to Chesterfield and that so many people will now be in employment as a result. A similar project was carried out at Turning Point in Mastin Moor where we worked with Jobcentre Plus and Chesterfield College to secure jobs for local people in their new Mental Health Unit.”

Angela Stansfield, Employer & Partnership Manager at Jobcentre Plus said: “By working in partnership with the Council we were able to support unemployed people into these jobs which is always a great boost to the local economy.”

Source:Chesterfield Borough Council

Posted in About Chesterfield, Development

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