The former Probation Office, on Purfleet Quay, has been bought for an undisclosed sum by Anthony and Jeanette Goodrich, who own the Bank House Hotel, on nearby King’s Staithe Square.
The couple, who also own the Rose and Crown at Snettisham, are pledging to transform the building.
Mr Goodrich said: “In the years we have owned The Rose & Crown and Bank House we have built up thriving bar, restaurant and accommodation businesses.
“We plan to develop the Probation Office, which is located across the square from Bank House, create more bedrooms, a function room and a café/bar.
“This is another good news story for King’s Lynn. The development of the Probation Offices will further enhance the ongoing King’s Lynn waterfront redevelopment scheme, add to the buzz of the historic riverside area, and will create jobs.”
The former probation office stands at the heart of historic Lynn. It is next door to the Custom House and a stone’s throw from the Hanse House and St George’s Guildhall.
Integro Languages, based in Norwich, has recently been awarded a supply arrangement covering 8 countries for AIG, the global American insurance giant. Integro’s team have worked with a pilot group at the company’s offices in Croydon for 12 months, implementing a whole new approach to handling claims involving foreign language documentation.
Throughout the pilot, Integro was able to demonstrate huge cost savings, as well as considerable improvements in the speed and efficacy of the claims process. As a result, Integro have now been appointed as supplier to the global network of AIG’s assistance centres – a massive contract solidifying Integro’s position as a serious and formidable provider of language support services to the insurance industry.
“Integro’s services have been an absolute game changer for us here. We’re working faster, handling claims faster and making considerable cost savings as we go. We’re looking forward to a long and fruitful working relationship with Integro”. Complex Claims team, AIG.
Integro has been active in the Health insurance and PMI industry, backing up claims teams and assistance handlers for 10 years.
More than 500 people representing Franchisees, their families, TaxAssist staff and business partners gathered at the 5* Celtic Manor Resort for the TaxAssist Accountants annual exhibition, conference and gala evening on 1st April.
Following a well-attended and busy exhibition in the morning, the Directors of TaxAssist Accountants presented in the afternoon, highlighting good network growth and performance, which included hitting £4 million sales in one month, double digit fee bank growth year on year and the opening of the 200th TaxAssist shop.
The event also saw TaxAssist announce two major new initiatives – a national partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and helping small business clients adopt online accounting.
James Mattam, Group Business Development Director comments, “As we’ve recognised for some time, TaxAssist Accountants and FSB are a natural fit and share common goals and being able to announce it just as the Government starts to roll out its Making Tax Digital initiative could not have been more timely.”
Newton Abbot based Franchisee Tess Blayton thoroughly enjoyed the event commenting, “I would like to say a big thank you for another fantastic conference. I thought it was the best yet. The exhibition was very busy, which in no way detracted from the usefulness – it created a buzz which continued throughout the day.
“The whole day and evening was a reassuring reminder that we are part of a big family. Something that I always remember from my days on the initial training course, although this year seemed to reinforce that feeling even more.”
Sarah Robertson, Group Operations Director comments, “It was fantastic to catch up with so many of the network and to reveal such positive news about TaxAssist and future initiatives.
“A key message we wanted to put across, was that with our thorough approach to researching, reviewing and recommending new software and apps, as well as educating and communicating to clients about the major changes ahead, we will ease the workload for franchisees and make life as time and cash efficient as possible for them and their clients.
“I’m sure all who attended will have left feeling confident that by being a part of the TaxAssist network, they are in safe hands in this fast-changing digital age.”
Guests were treated to black tie Gala Evening entertainment, which included star acts Nina Conti and impressionist John Culshaw.
Warehouse Operatives work in a variety of warehouse environments. They are required to safely use a range of equipment, machinery and vehicles, as relevant to their role and setting.
Attleborough based multi-service contractor Anglian, has won a prestigious Sub-contractor Award from leading construction firm Kier.
The Positive Attitude & Conduct Award was presented by Kier Eastern & Midlands to John Bergin, project manager at Anglian, for his work on a demolition project at Samuel Pepys School in St Neots.
Undertaken during the summer, the project saw a range of demolition work at the school including internal soft stripping of the buildings, and hand demolition and propping on a series of internal walls. Anglian had a team of four working at Samuel Pepys led by John, alongside demolition operatives Dev Blundell, Dean Nelson and Lee Beckett.
The Positive Attitude & Conduct Award was given to John in recognition of his exceptional conduct and professional attitude towards Safety, Health, Environment and Quality. The award was presented to John by Dennis Cotton, regional director at Kier – Cambridge & Midlands, at Kier’s offices in Waterbeach.
Paul Nelson, contracts manager at Kier, said: “This was awarded following the great work completed by John and his team at Samuel Pepys School. John kept a tight ship and despite the demolition works being tricky to complete. All activities were carried out safely, working spaces kept spotlessly clean and the team had a positive approach to working with the Kier team and others on site.”
John Bergin, project manager at Anglian, said: “Health and safety is paramount to every project we undertake at Anglian and I am honoured to receive this award. This was another great job for Kier and the entire team deserve recognition for their hard work throughout.”
Anglian has been working with Kier for many years on a range of projects. A multi-service contractor, Anglian’s divisions include Anglian Demolition & Asbestos, Anglian Scaffolding, Anglian Earthworks & Remediation and Anglian Waste Recycling. For more details, see www.angliandemo.co.uk.
The Digital Marketing team at Tudor Lodge Consultants are delighted to announce that we are working with London-based property finance providers SPF Loans. SPF Short Term Finance have been providing a range of property loans for over 20 years including auction finance, bridging finance, development loans, agricultural and international finance and many other bespoke products.
With the property market worth billions of pounds and the bridging loan sector worth over £4 billion, there are many potential customers looking for all nature of property finance. This has helped form part of the basis of our work with SPF Loans.
What we have already done
SPF Loans were keen on revamping their existing website and as such have now launched a brand-new website. As part of this revamp there has been a plethora of work that we have completed. We started the main element of our work with in-depth keyword research around the service areas of SPF Loans’ service, using industry knowledge to target very popular and competitive keyword terms and online searches.
We have already provided SPF with 7 bespoke landing pages, full of useful and original content covering all their main service areas. These pages each comprise over 500 words of content about the topic area, answering relevant questions and providing detailed information around that topic area.
Furthermore, these pages have been designed to target specific searches via online search engines and have been provided with meta titles, meta descriptions and various H titles to ensure that the correct keywords are targeted and that Google and other search engines can properly read and crawl the website. These pages have been further aided by being provided with clean and keyword-friendly URL structures to cover every angle of Google’s crawling of these pages in their own rights as well as in part of the website.
Working with SPF’s development team, we have also helped the SPF website reach remarkable site speeds across both mobile and desktop platforms of over 90%. This continues to be extremely important in Google’s eyes as well as that of users of the SPF website as increased site speed allows for easier and more comfortable browsing which is rewarded handsomely by search engines.
In addition to the above work, we are continuing to work on the site structure, paying attention to individual pages on the SPF website to make sure that they are as user friendly as possible and that they take users on a desired journey through to the point of contacting the sales team at SPF.
We have already seen dramatic improvements in many keywords’ positions with the SPF website, which is extremely positive at this early stage of the works. We look forward to continuing the work with the team at SPF Short Term Finance and building on the already impressive progress in a very competitive industry.
Innovation Bridge, the new project to deliver expert advice and grants to innovative businesses, has appointed Norfolk agency Greenwood&Bell as marketing consultants. The scheme has launched with a new logo, branding and marketing campaign. Innovation Bridge is aimed at ambitious and inventive businesses in the East of England and, as there are many Chamber members who fit this description, it is hoped that they will take advantage of the scheme.
Innovation Bridge channels expertise from leading universities into businesses, helping them develop innovative new products and services. The scheme is led by Central Bedfordshire Council and the European Regional Development Fund are contributing £1.95 million, meaning the scheme can offer free advice and grants to firms in the region for the next three years.
Greenwood&Bell’s campaign leads with the headline “Need business growth? Get specialist support and grants at Innovation Bridge” and is supported by an illustration showing energy and light pouring from a university into a business, along with a new logo and identity.
Mark Greenwood points out that this could be a really useful scheme for Chamber members. He says “Many business leaders have projects that they would love to get moving. Innovation Bridge could help them bring these projects to market”. You can find out how the scheme could help your business by calling 0300 300 8272
The delivery partners are University of Bedfordshire, Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Suffolk. The project is supported by New Anglia Growth Hub, Signpost2Grow and Velocity Growth Hub
Janet, the ultra-fast IT network, is now available from a second UK commercial data centre – the high security Norwich facility operated by MIGSOLV, a Norfolk Chamber Gold Patron.
This will enable small and medium sized businesses and public bodies in the East of England to work with a wide range of previously inaccessible markets, including many organisations connected to private government networks, in a move to boost the digital economy.
By providing a commercial Janet connection, MIGSOLV’s Gatehouse data centre becomes second only to Goonhilly Earth Station, the renowned satellite and space centre in Cornwall.
While Janet has been developed over the last 30 years primarily for academic and research institutions, this now means any small/medium businesses and public bodies can connect to the network by placing their IT in MIGSOLV’s data centre.
MIGSOLV’s Janet connection is delivered in partnership with high-performance network provider Next Connex.
The connection provides links into the highly secure Public Services Network (PSN), N3 NHS network and Police National Network, opening up a large public sector marketplace for small and medium businesses. This will be of particular value to companies on the government’s G-Cloud scheme, which aims to help them sell cloud computing services to government bodies.
Public bodies which place their IT in The Gatehouse, Norwich will also have access to a Janet connection – many for the first time – enabling them to work with a much wider range of suppliers and partners.
This move is a joint initiative between MIGSOLV, Next Connex and Jiscom – Janet’s commercial arm, whose remit is to broaden the network’s user base in order to boost the digital economy.
David Manning, Managing Director of MIGSOLV, says: “We’re thrilled to be only the second UK commercial facility to offer a Janet connection. It’s a prestigious, ultra-fast network – and a great fit with our Norwich data centre, which is one of the most secure in the world.
“Our Janet link opens up a vast new marketplace for companies and public bodies alike which choose our data centre services.”
Anyone wishing to find out more about MIGSOLV’s Janet connection and data centre services should call 020 3600 1000, email sales@migsolv.com or visit www.migsolv.com.
Janet (originally the ‘Joint Academic Network’) comprises over 5,000 km of optical fibre and has over 18 million users. Its backbone runs at 100Gbit/s, with an interconnect capacity of around 40Gbit/s. For more, visit www.jiscom.uk.
Next Connex designs, builds and supports high-performance network infrastructure. The company operates its own UK core fibre network, providing services to systems integrators, service providers, IT companies and telco carriers. For more, visit www.nextconnex.com, or contact 01932 505 999
MIGSOLV operates The Gatehouse data centre on a nine-acre site in Norwich. The facility is free of terrorism and flood risks and incorporates rigorous security measures including access by iris recognition, CCTV coverage of every square inch of the site, microwave intruder detection and advanced fire protection systems. For more, see www.migsolv.com.
TaxAssist Accountants, the UK’s largest network of small business specialist accountants is celebrating the opening of its 200th Shop.
Franchisee Dave Forrester’s new shop in Bingley, West Yorkshire, hit the 200th spot. Dave, who runs two other shops in Keighley and Ilkley, looks after more than 400 small businesses across the region and with his team decided to open his third shop to meet growing demand from existing small businesses and new businesses starting up in the area.
The office was officially opened on Thursday 6th April by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Alun Griffiths, who made a short speech and performed the ribbon cutting. The opening was attended by local councillors, as well as current clients, friends, family and local businesses.
Dave Forrester said: “With the business going from strength to strength in Keighley and Ilkley and a growing small business culture in and around Bingley, it seemed like the perfect time to lookout for a new conveniently placed shop. Demand for our services continues to grow and the new third shop gives us the opportunity to grow with it.”
“We’re delighted by the positive response we’ve had so far and would like to thank everyone who came along to our launch event, it was great to welcome our clients, dignitaries and representatives from the local small business community to our new offices and celebrate being TaxAssist Accountants 200th shop.”
James Mattam, Group Business Development Director, said: “We’re immensely proud of Dave and all of his team for opening their third shop and helping us reach a milestone of 200 TaxAssist Accountants shopfronts in the UK. Our brand continues to go from strength to strength and we continue to open more shops in other parts of the country. Retailing accountancy changed our business 15 years ago and we’re excited to bring more accountants on board and be a part of our future growth.
“Dave and his team have followed the model well and led the way in cloud accounting technology developments within their practices. The whole team understands just how important technology can be to help clients develop their business and at the same time make the accounting practice more efficient. With Making Tax Digital on the horizon, Dave’s practices are in an excellent position to help small businesses and individual clients to be fully ready to cope with the biggest change in recent times in how tax is reported and paid.”
The network, founded over 20 years ago has grown consistently year on year. It now services more than 65,000 clients with a fee bank in excess of £42 million, with over 280 shops and offices covering the UK and Ireland, as well as 6 branches in Australia with further expansion planned.
Leathes Prior are proud to announce that they will be supporting their 2017 Charity of the Year, The OPEN Youth Trust, by co-sponsoring the charity in their inaugural Oktoberfest event, alongside Adnams and Bitburger.
The already popular event will take place at the former site of Barclays Bank on Bank Plain in Norwich, now the home of the charitable youth trust which primarily focuses on enhancing and improving youth care in the community.
Oktoberfest will run from Thursday 5th October to Saturday 7th October, with the Friday and Saturday sessions having already sold out, there is now only limited availability for the Thursday session.
For as little as £10, plus booking fee, guests will receive a specially branded limited edition Norwich Bavarian Beer Stein and access to full evening of Bavarian food, drink and musical entertainment provided by top Umpah band The Bavarian Strollers and local pop favourites Night Train. A limited amount of VIP tickets are available at the cost of £35 + VAT for the Thursday evening, which provides reserved stage side seating, table service, complimentary first drink and Bratwurst and the aforementioned Beer Stein.
As a firm Leathes Prior are delighted to be supporting their Charity of the Year OPEN in such a way that will allow them to entertain guests at such a fantastic event whilst also helping raise funds that go directly to the charity.
John Gordon-Saker, Chief Executive of OPEN said:
“We’re delighted that Leathes Prior have agreed to be official co-partners alongside Adnams and Bitburger for our inaugural Oktoberfest event. Money raised from the event will be donated to the Open Youth Trust which will enable the charity to offer a diverse range of activities, most of which are free to attend, for young people aged from 7 to 25“.
To find out more about Oktoberfest at OPEN or book tickets for the event, make sure you visit their Eventbrite page.
We’re glad to announce that working in conjunction with Vaccoda Design, we are working with gas engineers and Bromley based gas and plumbing experts Gas Safe, providing search engine optimisation (SEO) for their website(gassafe.net). Gas Safe are a South London based business that provides a wide range of plumbing and gas-related services including boiler servicing and installation, power flushing of central heating systems, Legionella assessments and much more. Initially, Gas Safe’s website was lacking a number of fundamental SEO aspects including meta data, including titles and descriptions, SEO-friendly content and a competitive and clean backlink profile.
What we have Done
Initially, in depth keyword research was required for Gas Safe to ensure relevant keywords and online searches were targeted. A competitive industry, it was important to research both long tail searches and short tail searches relating particularly to boilers and central heating services offered by Gas Safe.
Based on the SEO-friendly content management system (CMS), WordPress, we needed to update various settings for their website to make sure that Google and other search engines are able to properly crawl [analyse and rank] the Gas Safe website.
This has included installing various plugins for the website such as Yoast SEO. We were also required to remove meta keywords from the website as this is an outdated practice that is not beneficial for modern day SEO.
Having completed the routine updates of the website, we undertook a full meta data update of the website. This entailed going through each of their site pages and updating their meta titles and meta descriptions to make sure they are best placed to be ranked by Google.
We have also begun to populate the site with content and have written a brand-new landing page for their newest service; boiler finance.
As Gas Safe have not previously optimised any element of their website we have also been researching various competitive keyword terms for Gas Safe to target and rank well for. Furthermore, we are carrying out clean and SEO-friendly link building to increase the number of reputable websites that provide link traffic to the Gas Safe website. This is important as it acts as a powerful trust signal to search engines that the site is worthy of higher rankings.
Gas Safe have already seen several keywords move up a number of pages on Google including ‘boiler finance’ and we are looking forward to helping Gas Safe improve further online through carrying out further keyword research and planning as well as constructing a wide range of bespoke and content-rich landing pages to improve rankings and increase the offerings of the Gas Safe website.