‘Cutting-edge business thinking’
It has stood on Newcastle’s Amen Corner for 106 years, but Scott’s barber shop won’t be there for much longer after landlord, the Gainford Group, put their rent up by 300%.
The trio behind the gentleman’s hairdresser posted on Facebook that they couldn’t afford the big rent hike and would have to be out of the building, which retains much of its vintage decor, by December 2.
Former council leader Nick Kemp stepped in to urge people to sign a petition to get the Gainford Group to look again at their decision and “recognise the historical and cultural value” of the business.
As support for Scott’s grew on social media, the BBC came along to interview Alan Symons, who has been cutting hair at the shop for almost a decade. He said the response on social media had been phenomenal but he wasn’t surprised “because this does mean a great deal to generations of people.”
So far so uncomfortable for the Gainford Group, a family business based in the North East which operates in a variety of sectors including healthcare, property, hotels and leisure and, according to their website, has a business ethos that “mixes good old-fashioned values with cutting-edge business thinking”.
It got worse. I don’t know what time the family went to bed, but late last night North East mayor Kim McGuinness joined the chorus of calls for a rethink from Gainford, the company behind a flagship development in New Bridge Street that was unveiled at the Mipim conference in Cannes a few months ago.
Must do better
Just 17.8% of pupils in the North East achieved a Grade 7 or above in their GCSE results this week - the lowest rate in the country - and the gap with London is getting wider.
It was a similar story to last week’s A-level results. The region also has the highest school absence rates and the largest proportion of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Chris Zarraga, director of Schools North East, said: “Without urgent, sustained action, the gap will keep widening - and it will not be because our students or teachers are any less capable.”
The organisation, which represents over 1,000 schools in the region, wants to see fairer long-term funding, investment in early years education so that every child arrives at school ready to learn, and improved SEND provision and careers advice.
At least some of that will be coming, according to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in a column in The Telegraph yesterday where she said a failure to ensure that white working-class children succeed is holding back the country.
She said it was “appalling” that just 19% of them achieve strong passes in English and Maths GCSEs, a statistic that is damaging to the life chances of individuals and to national productivity.
The Government is preparing a series of interventions to get to grips with soaring underachievement levels in a white paper to be unveiled in the autumn. Plans include publishing more data on how white pupils are performing, as well as harnessing AI to identify schools that are falling short.
“As someone who grew up as one of those children, and as both a local MP and Secretary of State representing those children, I am absolutely determined to make sure they do better,” she said.
Brownfield to beautiful
A £120m funding package to transform Newcastle’s last major brownfield site into a neighbourhood with up to 2,500 homes, has been approved by the Government.
The Quayside West development, next to the Utilita Arena, is part of the wider Forth Yards regeneration zone and the money will support demolition and the remediation of contaminated land which has lain dormant since the closure of the Calders leadworks 20 years ago.
The land is now owned by Homes England who will work in partnership with the North East Combined Authority, Network Rail and Newcastle City Council.
North East mayor Kim McGuinness said: “We’re driving the transformation our region needs – from brownfield to beautiful. This won’t be a vast estate where people can’t access the services they need, but a thriving community with great transport links, green spaces and shops.”
Procurement for a private sector delivery partner is expected to begin in the next few months.
Majority decision
Former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll has confirmed he will stand for election in Newcastle next year. With all council seats up for election in May, Driscoll believes his new party, Majority, and a “progressive alliance” of Greens and independents could even take control of the council.
He says Majority now has 1,000 paying members and endorsed Green Party candidate Sarah Peters ahead of her win in last week’s by-election in South Jesmond.
Parks legacy
An independent evaluation of the charity Urban Green Newcastle, which ran Newcastle’s parks and allotments for six years until the council took back control earlier this year, has been published.
The review, commissioned by UGN and the National Trust, concluded that a “cumulative effect of external shocks, operational challenges, lack of financial reserves, and the absence of contingency arrangements left UGN financially vulnerable”.
It found there was no scrutiny of the due diligence carried out by council officials, that “overly optimistic” predictions were made and that UGN’s financial model was “under significant pressure from the outset” – and made worse by the Covid lockdown and then Storm Arwen.
Newcastle City Council also imposed limits on the number of large concerts UGN could stage in Exhibition Park following noise complaints about the This Is Tomorrow festival in 2021, which “significantly constrained” income.
The review, conducted by Fuel Research, makes a series of recommendations for anyone seeking to implement a parks trust model elsewhere, including:
The need for “comprehensive” due diligence involving independent experts;
Developing a more cautious and flexible financial model, allowing for unexpected costs or under performance in income;
Considering options for a “guaranteed” income stream, such as an endowment, to cover funding gaps; and
Piloting the scheme with a small number of parks first and scaling up gradually, rather than taking control of an entire estate on day one.
A legacy website has been launched which includes a timeline of the UGN journey and some of the work and achievements of the charity as well as a link to the evaluation report.
Moving on
Ellen Thinnesen is to step down from her position as chief executive of the college group Education Partnership North East at the end of the year.
She made the surprise announcement on LinkedIn on Wednesday: “Although I will miss everyone when the time comes, I do feel I have achieved what I initially set out to do; and so the time is right to move on to pastures new (more on this in the coming weeks).”
“An outstanding principal and CEO, an inspiring sector superstar, brilliant leader, amazing achievements, wonderful legacy, you have made a big difference, your vision has been inspiring,” were among the dozens of comments on her post (thankfully one that LinkedIn didn’t make us wait two or three weeks to see!).
New routes
Ryanair are bringing a third aircraft to Newcastle, opening up a new route to Brussels and the addition of winter flights to Malta, Budapest, Gdańsk and Wrocław. It will also increase the frequency of flights to Alicante, Dublin and Krakow.
Airport chief operating officer Richard Knight said: “This expansion will deliver over one million passengers for Ryanair over the next 12 months, reflecting the strength of our partnership and the growing demand for connectivity from the North East to key European destinations.”
Flexible floor
Stockton Globe marked its 90th birthday by unveiling a “revolutionary” new floor which will allow the venue to switch between tiered seating and a fully flat space, allowing it to host a wider range of events.
Venue director Jo Ager said: “We are committed to futureproofing the venue by not only delivering a diverse programme of events but also actively partnering with the regional business community. With our new flexible floor, we can now support this through exhibitions, corporate dinners and tailored events that foster innovation and collaboration in the corporate space.”
A quick word
Jarrow and Gateshead East MP Kate Osborne is under investigation for allegedly breaching Parliament's expenses guidelines. The Labour MP, who is disabled, said the inquiry was centred on her use of taxis following an operation to her spine in February. Durham County Council has announced a £17m road improvement plan that will resurface and treat more than 700,000sq metres of highways at 100 locations in the 2025-26 financial year. Yesterday’s planned strike by 600 Stagecoach North East workers was cancelled after an improved pay offer was received. If that offer is rejected in a new ballot then indefinite strike action will go ahead from August 31. Metro operators Nexus say they are “working as quickly as possible” to resolve air conditioning issues with the service's new trains. Several have had to be temporarily withdrawn over the past two months due to water leaks, including three last week. Newcastle is set to take centre (stand-up) stage in the BBC’s biggest comedy talent search next month as the BBC New Comedy Awards 2025 celebrates its 30th anniversary with a live regional heat at the Boiler Shop on September 22. Tickets are free. Police in Sunderland have seized an illegally-modified pedal bicycle which they later discovered was capable of reaching speeds of 80mph. The rider was spotted doing 35mph without pedalling - and without a crash helmet. Luxmuralis will be returning to Durham Cathedral with a new installation called The Storytellers which will run from October 8-12 and will be part of the Magna Carta and the North exhibition. Wallsend Children’s Community has been awarded £500,000 by the National Lottery Community Fund to support a five-year project aimed at bringing schools and families closer together - making “a huge difference” to more than 11,500 children across 17 schools. Blyth Spartans may have tumbled down the football pyramid but they can still count on the support of Port of Blyth who have renewed their shirt sponsorship.
Birthday story
Happy birthday to Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books which turned 20 on Tuesday. At the time of opening, it was riding a wave of regional regeneration and creative investment, the likes of which we are unlikely to see again any time soon.
Gateshead Council started it with the commissioning of Antony Gormley’s iconic Angel of the North in 1998 and it continued with the International Centre for Life in 2000, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in 2001, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Biscuit Factory in 2002, the Sage Gateshead (now The Glasshouse) in 2004 and Dance City which opened two months after Seven Stories in 2005.
Along the way, NewcastleGateshead failed to become European Capital of Culture - but look at the legacy of that ‘failure’. There was a real spirit of ‘2008? We don’t have to wait!’
That was then.
This is now
Artists and small organisations are facing uncertainty after the Arts Council England’s grant-processing platform crashed near the end of last month, leaving thousands of applications for vital funding up in the air.
The shutdown could last seven weeks - but the repercussions will go beyond that with timescales, projects and budgets thrown dangerously out of sync, according to an article in The Lead.
Artists who had applications in draft or about to be submitted on July 23 lost access and still can’t recover them. Creatives planning autumn shows, tours, or productions can’t move forward without confirmation of funding. Some have already postponed or cancelled work because they can’t commit without financial clarity.
Contract extended
Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard visited the Cook Defence Systems plant at Stanhope this week to announce a multimillion-pound extension of the firm’s contract to make parts for UK armoured vehicles.
Director William Cook said: “This contract is a very welcome signal that heavy armour remains core to British army planning and that companies like Cook are at the heart of the Government’s forthcoming Defence Industrial Strategy.”
Business bites
County Durham-based Dyer Engineering has received £1.625m in equity funding and formed the SST Group which in turn has bought Washington company Q-Laser, giving the new company a combined workforce of more than 200. And the new name? - Smarter Stronger Together. Mincoffs has been named as the most active legal and financial advisers in the North East in the first half of 2025 in a new report from Experian Market IQ. Muckle were closely behind with Sintons in third place. Toy and accessories supplier Haus Distribution is looking to form more retail partnerships and create jobs after moving from Gosforth to a 30,000sq ft hub on Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate. Stockton-based site safety technology firm Intasite is on the lookout for larger premises and more staff after a year which saw income rise by 20%. A merger agreement has been reached between two of the UK's largest bread manufacturers, Hovis and Kingsmill, following months of negotiations. North Shields-based health and safety training firm Carney Consultancy has expanded across the North West and has picked up several clients including family-owned civil engineer William Pye. Darlington and Middlesbrough are among the best places in the country to start and sustain a business in a survey by Shootday, using Office for National Statistics data. Newton Aycliffe-based Tekmar has secured two offshore grouting contracts in Qatar worth $1.6m. Newcastle tech firm Aircards plans to increase its workforce by a third and expand overseas after securing a £3 million investment from Foresight Group. Former Dentsu UK and Ireland boss Euan Jarvie will join its team as executive chair.
1995 ad break
Hard to believe that this ad featuring three frogs, Weis, Er and Bud, is 30 years old, making its debut during the 1995 Super Bowl. With minimal dialogue, an eerie setting, and unforgettable rhythm, it is often ranked among the most iconic Super Bowl commercials of all time.
Budweiser made several more ads featuring the popular frogs, although they proved a little too popular with children for some people. A study showed that a large number of youngsters recognised the frogs and correctly associated them with alcohol.
By 2000, Er, Bud and Weis had been replaced by chameleons Louie and Frankie who were deemed to appeal to an older audience.
THE WIDER VIEW
Tall(er) story
We’re used to stories these days about people going abroad to get all sorts of ‘medical’ things done - facelifts, bigger bums, hair transplants, veneers, liposuction.
But how about getting your legs broken, having rods inserted into your femurs and a metal bracket on the side of your thigh so that you can turn a key several times a day to increase your height millimetre by painful millimetre.
An absorbing article in The Guardian looks at the growing (sorry) trend of men (it’s mainly men) who are paying thousands to have their legs lengthened. They followed 5ft 6in newly wed Frank to Turkey where the surgery and after-care cost him £24,000 - money that was to be used as a deposit on a house.
Wife Emilia said travelling across Asia gave them a new perspective. “Having food, a comfortable bed – that’s real happiness,” she said. “After that, if it’s buying a house, we’ll go for it. And if it’s breaking your legs and being tall, go for it.”
Frank’s case was not without its drama but by the end he had grown 7.3 cm, putting him just under his 5ft 9in goal.
‘Sad’ sale
A lighthouse-inspired clifftop property which featured in the “saddest ever” episode of Channel 4’s Grand Designs, has finally been sold - after a 10-year build which went millions over budget and led to the breakdown of the couple’s marriage.
The instalment was broadcast in 2019 and chronicled the troubled build, revealing how delays and setbacks left the five-bedroom home in Croyde, Devon, unfinished and builder Edward Short £7m in debt.
Relisted in 2024 with a price tag of £5.25m, the five-bedroom property has now finally found a buyer.
This concerns you
The headline is from The Telegraph. It concerns a plan by newspaper executive David Montgomery, who is said to be reviving his attempt to buy Reach, publishers of the Mirror, Express, Star, Daily Record and a whole host of regional titles including the Chronicle, Journal and Gazette.
It concerns me. And it should concern you.
Montgomery is a man with a formidable reputation - ruthless in cost-cutting and unsentimental in management style. In the 1990s he was chief exec of Reach in the days when it was still called Mirror Group Newspapers (before it became Trinity Mirror). Staff called him Rommel after the World War II general - because ‘Montgomery was on our side’.
But it’s not the ownership of a large media organisation that should be the biggest concern here - it’s the direction of travel for journalism, and the fact that a senior figure is saying there should be far fewer journalists and a greater reliance on AI to create “automated content gathering”.
It’s not as if our local and regional newsrooms are awash with journalists after 15 years of cost-cutting. I know a thing or two about that, and there is a history of publishers jumping on an idea once it has been mooted elsewhere.
Democracy depends on local media shining a light on public bodies and holding officials to account. That can’t be done by automated content gatherers.
Unreal assumption
Online publishers, including Wired and Business Insider, have removed articles they now believe to be AI-generated fiction rather than legitimate reportage.
Press Gazette yesterday published an investigation into the work of the ‘writer’. “It is a piece which every journalist and editor should print out and pin to their office wall,” said Editor Dominic Ponsford. “Every time you receive an email from someone you do not know, the assumption now has to be that they are not real.
“There are going to be huge opportunities for trusted news brands to stand out in the increasingly imaginary AI-fuelled online world. But that trust is easily lost and news publishers who don’t put in the effort to check whether their writers and sources actually exist will go out of business.”
Ghost writers
‘Finally, the Lit & Phil has a ghost we can all see’, writes David Whetstone in Cultured. North East. It’s a wonderful piece of writing, about a wonderful piece of writing. You’ll see what I mean when you take a look.
AI can gather content - but it can’t weave an engaging story like this.