Plans to transform Goole’s Market Hall into a vibrant food hall and events venue have taken a major leap forwards with the announcement that a third party operator has been appointed to run the venue. In response to a formal tendering process conducted earlier this year, Brew York, a brewery based in York that also operates tap rooms and bars at venues in York, Leeds, Otley, Pocklington, Guiseley and Knaresborough, submitted a successful bid to bring its hugely popular combination of craft beer and street food to Goole. In addition to the food and drink offering from Brew York, the refurbished Market Hall will also offer flexible space for local creative and craft businesses and host events of both a commercial and community nature to generate an income. A boxing event held there earlier this year was just one example of the many different types of activities that the venue could host in the future. Councillor Anne Handley, Leader of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that Brew York has been appointed to operate the Market Hall and will be bringing its incredibly popular combination of craft beer and street food to the heart of Goole. This is a massive boost for the town centre, which will undoubtedly bring more visitors and increased spending to Goole. “It was very important to the Goole Town Deal Board that, in addition to a food and drink offering that would boost the evening economy, the Market Hall should also still be able to host pop-up events and performances so we’re absolutely delighted with this outcome and can’t wait to welcome Brew York to Goole.” Brew York’s Managing Director, Wayne Smith, said: “We are really excited to be part of this amazing scheme. We have been working closely with the Goole Town Deal team since the back end of 2023 to ensure that we transform the Market Hall into a hub for the town to draw more people out and create a vibrant destination for everyone to enjoy. We can’t wait to bring our experience in events and entertaining to the town, and bring along our friends to serve up some of the best brews and local street food in the country.” The Goole Town Deal Board is investing £4 million of Government funding into the Market Hall and see it as an important ‘anchor’ destination that will significantly increase footfall and spending in the town centre, benefiting other town centre businesses and boosting the local economy. It’s hoped that the venue can become a central part of what’s considered to be Goole’s ‘cultural quarter’ by collaborating closely with Junction Goole and Goole Museum, which are both nearby. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government gave the Goole Town Deal Board an early funding allocation and this came just at the right time for the Market Hall. A sum of £190,000 was used to carry out urgent repairs to the leaking roof, as well as a series of improvements inside, including the removal of the fixed stalls and levelling of the floor to create more space. This timely intervention halted the Market Hall’s long-running decline and made it possible for it to become a hub of activity once again. Planning permission for the refurbishment project was granted in May of this year and work is due to start on site later this year in preparation for it re-opening as a food hall and events venue in the spring of 2025. Back in 2019, the Victorian Market Hall’s future was looking increasingly bleak. It was costing Goole Town Council more than £1,000 per month to operate the market and the fabric of the building was in an increasingly poor state of repair. As a result, the market closed and the building was handed back to East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Thankfully, a golden opportunity arrived later that same year when Goole was invited to apply for a share of the Government’s Town Deal funding and the Market Hall became central to the Goole Town Deal Board’s plans to reinvigorate the town centre.

 

A longstanding Ilkley retailer that is renowned for its huge product range, which includes tens of thousands of hardware, home, ironmongery, kitchen and gardening products, has been bought by a loyal staff member, who has worked there for 44 years, and his wife. David and Sharron Jowett are the new owners of Mortens, which opened in 1937. Mortens currently employs a team of nine, and David joined the business when he was just 16. A familiar face at Mortens, he will remain in the shop leading the team, advising and serving customers, as well as dealing with orders from commercial clients which include local tradespeople, schools, nursing homes, hotels and all other types of business. Sharron, who brings more than 25 years’ worth of retail experience to her new position, will deal with the accounts and administration. The pair have bought the business from previous owners, Stephen and Anna Senior, following Stephen’s retirement, and they were advised on the acquisition by the corporate team at LCF Law. Mortens was originally founded by Ralph Morten, and his wife Barbara ran the business during the war after he went to serve his country. In the 1970s the couple sold the shop to Brian Senior and Keith Hart, who were both long-term employees, before Brian’s son Stephen took over in 1995. David said: “When I joined Mortens as a Saturday boy in 1980, I never imagined that one day I’d own it, but when this opportunity arose, it was a natural decision to make. We’re fortunate to have many local customers who have remained very loyal to Mortens over the years, including lots of local tradespeople. The store continues to evolve with the times, having recently started building our social media following and selling plants alongside our garden supplies. “Mortens’ reputation has always been ‘if Mortens doesn’t sell it, you can’t get it.’ Even if we don’t stock something, we will always endeavour to source items for our customers and it’s this level of personal service that always sets up apart from our competitors.” Sharron added: “Mortens is a great business that’s been part of the fabric of Ilkley’s high street for generations. Crucially, we have a very knowledgeable and experienced team to advise customers and guide them towards products that match their exact requirements, which means our customer service is second to none. Ultimately, this is the foundation of Mortens’ success because it’s something that no online business can replicate.” Patricia Obawole, from LCF Law’s corporate team, added: “It’s been a genuine privilege to guide David and Sharron through this acquisition. As well as making good business sense and being good for Mortens’ team, the shop’s customers and Ilkley as a whole, they both already have a huge amount of passion for the business, which made it a particularly rewarding deal to work on. “There’s no doubt they’ll continue to develop the superb reputation that Mortens has worked so hard to build for so long and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for them.”

Cardboard box recyclers Reuseabox has made significant investments in automating their Reuse Impact Reports, which outline the environmental benefits of reusing cardboard boxes. They’re a leading B Corp certified circular economy packaging company based at Dry Doddington near Newark, and help businesses reuse cardboard boxes, and have developed  newly-automated Reuse Impact Reports to make it easier to see how they’ve helped the planet by keeping cardboard boxes in use for longer. With these newly automated reports, detailed insights are provided following every collection or order. The reports outline the environmental benefits achieved, including the number of cardboard units diverted for reuse, total weight saved, and tree, carbon, energy, and water savings. Equivalencies are also included to provide a tangible representation of contributions. Additionally, the reports include the number of trees helped to plant by joining the Reuseabox community. Reuseabox is a proud member of 1% for the Planet, a global network of businesses, individuals, and environmental organisations committed to tackling urgent environmental issues. As a member, Reuseabox donates 1% of its revenue directly to Eden. The data is calculated using the Reuseabox Environmental Calculator Tool, which measures the environmental savings achieved by reusing cardboard instead of disposing of it through traditional waste disposal routes such as recycling. The calculations in the tool follow a ‘life-cycle’ principle, including the impact of materials, transport, storage at Reuseabox’s facility, and final disposal (recycling). The tool has been developed in line with standards such as the GHG Protocol and PAS2050. The information relating to the number of trees was developed in collaboration with the University of Lincoln in 2019. Additionally, this third-party environmental impact data is updated every 12 months, most recently in January 2024 by Giraffe Innovation, to ensure it remains accurate. Jack Good, Founder of Reuseabox, said: “We are incredibly proud to introduce our automated Reuse Impact Reports. This innovation not only enhances the transparency of our environmental impact but also empowers our partners and customers with the data they need to see the real difference they are making when it comes to their packaging.”

Digital health and AI business Medwise.ai has secured a £1m investment from Finance Yorkshire and other investors. Medwise.ai is a search platform for medical professionals and healthcare organisations which significantly reduces the time clinicians spend looking up information during consultations, enabling them to see more patients and improve care quality. With a growing NHS vacancy list and reports of clinician burn-out, there is an urgent need to support healthcare professionals and improve productivity. Founded in 2019, Medwise.ai has seven employees and is headquartered in Leeds, from where it plans to strengthen its operations in the Yorkshire region. Finance Yorkshire is investing £800,000 from its Seedcorn Fund and led the overall funding round of more than £1m, with participation from health-tech investors StartUp Health and CalmStorm VC and deep-tech accelerator and venture capital fund Deeptech Labs. Medwise.ai also has the backing of clinician investors Dr Michelle Tempest at Candesic and Dr Chris Kelly at Google Health. SFC Capital has made a follow-on investment after leading a previous round of funding for Medwise.ai. The company will use the investment to scale up operations and strengthen its sales and marketing activities in the UK. Stephen Cardwell, of Finance Yorkshire, will join the Medwise.ai board. The Medwise.ai search platform uses natural language processing and artificial intelligence technology to help clinicians quickly find concise and actionable answers at the point of care. It aggregates results and integrates with information sources such as national guidance websites and local guidelines documents. Dr Keith Tsui, chief executive and co-founder of Medwise.ai, said: “I am thrilled to have secured our seed funding and excited to accelerate our mission to empower clinicians with AI and search technologies. “Our product provides clinicians with one search for clinical knowledge and local guidelines. Instead of Googling or going through outdated local websites or intranets, Medwise.ai enables clinicians to find the information they need to make decisions for patients rapidly at the point of care.” Alex McWhirter, chief executive of Finance Yorkshire, said: “Medwise.ai will empower clinicians to be more efficient, make better decisions and spend more time with their patients. We are pleased to lead this funding round and look forward to working with the Medwise.ai team as they scale up their operations and provide a further boost to the burgeoning healthcare technology sector in our region.” Finance Yorkshire was advised by Jonathan Priestley at 3volution. Ray Levy of Ray Levy Law acted for Medwise.ai. The company previously raised more than £500,000 in a 2021 funding round from SFC Capital, Wayra (Telefónica’s open innovation arm), SyndicateRoom’s Access EIS fund and angels including Stephen Bullock. Finance Yorkshire’s Seedcorn Fund is part of a wider regional business fund which is expected to provide more than £50m to SMEs over five years. Investment is also available from its Growth and Business Loans Funds.

Hull-based Spencer Group has finished the first phase of a £36m enhancement project at the Tyseley rail maintenance depot in Birmingham. A significant section of existing track has been moved to make way a 30m extension to the existing Underframe Cleaning building. Upon completion of the building, a new track layout was built, including a large section of embedded track to allow emergency vehicle access. The next phase of the project has started, and will see mechanical and electrical works to the existing depot buildings including ventilation, shore supplies and mobile gantry cranes. The final phase is the most extensive, and will involve a 100m extension to the existing depot building, providing four car stabling of trains on two roads. This package includes new pits to both roads 11 and 12, along with mechanical and electrical services. Tony Wells, Pre-construction Project Director at Spencer Group, said: “We’re delighted to be delivering this project following a successful tendering process and it’s a really collaborative development which we’re excited to be working on. “Before we got to this stage, we worked hand-in-hand with the client to develop the scheme through a period of early contractor involvement (ECI), which allowed the project to be fully developed and costed.” Richard Watson, Project Director at Spencer Group, added: “Tyseley is a busy depot, particularly at night, which is why the extension is needed to accommodate longer trains. “We have a fantastic, experienced team working on the project. Having worked with West Midlands Trains before, we’re building on our already strong relationship with them. “We constructed a storage building on the same site about three years ago and completed fuelling aprons on the carriage sidings on tracks 13, 14 and 15. This included new canopies, pits and a new fuelling system, providing a covered area to refuel the trains.”