The gauntlet had been thrown and Room501 Ltd was more than ready to take up the challenge.

Christiana Mangold reports on the success of the first issue of a new contract publication for leading regional publication group.

Whilst the rest of the country was caught up with election frenzy during May, the creative bods at Room 501 Publishing Ltd were busy putting together the new and improved North East Contact Magazine for the first time.

Having been awarded the highly coveted contract back in March Room501 has worked around the clock to ensure their first edition is packed full of the regions latest and greatest business news. They are clearly on the ball, having included articles on how the Coalition Government could affect the North East and special features on the creative industry which is particularly vibrant within the region.

Promising to bring to the magazine their “high standards of design, production and editorial” Room501’s first edition, released this month, certainly delivers. The North East Chamber of Commerce is delighted with the style and content of the new magazine and the clear commitment and dedication of the new publishers.

The North East Chamber of Commerce are a “flagship client” for the Tyne & Wear media group who  publish other high calibre titles such as Business Quarter (BQ) magazine and food Quarter (FQ) magazine. Room501 publishing Ltd is a company whose heart and soul are based firmly in the North East business community.

With NE Contact magazine having been brought back into the region for production, a major re-vamp has taken place. New Editor Peter Jackson is keen for the magazine to echo the vibrant business community the North East has to offer and this is reflected in the new look publication; with more regionally relevant features focused directly on North East businesses. Clearly Room501 have met the challenge.

To find out more about North East Contact Magazine and how to subscribe,
contact NECC on 0300 303 6322 or email enquiries@necc.co.uk

Written for room501 By Christiana Mangold, Lancaster University Graduate.

Let us be your unofficial wedding planner – with a cool head and some fine solutions to any niggles on the way to the big day. Be inspired by some lovely weddings from the North East too with couples who are happily hitched. We hope this edition inspires and excites you and serves as a reminder that it is indeed all about the love stuff.

Click here to read online.

Editor,
Kathryn Armstrong

We’ve had some fun getting into the spring spirit here at Luxe. Talking to interesting and inspiring people, getting our heads around the serious business of outdoor fun – not least the concept of ‘glamping’ which is posh camping to you and I.

A great tale of the Van Outersterp family and their downshifting journey from interiors glitz to shabby-chic life under canvas. Our regular columnists are as ever bursting with chat, advice and in-the-know info on subjects that appeal to you discerning people. Really, who else is there when you need a knitted pouf in your life?

Click here to read online.

Kathryn Armstrong
Editor, Luxe

Julie Underwood, NECC’s head of member services said: “NECC is delighted to be working with room501 on the production of North East Contact Magazine. “Room501’s reputation for producing publications of the very best quality is widely known across the North East. “NECC expects this new partnership will provide not only its members, but the region’s business community as a whole with a unique and more compelling insight into the business climate and the efforts that NECC makes for the North East.”

Chris March, managing director of room501 said: ”At room501 publishing we are extremely pleased to have been awarded the contract to produce North East Contact magazine. We will bring to it our high standards of design, production and editorial to create a publication that will give the NECC’s membership an informative, entertaining and incisive monthly business magazine. It will sit alongside our quarterly BQ magazine to provide the widest possible coverage of the North East business scene.”

To find out more about North East Contact Magazine and how to subscribe, contact NECC on 0300 303 6322 or email enquiries@necc.co.uk

Welcome to the latest issue of the North East’s Magazine of the Year.

We lay no false claim here, for at the latest Tom Cordner Press Awards – the region’s annual accolades for the industry – BQ was named best in class. The recognition, which comes just 19 months after our first issue, endorses the approval we already receive regularly from our readers and many supporters within the region’s business community. We’re pleased to be among the winners, particularly in these long-standing ‘Oscars’, which recognise the highest standards of North East journalism.

It indicates to us that – far from the media being an industry dominated by decline, as it is sometimes held up to be, BQ proves that good journalism, targeted marketing and a sound business approach still offer print a sound future.

We are thankful to all our readers, advertisers, supporters and contributors for your loyalty, support and enthusiasm. Our mission is to produce a bright, optimistic and profitable periodical to both inform and entertain, telling and interpreting North East business news and views honestly, without spin and churn. In this, we encourage entrepreneurial spirit, support regional goals, and pay tribute to businesses, organisations and individuals who contribute to the good of our region.

One of these is Graeme Lowdon – already a global pioneer in data communication who has now become director of racing for the new Formula 1 Virgin team. He says this would be impossible to achieve without his wife and sometime business associate, Wendy. We talk to Si Bales about the prodigious growth of her company, Bgroup, and her flair for attracting fine business brains to sit on her board. Talking of fine business brains, John Hays inherited his enterpreneurial streak from his mother, Peggy, and the continuing success of Hays Travel proves the point. He recounts his story within these pages, remembering how he and his brother Malcolm were inspired into business by the fine example of their mother, who beat debilitating illness to make her mark. We also have the story of Bryan and Jeannie Goodall, husband and wife and coentrepreneurs for some 40 years, and now patronising the arts on Teesside.

Stories of all the above, plus that of fair trade pioneer Richard Adams, who has spent four decades breaking down global trade barriers, are here, plus plenty more. All of them are inspiring, and all of them reflect a vibrant and influential business scene. And remember, since we’re the best North East magazine, you must be the North East’s best in readership and support. So thank you again.

To view this issue click here

This accolade, conferred only 19 months after its first issue, endorses approvals we had already received from many within the North East business community that we serve, and which it has been our great pleasure to serve in turn in our relatively short life to date. BQ’s honour has been announced as one of the Cordner Annual Awards – the longstanding regional “Oscars” given in acknowledgement of highest standards achieved in North East journalism yearly.

We are particularly pleased because we feel it shows that, despite the very difficult times confronting print media – in this country and abroad – we are showing, and our customers are showing through their time and interest spared, that there will always be a place in the market for a publication relevant to its readers’ interests and priorities.
Our vision is simple: to produce a bright, optimistic and profitable periodical with both reference and entertainment qualities, telling and interpreting news and views of North East business simply, honestly and devoid of spin and churn.

Our editorial policy is simple too: we encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that has made this region great before and will do so again. We support regional goals. And we pay respect to businesses, organisations and individuals that have already set fine examples by making major contributions to the good of our region’s economy and its people over the years.

We try with all the tools we have – in words and lively, out-of-the rut photography and design – to bring this region’s great business and its allied communities closer, so improving the understanding of each other’s achievements, difficulties and opportunities.

We are soundly supported in all this by our large network of contacts, informants and every interviewee who co-operates with us, often at short notice.
Chris March, BQ’s managing director, had the foresight to trace a gap in the existing market: a need for a periodical of high print and content quality that readers could look forward to with each new issue, a publication proudly independent in its outlook. Thus, BQ was born.

We hope we achieve our objectives and help you to achieve yours. If at any time we don’t measure up, we feel our readers will respect us enough to tell us so, and why. A magazine is only as strong as its readership allows. So our thanks go to everyone giving us encouragement.
Since we are the best North East magazine, you must be the North East’s best in readership and support.

Thank you.

Brian Nicholls,
Editor.

Our latest BQ Live debate at Ramside Hall in Durham had more than 70 people representing many sectors of the North East economy taking part. Our rapporteur, Caroline Theobald of Bridge Club, kept everyone focused, ensuring that the event resulted in a clearly defined set of recommendations for supporting the regional economy that we are now taking forward to One North East, the Minister for the North East and Westminster.

BQ Live already has the backing of Nick Brown, Minister for the North East, and we have every expectation that the good work of the BQ Live participants will reap real results. We’ve also talked this quarter to a veritable who’s who of North East business people, each of whom are making their own mark on the region’s landscape. Perhaps the most literal embodiment of this is Sir Terry Farrell, whose Newcastle masterplans are re-shaping the city and its wider environs, and whose breathtaking Great North Museum has recently re-opened to wide acclaim from experts and general public alike.

The product of a Newcastle council estate whose work on landmark projects worldwide has made him a world leader in his field, he tells us that he credits his former art teacher with encouraging his career aspirations. In similar vein, others may credit Lorna Moran with inspiring their entrepreneurial aspirations through Leadership Enterprise Opportunity – a new development programme she has launched through her own NRG Group and which we explore within these pages. Talking of young entrepreneuers, we also feature Joanna Feeley, whose Trend Bible forecasts future trends relied upon by businesses worldwide, and the three young entrepreneurs, all of them under 30, who are growing their business Logistix through sheer entrepreneurial skill.

We’ve also got RTC North’s Gordon Ollivere on the region’s bid to improve product design, a glimpse of Steve Gibson’s much talked-about £50m Rockliffe Hall Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort, the sparkle of Richard Sinton Jewellers, and beer and fishcakes with Keith Armstrong of Kitchenware Records (Prefab Sprout, Lighthouse Family, Editors). Tanya Garland has kindly fallen off the wagon to test the wine for us, and Duncan Weir takes the Lexus 450H out for an eco-friendly spin.Thanks to all of them for taking the time to work with us, and to you for reading.

Do send your contributions, ideas and pearls of wisdom to editor@bq-magazine.co.uk and, if you see us out and about, tell us what you’re doing; you may just find yourself in print.