Michael Richards, aged 29, is the new manager of the 100-room Monkbar Hotel in York.

He was formerly deputy manager at the Hotel St Nicholas in Scarborough, and will report to the Monkbar's director Colin Gardner.

A York man, Mr Richard's three Millennium goals for the hotel are to attract more overseas guests, to boost winter business and in his words, to "eradicate the notion that hotel jobs are second best."

Young animal diet specialists, SCA Nutrition Ltd of Thirsk, has appointed Michelle Sprent as a new development nutritionist.

Michelle who joins the firm's team of nutritionists and technical specialists, has degrees in pig production and agricultural and food sciences. She will be responsible for trial work at SCA's feed evaluation unit dedicated solely to the evaluation and development of young piglets' diets.

High sales levels and an increasing demand for more building land has prompted York-based housebuilder Barratt to appoint Craig Hawley as development manager.

Mr Hawley, aged 29, is the newest member of the technical team. He has more than eight years' experience as a land buyer, largely with a construction company in Doncaster.

Roy Charlton is the HSBC's new area manager based in Harrogate and responsible for 17 branches in North Yorkshire.

He succeeds Philip Spencer who has become head of personal banking in Singapore.

Mr Charlton, aged 43, has moved from the bank's divisional management centre in Leeds where he was responsible for the approval and control of lending. Born in Whitley Bay, he joined the bank in 1974.

Sanderson Bramall, the Harrogate-based motor group has appointed Nigel Thomas as its fleet sales manager. Mr Thomas will be in charge of a department responsible for selling more than 5,000 cars a year to companies.

An internal promotion, he spent eight years at Bridgegate BMW in Derby, one of Sanderson Bramall's dealerships.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.