COME to York Gordon Brown and talk to us – that’s the message from city council leader Andrew Waller and businessmen and women keen for the Prime Minister to drop in and speak to them on his tour of the country.

Mr Brown is on a three-day tour of England and Wales to explain what the Government is doing to help people and businesses through the economic downturn – but there is no sign of York on his itinerary.

Coun Waller said this needed to change. He said: “I would say to Gordon Brown come to York and take a keener interest in the activities of small businesses and the effects of national policy on them, because they operate in a different way to the big businesses that he has been visiting elsewhere.

“Small businesses employ the majority of people and are the bedrock of the economy.

“When he comes to York we will be able to show him what has been going on here and the work we have been doing with the business community and the business and retail forums, working together for the long-term good of the city.”

Coun Waller pointed to measures the council has taken to try to alleviate problems caused by the economic downturn, including the authority’s executive approving plans to lend £100,000 to York Credit Union’s coffers, after hearing it was struggling to find the necessary resources to cope with increasing numbers of requests for loans from the city’s cash-strapped residents.

He also pointed to a helping hand given by council officials to small businesses, who have agreed to speed up the payment of their bills.

At the moment, City of York Council pays its contractors within 30 days of being invoiced.

But the authority’s financial chiefs have agreed to reduce that period to ten days, to support firms struggling with cash flow.

Paul Smith, of Quartz Travel, Heworth, is The Press’s Business Personality Of The Year. He wrote to Mr Brown last month inviting him to come to York but says, as yet, he has had no reply.

Mr Smith said: “Mr Brown needs to come to York and listen to small businesses because York has a different and unique trading environment. We have the smallest of shops which collectively employ the most people.

“York has a lot of exciting businesses and there have been many success stories. We want York to survive and succeed in the current difficult economic climate.”

The first place Mr Brown visited on his tour was Rolls Royce. The Derby-based aero engine manufacturer is one of the success stories of the East Midlands and the UK employing 20,000 people in the region, but thousands of more jobs in locally-based component firms depend on it.

Selby’s Labour MP, John Grogan, said: “I’ll be sure to pass on Coun Waller’s request to the Prime Minister’s Office. Obviously, the Prime Minister is very much in demand at the moment. He was in Yorkshire just before Christmas when the cabinet met in Leeds and I’m sure the Prime Minister will be back in 2009.

“Nothing would please me more than if Mr Brown would come to York and Selby.”

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “The Prime Minister held a regional cabinet meeting in Leeds just before Christmas and has no plans to visit Leeds or York on this current tour.”


York ‘offers visitors a friendly welcome’

TOURIST chiefs in York have backed calls for better service in Britain’s hotels and restaurants – but said the city already had a reputation for its friendly welcome.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of Visit York, was speaking in the wake of an outburst by Christopher Rodrigues, chairman of Visit Britain.

Mr Rodrigues, who represents the tourist boards of England, Scotland and Wales, said 50,000 jobs in hotels and restaurants could be lost in the recession this year – many because visitors to Britain were being put off by poor service.

Some hotels were still being dragged down by surly reception staff and the failure to offer basic services such as decent towels or fresh soap, he said.

“We’re now in an environment where you have to do quality. Poor value for money and poor service costs jobs and will cost more jobs in a recession.

“Threadbare towels, a previously owned bar of soap and a grumpy person who says ‘We don’t do breakfast before 8am and we don’t do it after 8.12am’ – you don’t get a lot of happy customers’.”

But while Mrs Cruddas backed his calls for higher standards, she said York was already leading the way.

She said: “York’s recent Best UK City award win is an indication of just how happy our customers are with their holiday experience. We’re never complacent and we’re constantly working to drive up standards, not just in hotels, but in all sectors of the industry.

“We have also recently launched a programme of training events that anyone involved in tourism can take part in from taxi drivers to shop assistants.

“It’s the whole visitor experience that is important.”


Music shop axes seven

MUSIC chain store zavvi UK has closed one of its York outlets, with the loss of seven jobs.

The shop at York Designer Outlet shut yesterday, when all seven employees at the branch were made redundant.

When asked about the fate of the zavvi UK branch in Coney Street, York, a spokeswoman for Ernst & Young LLP, the administrators of the company, said: “At the moment we can’t say what’s going to happen to that store in terms of whether it’s going to close, and whether any of the staff are going to lose their jobs.”

The spokeswoman said that if Ernst & Young found a party to take over that part of zavvi UK, the Coney Street shop could remain open, and the 16 jobs there could be saved. “But at this stage it’s too early to say, as we’re still looking for buyers, so it just depends,” she said.

Ernst & Young yesterday announced the immediate closure of 21 other zavvi UK stores, but said it would continue to trade the remaining 92 stores throughout the UK. It also announced further reductions off current discounted prices, with 20 to 50 per cent off across all product lines with effect from today.

In a statement, Ernst & Young said: “The joint administrators are working closely with the Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payment Office and Job Centre Plus to provide support and advice to all employees made redundant.”


Waiting game for retailer

STAFF at a York branch of the women’s clothing firm Viyella are still waiting to hear their fate after the company collapsed into administration.

The firm has 120 stores and concessions in the UK – including a concession at Fenwick in York, where between three and four staff are employed.

Insolvency practitioner Poppleton & Appleby, which has been appointed administrator, said in a statement Viyella was a trusted and respected brand and it had already been contacted by interested parties.

“We are currently assessing all options and, for the time being, allowing all the existing stores to continue to trade while a buyer is sought for the business,” it said.

Viyella, which dates back to 1784, is owned by Birmingham-based investment group Harris Watson. “Unfortunately, the current economic downturn has undone all the efforts of the last five years,” the firm said.

“Following an assessment of the current economic situation and the prospects for the future, the directors have reluctantly decided that they have no alternative but to place the business into administration.”


18 staff lose their jobs

A FACTORY near York producing sandwich fillings and salads has become the latest victim of the credit crunch – with 18 workers losing their jobs.

The Salad Garden Ltd, in Elvington Industrial Estate, closed its doors for the last time on December 23.

Today, the company’s administrators, accountants Mazars LLP, said falling turnover and bad debts were to blame for the firm’s demise.

Robert Adamson, from Mazars LLP, said: “It’s another victim of what’s going on in the economic climate.

“The company suffered a bad debt in the summer when one of its customers went into administration and that, coupled with declining turnover, put them in a position where they were making a loss.

“The directors actively sought an external investor and thought they had secured one but, unfortunately, that didn’t come to fruition and on December 19 we met with the directors. With Christmas looming, it was a very small window of opportunity to attract alternative investment or a purchaser and we had to lay off the workforce just prior to Christmas, following the migration of the larger customers. The factory is no longer operational and we are now looking to dispose of the business and its associated assets.”