Latest news with #Coventry-based
Leader Live
4 days ago
- Business
- Leader Live
New owner for the Crown Inn pub in Caergwrle
Businessman Robert Venn approached law firm Brindley Twist Tafft & James (BTTJ) when he was in the process of preparing to buy The Crown Inn on the High Street in Caergwrle. Alex Khan, managing partner at Midlands firm BTTJ and an expert in commercial property law, explained Coventry-based Mr Venn's initial request was for assistance with conveyancing on his property, as he was in the process of extending the lease to make it more attractive for sale. Read more: Australian bar saved after being transformed into Wrexham AFC fan dream But as the same time he mentioned the potential of selling his home and buying the pub in Wales, and so Mr Khan explained the complexity of the process, what steps were needed, and in what order. Mr Khan said: "We are delighted Mr Venn is now the new owner of The Crown Inn. "He needed initial expert advice regarding negotiating terms and finalisation of the lease extension on his property. "Once this was completed, he was able to sell his flat for a higher price, as the buyer saw the extended lease as better security. Read more: Three 'unforgettable' seaside pubs in North Wales named among the UK's best "Mr Venn was then able to combine the funds raised from his residential property sale with a commercial loan that enabled his purchase of the pub. "As ever with these investment projects, there were various twists and turns along the way, and we were happy to help guide Mr Venn through what developed into a complex legal and taxation process." The freehold interest in The Crown Inn had been marketed by property agency Sydney Phillips at an asking price of £230,000 - although the final purchase price has not been disclosed. The traditional pub is an end-terraced property with a bar, lounge and seating for 65, a split-level beer garden, and five-bedroomed owner's accommodation above. Read more: Kat hopes to blend wellbeing and business with Flintshire smoothie bar Mr Venn said: "I am thrilled to be the new owner of The Crown Inn and look forward to the venue serving the community in Caergwrle with a warm welcome for many years to come. "The advice I received from Alex at BTTJ was truly excellent. He helped guide me from the inception of an idea through to completion of a pub purchase, with an assured calm that I doubt could be rivalled. "Also, because I was purchasing the pub as a going concern, there were various complexities involving the transfer of the business and VAT issues, a stumbling point for other experts involved, but all expertly handled by Alex. "The process was lengthy and complex, but thanks to BTTJ I have now achieved my ambition of owning the pub."
Belfast Telegraph
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Belfast Telegraph
Could this self-driving Belfast bus soon be taking you to work or the airport?
The Harlander is planned to operate 12 hours a day, carrying up to nine passengers at a time on a route around Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Belfast Harbour hopes to expand these routes in coming years, connecting to the airport and potentially connecting other areas of Northern Ireland to more mainstream public transport. The driverless shuttle is currently completing safety testing, but can already be seen doing practice runs around roads in the area. Belfast Harbour plans the Harlander to run a 15-20 route, on a timetable aligned to the arrival of trains at Titanic Halt station. The timetable currently has approximate running hours from 6:30am to 6:30/7:00pm. The shuttle will initially run with safety attendants sitting at the driver's seat, however Belfast Harbour aims to eventually run it with no direct human input at all. Mike Dawson, 53, the people and digital transformation director at Belfast Harbour, says 'the purpose of the bus is to create last mile connectivity between the Titanic halt and initially, the Catalyst building. 'Then we have a loop of about four stops on the estate that it will stop on initially, to get a model and a blueprint that's viable for other services.' Mr Dawson says there are several goals for the current testing phase: 'What we'd like to do is have this run, learn from it, particularly the passenger experience and customer experience. 'What does that look like? What does that feel like? What needs to be tweaked, improved? How do you make sure there are no barriers to entry for people to be able to get on and access it?' Self-driving vehicles can be an unnerving technology for some, but Mr Dawson wants the shuttle to become 'reassuringly boring, that you're just getting transported from point A to point B.' He says the advantage is 'cost, more than anything else.' 'Translink run a great service, the Glider, up and down. But when we looked at it, we wanted more people to potentially use the train. 'You've got that 1.3 miles, how do you get people to do that? If the weather's atrocious, you're putting people off. How can we incentivise people to have a seamless experience: you get on the train, you get on the Harlander, [it] takes you to Catalyst, you're at your place of work.' The shuttle has been designed in partnership with several other companies including eVersum, Oxa, Angoka, BT and Horiba Mira. eVersum is an Austrian company which develops electric buses, and they created a right-hand drive model specifically for the Harlander. The self-driving technology comes from Oxa, who Mr Dawson describes as 'world-class in this space'. Safety testing has been carried out by Coventry-based firm Horiba Mira who have 'tested to death' the vehicles. 'They have a model of the Harbour estate on their land, they've run this model for months and months and months. 'We're going to do the same here, we've been doing it for the last few weeks, we're going to do it for another three to four. We're very confident it does what it needs to do. But, fundamentally, you still have a driver's seat there, you still have a steering wheel, you still have the ability to intervene should it be necessary.' While there will be safety attendants sitting in the driver's seat at first, Mr Dawson says 'the truth is, it will largely run in autonomous mode.' There are plans to get the Hardlander to a 'level four' self-driving vehicle, where 'there is no safety attendant, there is no driver.' Mr Dawson said he 'would like to see' an expansion of self-driving transport across Belfast and Northern Ireland. 'We would like to see more of these, where you can create connectivity on the estate itself. 'We see this as a much bigger play regionally, not just for Northern Ireland, but also for GB, where you can get connectivity to those main routes. Imagine you had estates in the city where you had these types of routes feeding the Glider route. 'It doesn't replace bus drivers, it augments what we have in place today.' Joe O'Neill, chief executive of Belfast Harbour, says the Harlander is a vital cog in its five-year strategy' and wants better connectivity 'with some of our other services, like Cruise, bringing passengers into the city. 'Connectivity to the airport is an important one as well, how we can work with the Belfast City Airport,' he added.
Belfast Telegraph
5 days ago
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Could this self-driving bus soon be taking you to work or the airport?
A new self-driving shuttle bus was launched yesterday, ahead of going into service in Belfast Harbour in the coming months. The Harlander is planned to operate 12 hours a day, carrying up to nine passengers at a time on a route around Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Belfast Harbour hopes to expand these routes in coming years, connecting to the airport and potentially connecting other areas of Northern Ireland to more mainstream public transport. The driverless shuttle is currently completing safety testing, but can already be seen doing practice runs around roads in the area. Belfast Harbour plans the Harlander to run a 15-20 route, on a timetable aligned to the arrival of trains at Titanic Halt station. The timetable currently has approximate running hours from 6:30am to 6:30/7:00pm. The shuttle will initially run with safety attendants sitting at the driver's seat, however Belfast Harbour aims to eventually run it with no direct human input at all. Mike Dawson, 53, the people and digital transformation director at Belfast Harbour, says 'the purpose of the bus is to create last mile connectivity between the Titanic halt and initially, the Catalyst building. 'Then we have a loop of about four stops on the estate that it will stop on initially, to get a model and a blueprint that's viable for other services.' Mr Dawson says there are several goals for the current testing phase: 'What we'd like to do is have this run, learn from it, particularly the passenger experience and customer experience. 'What does that look like? What does that feel like? What needs to be tweaked, improved? How do you make sure there are no barriers to entry for people to be able to get on and access it?' Self-driving vehicles can be an unnerving technology for some, but Mr Dawson wants the shuttle to become 'reassuringly boring, that you're just getting transported from point A to point B.' He says the advantage is 'cost, more than anything else.' 'Translink run a great service, the Glider, up and down. But when we looked at it, we wanted more people to potentially use the train. 'You've got that 1.3 miles, how do you get people to do that? If the weather's atrocious, you're putting people off. How can we incentivise people to have a seamless experience: you get on the train, you get on the Harlander, [it] takes you to Catalyst, you're at your place of work.' The shuttle has been designed in partnership with several other companies including eVersum, Oxa, Angoka, BT and Horiba Mira. eVersum is an Austrian company which develops electric buses, and they created a right-hand drive model specifically for the Harlander. The self-driving technology comes from Oxa, who Mr Dawson describes as 'world-class in this space'. Safety testing has been carried out by Coventry-based firm Horiba Mira who have 'tested to death' the vehicles. 'They have a model of the Harbour estate on their land, they've run this model for months and months and months. 'We're going to do the same here, we've been doing it for the last few weeks, we're going to do it for another three to four. We're very confident it does what it needs to do. But, fundamentally, you still have a driver's seat there, you still have a steering wheel, you still have the ability to intervene should it be necessary.' While there will be safety attendants sitting in the driver's seat at first, Mr Dawson says 'the truth is, it will largely run in autonomous mode.' There are plans to get the Hardlander to a 'level four' self-driving vehicle, where 'there is no safety attendant, there is no driver.' Mr Dawson said he 'would like to see' an expansion of self-driving transport across Belfast and Northern Ireland. 'We would like to see more of these, where you can create connectivity on the estate itself. 'We see this as a much bigger play regionally, not just for Northern Ireland, but also for GB, where you can get connectivity to those main routes. Imagine you had estates in the city where you had these types of routes feeding the Glider route. 'It doesn't replace bus drivers, it augments what we have in place today.' Joe O'Neill, chief executive of Belfast Harbour, says the Harlander is a vital cog in its five-year strategy' and wants better connectivity 'with some of our other services, like Cruise, bringing passengers into the city. 'Connectivity to the airport is an important one as well, how we can work with the Belfast City Airport,' he added.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Coventry anthem 'very uplifting'
Frank Lampard has described Coventry City's anthem played before kick-off as "very uplifting". 'We'll Live and Die in These Towns' by Coventry-based band The Enemy was released in 2007 and became the unofficial anthem to the Sky Blues during the 2023-24 season. A rendition of the song before the club's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United last season gathered the attention of many, including Lampard, with most praising it for it's originality and connection to the West Midlands city. "It's very uplifting," Lampard told BBC CWR, as Coventry prepare to host Sunderland in their play-off semi-final first leg on Friday (20:00 BST). "I remember when I got the job, a friend of mine sent me a video of the fans signing it at Wembley against Manchester United. "I feel it on the bench and it gives us a real kick into the game. "The fans have seen the players play with a passion, energy and quality off the back of that - hearing everyone sing. "We've got incredible support. It's an atmosphere I haven't seen created in many other grounds. This is a special one."
BBC News
07-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Coventry big baby trial gives pregnant women choice
Big baby trial gives pregnant women more choice 10 minutes ago Share Save Shannen Headley BBC News, West Midlands Amy Cole BBC Midlands Today Share Save BBC Eve Morgan took part in the 'Big Baby' trial in 2018, giving birth to her son 10 days early Women pregnant with larger babies have been given the option to choose how and when to give birth in a bid to lessen the risk of injury to the child. The "big baby" trial aimed to find out if starting labour earlier than 38 weeks made it less likely for infants who appeared large in the womb to be born with shoulder dystocia, where the shoulder becomes stuck during delivery. Study findings from between 2018 and 2022 showed giving birth a week to 10 days earlier reduced the risk, researchers said. It is hoped the data from the £2.5m Coventry-based trial will give doctors and midwives more confidence in facilitating natural births. Coventry nurse Eve Morgan took part in the study 2018 after monitoring found her baby could reach 9lb (4kg). Ms Morgan, who developed gestational diabetes when she was pregnant, had a cervical sweep to help bring on her choice of a natural labour. As a result, she safely delivered her 7lbs 8oz boy (3.4kg) 10 days early. "They said [the] baby grows so much in the last kind of week or so," she said. "I'm quite petite myself. They said he would have been big for me." The trial was led by Siobhan Quenby, a professor of obstetrics at the University of Warwick and consultant at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust, in partnership with the Perinatal Institute, Birmingham. Results were gathered from 2,893 women in 106 hospitals in the UK, who consented to be randomly allocated to induction or standard delivery. What is shoulder dystocia? Shoulder dystocia occurs in 1 in 150 vaginal deliveries, delaying birth and leading to possible complications, including a stretching in the nerves of the infant's neck. The NHS says the condition occurs more often in bigger babies but there is uncertainty over how often. It is estimated it could affect 1 in 25 women with a big baby who have a vaginal delivery. Large babies are defined as those who weigh more than 90% of other babies the same age, the NHS said. Professor Siobhan Quenby said the trial gave women choices over how and when to have larger babies Prof Quenby said the trial findings empowered women to decide "how and when they want to deliver their baby". Trial data crucially revealed babies did not suffer more harm if they were delivered later. It also showed earlier delivery reduced the need for emergency Caesarean section and did not increase the risk of tearing. "Whether you're induced at 38 weeks or whether you choose to wait for a natural labour, in both groups the baby's outcomes were the same," Prof Quenby said. "Both groups had a risk of shoulder dystocia, it was actually slightly higher if you waited for labour naturally - but babies didn't do any worse if you wait for labour naturally." She added all the babies were born in an NHS hospital, where staff were trained on delivering natural births. Komal Mehmood, who is 38-weeks pregnant with a baby that appears larger in the womb, said data from the trial offered her reassurance Komal Mehmood, from Coventry, is 38-weeks pregnant with her second child, which is measuring as large. She said she found the results of the trial helpful when deciding her birth plan. "I mean it's a natural process at the end of the day," she said. "I understand the baby's big, but I'm confident that waiting for a normal birth shouldn't be a problem." Asked if the data had offered her reassurance she said: "Definitely it does." The trial was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the results published in the medical journal, The Lancet. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
