We met up with Gemma McGowan (pictured below), Managing Director of The Isla Gladstone, a popular wedding and events venue in Liverpool to chat with her about her typical working day, business challenges as an SME, and exciting plans for the future.
1. What is your business?
I am the owner of the business that operates the Isla Gladstone Conservatory and Kemps Bistro in Stanley Park Liverpool. We have over 100 weddings per year and look after the official off-site Hospitality for Liverpool FC.
Each year we host on average 200 events and provide outside catering for small and large events.
I am also the founder of HESTIA CAREERS, an Apprenticeship program for young people wishing to have a career in hospitality. I founded this after I saw how many young people had the potential for a career in this growing market – but didn’t have the understanding of what the industry actually was. Our young people have travelled to London for silver service and butler training and even to Dubai to work with the Emirates Training Academy.
2. Which solicitors do you use at Bermans and how do we compare to other firms?
Fergal O’Cleirigh (Partner and Head of Property) is my point of contact at Bermans.
I have known Fergal now for a number of years and would not choose to work with anyone else. Not only is he excellent with his knowledge – he cares. He cares enough to take late night calls from me and have my best interests at heart. This type of relationship is priceless and I trust him implicitly – if I had a circle of trust he would be the ring leader!
3. What are the biggest challenges you face in growing your business and maintaining profits?
As I am an SME risk is always seen as the biggest challenge. I personally don’t ever worry about risk – but sometimes to enable yourself to grow you need to take risks that some financial institutions might not be able to place a tick in a box next to. Through Fergal I have met a Bank now that I can work with and who want to grow with me.
The ever increasing utility charges, living wage and business rates have always been an issue when trying to maintain profits. The industry I work in is seen as not a necessity in everyday life. You can choose how much you spend on a wedding or a corporate event – it is not a ‘must’ in your life. Therefore when times are hard these are the first things people stop spending money on. Thankfully for us we work with our customers to ensure value for money and also for us to make a profit.
Also not many people will admit this – but being a woman in a man’s world is still an issue – as I have got older its not as apparent – maybe because I have proven a point – that I am equal to any man – but it still happens and it drives me insane!
4. Tell us about your typical working day?
The school run for the school bus at 7.30am is really the only typical part to my day.
For the rest of the day it can either be spent working with the team at the Isla Gladstone, meeting with my team who are overseeing the Hotel development in Anfield or developing the CIC we have set up for Stanley Park to animate the park and bring more park users to north Liverpool. My day is never dull – and I always go to bed exhausted!
I like to be hands on and know everything that is going on!
5. What has been a highlight for The Isla Gladstone over the last 12 months?
Year on year our business has continued to grow. Particularly with the new hotels and venues opening in the city – this makes me proud that we have been able to continue the growth.
6. What are your plans for The Isla Gladstone for the year ahead?
We have just appointed a new head chef – so I am excited about the new menus and events that we will be catering for. Our demand for corporate and private outside hospitality is also growing. It’s good to see that our brand is being recognised and people chose to work with us.
With the Stanley Park CIC – we will also have lots of exciting weekly community and large scale events being brought to the park that we will be working with.
7. Is there are sector or industry that you are strong in or looking to develop opportunities?
For the past five years I have been working with Your Housing Group, Liverpool City Council and LFC to bring a training hotel to Anfield. We have finally got to a position where we will be signing a franchise agreement with a major brand to bring a 150 bedroomed training hotel to Anfield.
The community of north Liverpool will be able to work and train in the hospitality industry whilst gaining qualifications. This is something I am very proud and excited about. I understand that in this industry people like to learn by working and not by attending college. The way we teach will cater for this. I know first-hand how this feels, I went to University for half a day and I left at dinner time as I didn’t want to read 50 books – I wanted to learn… so I went to work instead!
Bringing a branded training hotel to a regeneration area in Liverpool will be my proudest moment to date – I just can’t wait to get the spade in the ground!
8. Do you find social media assists your business and if so, how?
Our customers love to see new ideas and keep up to date with different trends. This is a major part of our business. In fact I have just employed someone to start looking after this for us as I realise how important it is. We need to have a regular presence and ensure we are always in our customers minds – but without being boring!
9. If you were chancellor, what single change would you make to help improve the economy and/or your business?
If I can be allowed two changes, reducing the burden on business of corporation tax/business rates and increased investment in providing employment opportunities for young people.
10. What are your passions away from business?
Whenever I can I jump on a plane to Portugal with my family – it’s my happy place and I love spending time with my husband and 2 children watching them grow up and enjoy life!
To get in touch with Gemma at Isla Gladstone:
e: gemma@theisla.co.uk
t: 0151 263 0363
WANT TO BE FEATURED NEXT TIME?
To feature your company in the next issue please contact our Marketing Assistant, Emma Bartram 0151 224 0506 or emma.bartram@bermans.co.uk
Article by Chris Maguire, editor and co-owner of the UK’s newest tech magazine BusinessCloud.
“What do you know about tech?” asked an unnamed family member.
As ringing endorsements go this was hardly what I was looking for when I announced I was leaving my safe job as editor of the North West Business Insider for a leap into the unknown.
I’m the first one to admit that I’m not a ‘techy’ person. I don’t sit at my laptop in my underpants at 3am in my bedroom coding. I know very little nothing about HTML but throughout my 25-year career as a journalist I’ve realised there isn’t a single tech sector any more – every sector is tech.
Think about it for a second. From calling an Uber; booking a holiday; ordering the weekly shopping; staying in touch with friends; and downloading flight tickets, everything involves technology in one form or another.
Retail, healthcare, sport, property, finance, travel, education, manufacturing etc are all underpinned by tech. If you want to scale your business you need tech.
However, when I was the editor of Insider, I spoke to more than 1,200 businessmen and women and I was struck by how many chief executives, managing directors and business owners paid lip service to tech. “I’ve got a chief technology officer who takes care of that for me,” they would say. Ask them about their social media and a common reply was: “I’ve got someone who tweets for me.”
This struck me as odd. How can you shape the direction of a business if you don’t understand the benefits that technology can bring? And that’s how BusinessCloud was born with the simple aim being to demystify tech.
Of course I couldn’t launch BusinessCloud without a partner and I’m lucky to have Lawrence Jones in my corner. Lawrence is the co-founder and CEO of fast-growing Manchester headquartered tech firm UKFast. One of the country’s highest profile tech entrepreneurs he and I are committed to making a difference.
And that’s exactly what’s happened. So far we’ve produced five editions of BusinessCloud; hosted 40+ events; overseen a growing website; and launched a weekly newsletter. Our social media following is flourishing and the feedback has been brilliant.
From artificial intelligence to virtual reality; from automation to holograms; from bots to big data; from algorithms to social media; from cloud to cyber security; the list goes on.
We’ve held events in Manchester, Liverpool, Lancashire, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham, Bristol and Belfast. We’ve interviewed start-ups to unicorns.
Because we’re a tech company we’ve embraced tech. We film our roundtables, breakfast events and conferences and upload the videos and podcasts onto our YouTube channel. Some people like to read stories; some like to watch videos; and some like to listen to interviews. In this day and age you have to be omni-channel.
So how can Bermans clients and contacts benefit?
To learn about all that is going on in tech in the North West I suggest that you sign up to our quarterly magazine, which is the bedrock of BusinessCloud. It’s 80 pages and is completely FREE. If you want to subscribe just email subscriptions@businesscloud.co.uk or complete the form on our website – http://www.businesscloud.co.uk/subscribe.
Every quarter we like to get out and visit businesses in the region and help promote the interesting things they are doing. We’re gaining real momentum and working with some big name clients like KPMG; NorthEdge; Peel Ports; recruitment experts Search; Jumpstart; Watch This Space; and OBI Property. We have also recently featured Bermans clients, SRO Solutions Ltd and Smartlife Inc. If you are doing interesting things in tech we would be delighted to hear from you and feature you in the magazine.
We also host events for the business community to get involved. Some of these have been joint events with Pro-Manchester and Business Growth Hub. I have listed below details of our calendar of events that you might want to consider attending and if you have an idea for an event in your particular industry then get in touch and we will see if we can work together.
If you haven’t seen BusinessCloud then you don’t know what you’re missing. Let us demystify tech for you.
About Chris Maguire
Chris Maguire is the editor and co-owner of BusinessCloud and was previously Editor at Insider Media’s North West Business Insider magazine from January 2012 to March 2016. Over the course of a 25-year career he’s also worked for the Daily Mail, Gloucestershire Echo, Yorkshire Evening Post and his career started at Chorley and Leyland Guardian.
Workplace dress codes have been hitting the headlines recently as a result of the challenging (and potentially discriminatory) demands some employers have placed on their female staff.
In late 2015 the press reported that Nicola Thorp had been sent home from her agency role as a Receptionist at PwC’s offices in London as a result of her refusal to wear high heels in the workplace. She was informed that the smart, flat shoes she was wearing were not acceptable under the dress code policy as it required heels of a specific height to be worn. The agency had a particularly detailed dress code policy which specified, amongst other things, that female staff must:
The existence of Prenuptial Agreements (pre nup) has been given a further boost by a recent Family Court decision at the end of 2016. Whilst pre nups are not legally binding, the Family Courts in England are increasingly willing to uphold pre nups as long as they were entered into freely with full understanding of their implications by both parties. Comprehensive financial disclosure is of paramount importance together with careful drafting and detailed legal advice to be provided to both parties.
Recent changes in legislation, as part of Government policy to encourage first time buyers and owner – occupier purchases, have focused on the position of buy to let landlords.
As from April 2017 the reduction of tax relief on finance costs to the basic rate of tax will begin to be phased in and this will be fully in place from April 2020. In November guidance was given on the increases in Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) which were first announced a year earlier .The position is as follows:
You are about to sue a customer for unpaid invoices, or a supplier for faulty goods or services – or maybe they are suing you. The case will be disputed.
You are confident you will win but you need to know if you can recover your legal costs.
Of course, you also need to know the position on costs should you lose the case.
The Insolvency (England & Wales) Rules 2016 will come into effect on 6 April 2017. One of the aims of the 2016 Rules is to modernise and simplify the 1986 Rules and to encourage the use of modern technology, particularly with regard to communications with creditors by email and via the use of websites and with regard to the holding of meetings.
Alissa is a Partner in our asset based lending team, acting for both financial institutions as well as corporate borrower clients. Since joining Bermans in 2017, she has undertaken a broad range of banking and finance work including invoice finance, asset finance and general corporate finance.
Alissa graduated from Liverpool University with a law degree before qualifying as a solicitor in 2010.
Alissa has a keen interest in live music and travelling, and have previously spent time travelling Thailand, Australia and Fiji.
Andrew joined Bermans in January 2017 as a Partner based in Manchester, becoming Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution in 2022.
Andrew studied law at University College, Oxford and The College of Law, Guildford, before qualifying as a Solicitor in 1987.
Andrew advises for owner-managed businesses, professional practices, insolvency practitioners, property developers, secured lenders and individuals.
He specialises in property litigation, shareholder and partnership disputes; litigation for secured lenders; contract disputes; professional negligence and insolvency.
Outside of work, Andrew enjoys football (both playing 5-a-side and watching Manchester City); running; walking/climbing; music and learning to play the piano. Plus he is a member of the Manchester Law Society.
New studies have found that Grandparents could increase the financial benefits and legally reduce the effects of Inheritance Tax of their inheritances by thousands when gifting monies before their death.
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