Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 35 | Seite 7

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 7
/NEWS
/ADVICE
Husband-and-wife team: Chef Paul
Bussey and Ycheng outside the King’s
Arms in Great Stainton, which they
re-opened a year ago.
FIVE NEW FEATURES
OF GMAIL’S REDESIGN
Wave goodbye to Gmail as you know it
as the email service provider is making a
big change for 2018.
Husband-and-wife team celebrates
successful first year at restaurant
A
husband-and-wife team is celebrating
a successful first year in business at a
popular village pub.
Chef Paul Bussey, who once worked
for acclaimed TV chef Gordon Ramsay,
left his role as head chef at Acklam Hall in
Middlesbrough to take on the King’s Arms in
Great Stainton, on the outskirts of Newton
Aycliffe, in August 2017.
And with his wife Ycheng heading up the
team’s front-of-house staff, the pair have
enjoyed a fruitful opening 12 months.
The King’s Arms re-opened a year ago
after an extensive refurbishment following a
lengthy closure.
Twelve months on and it now employs 15
staff – including Nepalese sous chef Bhakta
Thapa, chef de partie Sylvester Scallon and
trainee chef James Lapping – and is winning
rave reviews for its evening meals and
weekend lunches.
“It’s going well – we get a lot of good
positive feedback,” said 33-year-old Bussey.
“It’s difficult for restaurants to make a
profit in their first year, but we’re delighted
with how it has gone.
“You need to get to a certain level and
then stay consistent – because as soon
as you lose consistency, you lose your
customers.
“But we’re getting a lot of repeat custom
and lots of regulars, and we get great
feedback on our food and service.
“We’ve got a good product which we
believe in, we just have to keep it going.”
Bussey and his wife Ycheng, 34, are
making a success of the King’s Arms despite
juggling a busy family life. The couple, who
married five years ago, have two children –
Ethan, 7, and Isla, 4.
But they say their success is largely
down to using local suppliers, as well as its
talented team.
“We try to use as much seasonal produce
as we can with fresh ingredients and we
have a good relationship with the local
farmers,” added Bussey.
“We get all our meat from local suppliers
– we have a farmers’ night every Thursday –
and we get our fish from Hartlepool.
“So we’re trying to use as much local
supplies as we possibly can.”
The King’s Arms is now serving lunches
12-3pm Mon-Sat as well as Afternoon
Tea 12-5pm Mon-Sat, and evening dinner
5.30-9.30pm Mon-Sat, with Sunday lunches
served 12-6pm.
They’re also holding a Birthday BBQ
celebration on Sunday August 27, 12-6pm.
You can find the King’s Arms on
Facebook and Instagram, or to reserve a
table call 01740 630873.
Stiller named
Aycliffe
Company of
the Year
Confidential Mode
This handy tool is great if you’re sending
sensitive information to a colleague
or client. The recipient won’t have the
option to forward, copy, download or
print the email you have sent. You can
also set the email to expire after a certain
period of time to eliminate any data
breaches
Snooze Option
Do you ever get an email that can wait
until a later date? Keep your inbox tidy
by using the new ‘snooze’ feature. This
removes the email from your inbox
until an allocated date and time of your
choosing - this could be later in the day
or even the following week.
Smart Reply
Google’s Smart Reply tool can be handy
for saving time as it suggests short
responses based on email content. With
one quick click, you can populate your
email with Gmail’s suggestion and hit
send. D one and dusted.
Nudge Reminders
Never miss out on replying to an
important email again. Google looks
at specific factors such as the email
recipient and content to determine
whether you should reply to the
email you missed three days ago. A
quick ‘nudge’ is handy if you’ve been
preoccupied with other tasks and could
prevent any mistakes.
Google App Plugins
One of the biggest changes is the
introduction of a sidebar which integrates
with Google’s other applications. You can
swiftly navigate to your calendar while
remaining on your inbox. Not only that,
but you can also access Google Notes
and Tasks without having to switch tabs.
S
tiller Warehousing and
Distribution was named
Company of the Year at Aycliffe
Business Park’s fourth annual
Make Your Mark awards ceremony,
attended by more than 200 people at the
Xcel Centre.
The third-generation family firm pipped
leading shower manufacturer Roman and
Arlington Automotive to win the top award.
Other award winners on the night
included South West Durham Training, Pixel
Let’s face it, we’d get nowhere without
checking and sending emails several
times a day. While change can be scary
(and takes some time getting used
to), Google’s latest improvements
are intended to ‘help people be more
productive at work’ with a few handy
tools integrated into your inbox.
Media, Eldon Financial, Roman, Arlington
Automotive, M5tec, Excelpoint and Crafter’s
Companion.
See our six-page special feature on the
Make Your Mark awards, including details
of all winners and runners-up as well as
a picture gallery from the night itself – all
on pages 14-19.
We’re based at the Xcel Centre on
Aycliffe Business Park, and we’re here to
help. Give us a call on 01325 778786 or
take a look at thriveability.co.uk for more
advice in our blog section.
Rachael Farley
Thrive Marketing