Houghton-le-Spring news
Aldi targets Houghton in
Tyne and Wear expansion
Discount giant Aldi has revealed it is
eyeing Houghton-le-Spring as one of
several North-East sites in which it
intends to open new stores.
The low-cost supermarket has
announced it intends to open stores
across Tyne and Wear as part of its aim
to open over 300 new stores around the
country by 2025.
It is looking for freehold town-centre
or edge-of-centre sites suitable for
development.
Aldi says sites should be around 1.5
acres and able to accommodate a 20,000
sq ft store with around 100 parking
spaces, ideally on a prominent main road
and with good visibility and access.
MERCHANDISING FIRM
WINS BIG INVESTMENT
FLOORING
FIRM OPENS
NEW STORE
The summer might feel like
one endless catalogue of
redundancies and closures but
flooring store Frank's has bucked the
trend with the opening of a new store in
Houghton-le-Spring.
It is store number 28 for the famous
name in flooring retail in the North-East
with the company having invested £25,000
in renovating and extending derelict retail
premises in Newbottle Street - the traditional
centre of shopping in the once thriving
County Durham town.
The new store has created two jobs,
following a record month of trading in June
for the brand’s other 27 locations.
Frank’s business development manager
Mick Copeland, said: “We are delighted
to have been able to open our first store in
Houghton-le-Spring.
“We’re hopeful that it will be as successful
as other town centre stores which make an
important contribution to the local retail
economy.”
Robert Ward, store manager, added: “We
have every confidence that Houghton-le-
Spring will be popular with local people.
“It’s location in the heart of the town
is perfect and the Frank’s brand always
guarantees great customer loyalty.
“The lockdown period and the support
via the furlough scheme has left people
with more disposable income and with
uncertainty over foreign holidays in 2020,
many have turned to home improvements, so
we have never been busier.
“Frank's has never shied away from
opening stores during difficult times,
such as recessions and, in this case, an
unprecedented global pandemic and
subsequent lock-down.”
46
Houghton-based sporting
merchandise comparison website
footy.com is using a £1.625m
investment to grow the business
across the globe.
The funding from North-East
venture capital firm Northstar
Ventures was earmarked to increase
brand awareness, enhance its
workforce and invest in its online
technology which allows customers
to source the most competitive deals
on sportswear.
The website footy.com has
established itself as the UK’s
leading price comparison website
for football merchandise and
sportswear.
But that figure is set to grow
as the company sets its sights on
developing a global following.
Established in 2015 by five
entrepreneurs, footy.com has grown
quickly with support from local
businesses including SaleCycle and
The Leighton Group.
Innovative Houghton firm
develops green energy from
disused coal mines
A
revolutionary
system to
heat homes
by utilising geothermal energy from water
in disused mines is being developed by
Houghton-le-Spring-based Oakes Energy
Services.
The company, part of Pacifica Group,
has upgraded the Coal Authority’s Dawdon
Mine Water Treatment Scheme in County
Durham.
And, working in partnership with heat
pump specialist Kensa, Oakes Energy
Services has redesigned and upgraded
the facility’s heat pump technology to
demonstrate how the water can be extracted
and used for home and commercial
property heating systems.
It is one of the first developments of its
kind in the country and, with one quarter
of UK homes and businesses sited on
former coalfields, mine water energy could
be a crucial part of decarbonising Britain’s
energy requirements.
AN ARRESTING CASE
OF SERENDIPITY
Two ex-policeman from opposite sides of
the North Sea have combined to launch
new gin products in the North-East after a
chance meeting at an international police
conference.
Retired Wearside police officer Bryn Jones
from Sunderland set up his business House
of Ruhr in Houghton-le-Spring thanks to
inspiration from German police officer Peter
Meinken, whose family own a distillery in
the Ruhr Valley.
The pair met at an International Police
Association conference when Peter, a
frequent visitor to the North-East, asked for
help getting his gins into the region’s bars
and pubs.
The meeting has led to a lifelong
friendship, a new business importing gin
into the UK and the maintenance of strong
links with mining communities in both
countries.