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Ireland’s leading retailers have been recognised at Ireland’s Forecourt and Convenience Retailer Awards 2019, which took place recently in Dublin with Mulkerns Eurospar, Newry and Milestone, Rathfriland taking two of the prestigious awards on the night.
The prestigious Ireland-wide awards, now in their 16th year, are the only specialist awards for the forecourt and convenience industry and form part of Ireland’s Convenience Retailer Summit. They recognise innovation and excellence across a total of 17 categories, including Retailer of the Year,Best Forecourt Facilities, Food to Go Retailer of the Year, Store Manager of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement accolade. Each award is independently judged by Spotcheck through a series of shop visits and panel interviews with industry experts.
Mulkerns Eurospar Ltd, Newry won Best Category Management, and Milestone Rathfriland, Co. Down won Best Fresh Food.
Bill Penton, Managing Director of Penton Exhibitions which organises the Awards, said “We are delighted to be recognising the excellent work that is taking place in the forecourt and convenience retail sector. The category winners should be very proud of their achievement as the standard of entrants gets higher every year and the awards are judged independently through a very rigorous assessment process. Our overall winner, Lee’s Centra Applegreen, has embraced a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship which has enabled them to develop a team of highly trained and motivated staff – fully committed to delivering an excellent service to their customers and the local community.
“Along with Ireland’s Convenience Retailer Summit, the awards are a key event on the industry calendar and the events have been highly successful this year with over 400 people attending the Summit and 500 in attendance at the Awards. As well as being a benchmark of success, the awards are a great opportunity to come together and celebrate the great work within the sector. From excellence in customer service, to training initiatives, to supporting the local community – the dedication and hard work displayed by our winners is something to be proud of. Many of these retailers provide a vital service for the local community and we congratulate them on their success.”
Lee’s Centra Applegreen in Charleville, Co. Cork was named as the overall winner in the Retailer of the Year category for 2019.
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A fleet of 15 modern new Goldline coaches are set to enhance Translink’s 238 Service between Newry and Belfast and the X5 direct service between Newry and Dublin in an investment of £5m towards local services.
To mark the announcement Translink and Skechers Ireland, surprised passengers with a pop-up shoe shop in the city’s Quays Shopping Centre, giving away free Skechers shoes to unsuspecting customers.
The new high-tech coaches are equipped with the latest modern technology offering the highest levels of comfort with key features such as leather seats, USB charging points and seatback tables. They will also be amongst the most fuel efficient and environmentally friendly fleets in the region helping to improve local air quality.
The new fleet, to go into passenger service on Monday 21st October, is Translink’s latest development in the Newry area.
Recently an enhanced 238 timetable was introduced incorporating a new weekend midnight service from Belfast and a new direct X5 service between Newry and Dublin is also growing in popularity.
Skechers Shoe Giveaway
Translink aim to get people to ‘Step-Up’ and think of public transport as a responsible and ‘greener’ travel choice, and an opportunity to easily clock-up additional steps and burn more calories as they walk to and from the bus or train.
Speaking about the Translink/ Skechers Ireland pop-up shoe shop, following a fantastic response from passengers, Greg McLaughlin, Translink said “We have seen strong passenger growth in our Newry to Belfast service and the new direct Dublin service is also performing well. This considerable investment in local bus services for the Newry area will mean we can attract even more people to travel by coach as the better option to the car.
“This has been a really interactive and fun way to engage the public and the response so far has been fantastic. Many of our customers tell us that public transport means they can get more ‘me time’ on board and become more active with a walk to the bus stop not to mention, allows them to reduce their own carbon footprint. Public transport is now considered the single greatest way individuals can help tackle climate change.
Our ‘step-up’ activity was a great way to raise awareness of these many benefits and encourage more people to join the growing generation of ‘smartmovers’.
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Newry family run bakery, Corn Dolly Foods, has had great success at this year’s Great Taste Awards with their wheaten bread products awarded a gold star rating.
The Great Taste Awards is held as the most prestigious ceremony in the food and drink industry, as the organisation itself is the largest and most trusted accreditation scheme. Great Taste offers a unique benchmarking and product evaluation service leading to an independent accreditation that encourages confidence and commercial success for small business, generating greater awareness for products locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Having the Great Taste logo placed on your products guarantees great taste, texture and quality of ingredients. It shows the customer that this product has been through a rigorous and independent judging process, where smart packaging and clever marketing are irrelevant.
Speaking about their success, Jim O’Keefe from Corn Dolly Foods said, “We are very grateful to Great Taste for recognising our Wheaten bread for its quality and taste. We only ever include the freshest ingredients for our hand-crafted products, and clearly our hard work has been paying off.”
Corn Dolly Foods is a multi-award winning, family run business, having won previous Great Taste Awards, Bridgestone Guide Awards, and the Blas na hÉireann awards. They have been serving the people of Newry and Warrenpoint since its establishment in 1990. For over two decades, Corn Dolly Foods have been providing an extensive range of traditional and artisan breads, handmade confectionery and bespoke celebration cakes.
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Buttercrane Centre in Newry has been presented with an Autism Impact Award from Autism NI.
The award is in recognition of their staff training and recent improvements made to the centre environment to enhance the experience of visitors with Autism.
Staff have undergone training to improve awareness of issues that may be experienced by visitors with Autism and in addition improvements have been made to the Centre Mall and website.
A dedicated Autism Friendly section has been added to www.buttercraneshopping.co.uk with ‘familiar sight & sounds video’ and a pre visit guide. Sensory support packs and ID wristbands are now available from the Help Desk; and mall signage has been enhanced to indicate ‘increased noise level’ signage.
Centre Manager, Peter Murray said: “These improvements add to and complement our existing services – Sensory room, Silent Shopping hours, Silent Santa, quiet hand driers and ‘Space to Change’ disabled changing facilities as well as our Go To Shop Trolley for older children with disabilities.
“We are delighted to achieve this Autism Impact Award and we will continue to look at innovative ways to make a visit to Buttercrane a positive, inclusive experience for all our visitors.”
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Over 300 special guests got the opportunity to tour Shelbourne Motors in Newry when it held its official opening night last night, 9 October.
The impressive state-of-the-art facility features Renault, Dacia and Kia showrooms, and a purpose-built Autoselect Used Car Supermarket.
The 50,000 sq ft development also includes new car handover bays, drive-in service centre and lounge-style waiting area.
The Kia, Renault and Dacia partnerships position Shelbourne Motors as the only dedicated dealership supplying new and used vehicles for the global car manufacturers in the Newry and Mourne area.
The official opening of the multi-franchise complex has created 60 new jobs across a variety of customer service, sales and technical support roles.
Paul Ward, Sales Director at Shelbourne Motors said: “We’re delighted to officially launch our new £5m multi-franchise complex in Newry. This is our largest ever single investment and fulfils our long-term ambition of expanding into the Newry and Mourne area.
“This state-of-the-art facility is a game-changer in the local automotive industry and strengthens our position as one of Northern Ireland’s largest family-owned vehicle retailers.
“The complex has been meticulously designed to provide an unequalled sales and after-care experience to customers. It incorporates spectacular Renault, Dacia and Kia showrooms, and an Autoselect Used Car Supermarket within one purpose-built facility that is sleek, bright and modern with a host of technologically-advanced features.
“The doors have been open for less than two weeks and the huge amounts of positive feedback from new and existing customers has been tremendous.
“We are already ahead of our projected sales and after sales targets for October and this is testament to our 60 new staff hitting the ground running and delivering our ethos of ensuring customers receive the highest level of service and the best value on our excellent range of new and used vehicles.”
Shelbourne Motors’ will be hosting an open day for the general public this Saturday 12 October (12 – 2pm) to celebrate the official opening of the new facility. Cool FM Roadshow will host an outside broadcast to entertain customers and local suppliers The Big Red Bus Company will also be hand to sample food cooked on their American style smoker.
Shelbourne Motors was founded by the Ward Family in 1973 and its Portadown headquarters operates Toyota, Renault, Nissan and Dacia franchises, as well as a Used Car Supermarket, Accident Repair Centre, Vehicle Rental Division and Valet Centre.
For more information on Shelbourne Motors’ new multi-franchise complex in Newry visit WWW.SHELBOURNEMOTORS.COM
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Newry based accident management company, CRASH Services, is the latest innovative employer to announce they have reduced their working week for staff, with no impact on pay after a year long research project.
CRASH who assist motorists involved in road traffic accidents, have cut full-time staff hours by 10%, from 35 hours to 31.5 hours from July this year.
Jonathan McKeown, CEO at CRASH, commented “We have over 80 staff and they are our most important asset. We want to ensure they have the right work-life balance. When we launched the project last summer, there was real excitement. We have been in operation for nearly 25 years and we have always tried to offer the best working environment and employee benefits package, so our staff were reassured this was not about cost-cutting.
From our own research, we knew that having more free time to spend with family and friends is something employees want more of. Whilst staff wellbeing is becoming a bigger concern for all employers.’
Michelle Murphy HR & Operations Manager at CRASH understood that to make this possible a lot of groundwork had to be undertaken,
‘We knew there was a lot of preparation to do before we could implement the new working patterns. So we set our teams the challenge of reviewing every working practice. We encouraged every staff member to look at their individual tasks and ask what was inefficient. This has been a really insightful process and they have eliminated some tasks, streamlined other processes and used technology to make time savings.
“These suggestions were then recorded before being reviewed by the Management Team. We are pleased that the vast majority of their recommendations are being implemented.
“This project is not necessarily about reducing everyone to a four day week. It might suit others to work their hours over five shorter days and if that’s what a staff member wants, we will try to accommodate. Indeed our intention is to reduce working hours by another 10% in the summer of 2020 following our learnings from the next 12 months.’
CEO Jonathan is delighted that the company can make this reduced working life a reality for the team, “We have always had fantastic staff retention levels but we never want to be complacent. We feel that with increased automation, reduced hours will be considered by more employers. So we wanted to take a leading role. We are happy to share our experiences with others.
To find out more about CRASH, visit crashservices.com or call 028 90660244
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Newry company Smet Building Products Ltd (SMET) has been presented with the ISO Occupational Health and Safety Management System (SSIP) accredition continuing their triple awards in the latest ISO standards.
The new OHS criteria were revised to place more emphasis on the inclusion of all members of staff in setting and maintaining Health & Safety Standards. The revisions ensure these ISO management systems remain future-proof, relevant and able to serve the operational needs of organisations.
The management systems help define the firms working procedures and processes, underpinning their commitment to providing excellence in all their services, system solutions and products.
Joris Smet, Managing Director of the Belfast Road based company said "As a supplier of superior-quality building products and services, we ensure our operations are carried out to the highest of standards.
"To achieve this, we operate a triple-award BSI certified Management System. This includes ISO 9001: 2015 Quality Management System, ISO 14001: 2015 Environmental Management System and ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System (SSIP).
"This is our fourth consecutive year of triple certification status and we’re delighted to announce we have achieved the newly revised 2018 standard in ISO OHS 45001:2018."
SMET were awarded their first ever BSI certified ISO 9001 Quality Management System nine years ago.
Mr Smet concluded "We’ve grown as a team and as an organisation, championing professionalism, integrity and innovation in every aspect of our work. We remain true to our values and committed to serving our Smet Supported Partners."
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Today's Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Planning Committee have deferred a decision on whether to accept or not planners recommendation that permision be refused for a retail park on the old Customs Clearance Station site at Carnbane Way in Newry. The decision has now been moved to the November Planning meeting.
It follows a statement released jointly by Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade and Newry BID this week in which they supported planners recommendation to reject the application claiming that Newry isn't large enough for two city centres'.
In recent weeks existing derelict buildings on the site have been removed and the site levelled.
Damolly Developments applied for planning permission in early 2017 to develop the seven hectare site with plans for 11 retail units from 991sqm to 2830sqm, 4 restaurant and cafe units or 250 and 325sqm with the provision of 878 car parking spaces.
In their application they detailed how their Newry City Retail Park had the potential to contribute £29M annually to the local economy.
Planners who recommended refusal quoted the Banbridge, Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015 (BNMAP) noting that the the site was outside the Plan's City Centre and Primary Retail Core Boundary.
They also stated "The proposal involves 12,106 sq m of unrestricted net retail floorspace which amounts to 31% of the total city existing floorspace of 39.300 sq m. It is clear that the approval of this level of unrestricted floorspace would have a significantly adverse effect on the existing city centre in terms of trade and turnover and other existing centres"
A planning application for the site was made as far back as 2009 for a foodstore as well as 70 light industrial/ business units and residential properties.
Planning approval was granted for this eventually in 2014 but a condition required a block of industrial units to be completed and available for occupation prior to the opening of the store. The industrial units are proposed in the current application.
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Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade and Newry BID have released a statement claiming that Newry was not big enough for two city centres. Today's Newry, Mourne and Down Council Planning Committee was supposed to make a decision on the proposal but have delayed it till next months meeting!
Planning officials have already recommended that a Damolly Developments proposal for the retail development at the old Customs site on Carnbane Way be rejected.
Newry BID and Newry Chamber claim that if passed it would pave the way for “an alternative city centre in Newry”.
Colm Shannon CEO Newry Chamber and Eamonn Connolly, BID manager, who represent hundreds of Newry businesses believe planners were wise to recommend that Damolly Developments’ plans for a further £100m retail park be rejected.
In their statement they say that Town Centres are under pressure universally with vacancy rates stubbornly high and national footfall figures in decline. They claim that the proposed new development would inevitably result in further displacement of business from the centre of Newry that would ultimately prove to be unsustainable and detrimental to the city’s entire offering.
Eamonn Connolly, Newry BID said: “This proposal would all but double out-of-town retail floor space, which would then represent well over two thirds of the retail square footage in the city centre.
“The fact that a new retail park of this magnitude is proposed right next door to the existing Damolly Retail Park and the Fiveways complex, should set alarm bells ringing. Together they would constitute a very real challenge to the city centre.
“At two thirds the size of the city centre, with associated parking for 1750 cars, it is much too close to a tipping point for comfort. Planners were wise to recommend the application be rejected.
“We trust that the planners’ recommendation will be endorsed by councillors and that the planning committee listens to the local business community and adheres to its aim of regenerating Newry City Centre rather than undermining it.”
Commenting on the proposal, Colm Shannon, CEO of the Chamber said: “Newry Chamber has opposed this out-of-town development from the start and this remains our position.
“A development of this scale would have a long-term impact on the future development of Newry City Centre. The Council itself has just announced ambitious regeneration proposals for a new conference/theatre and civic hub, together with an investment in the public realm.
“A new out-of-town retail park would undermine the plans to regenerate and revitalise the centre of our city and ultimately not be good for business in Newry.”
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