Top 100: Turnover for serial entrepreneur's business empire passes £30m

Despite best efforts to avoid it, saving Gloucester City FC made Eamonn McGurk one of the county’s most high-profile businessmen. He may have slid from centre stage, but his empire is thriving.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to our Thursday edition of The Raikes Journal. We’ve gone big on a story on the group of companies owned by one of Gloucestershire’s most reluctantly high profile, but also most successful businessmen, Eamonn McGurk.

At one end of the Golden Valley there is Cheltenham’s Julian Dunkerton, whose businesses seem to exude glamour and style - at the other end you have Eamonn McGurk, an entrepreneur and businessman just as profilic, whose companies could not be further apart. And his group of businesses is facing very well indeed, thank you.

It’s a story that falls nicely into our Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire collection - the series of stories that tracks the financial fortunes of the county’s biggest firms by turnover and which we file in our Reports & Deals channel, sponsored by Randal & Payne.

We also conduct a little business analysis into why Cheltenham Borough Council has decided to reinstate the ice rink again for Christmas 2024, when some recall a ‘loss’ last time around of £70,000-plus. But do they remember correctly? We find out, and would like to thank Cheltenham BID for helping with this one.

And we direct you to a really interesting and useful update on potential changes to employment law that could impact businesses after we go to the polls to elect our next Prime Minister on July 4. The insight comes courtesy of one of our Founding Partners, that make what we do possible, Willans LLP.

We hope you enjoy the edition. And if you are not yet a subscriber, please do consider it. You can do that for free, or by becoming a payed-up member, which is also part of what helps make the community focused journalism of this community interest company sustainable. It will allow you to see beyond the paywalls which we place on our second and third newsletters of the week and which fall on all our copy after two weeks.

Please do continue to bear us in mind for your stories and ideas. Contact andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk or telephone 07956 926061. 

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* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College and Merrell People; our sponsors: Randall & Payne and Hartpury University and Hartpury College; our Founding Members and all our wonderful paying subscribers. If you upgrade to paid too, you’ll be able to see beyond the paywalls we place on many of our second and third email editions of the week and that lock our archive after two weeks. You will be able to view our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series comment on our stories and you’ll be helping to make possible this community interest company dedicated to supporting the county, its businesses, charities and education and training providers — all for just £2.30 per week!! Cheaper if you buy a group subscription (when two or more people subscribe at once) For commercial opportunities visit our About us page or email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.

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A little bit of news (and analysis)…

⛸️ 💷 Cheltenham’s ice rink: We saw this piece of news and thought we’d look at the bigger picture. Or, at least, pick up on the business case. Why? Because, in March, when the council was beginning to assess the success of investing in an ice rink in Cheltenham for Christmas 2023 a story ran that it had incurred a £74,276 loss – which rather put a dampener on what looked to have been a well-received addition to the town’s festive offer. Less well publicised were the council’s full conclusions that appeared later on in April.

That April report actually concluded: “It is evident that the ice rink was a success in influencing visits and bringing new money into the town centre during the Christmas period with 31,100 visitors to the ice rink who spent a total of £1.6m during their visits. £860,000 of this was additional spend which wouldn’t have been spent in Cheltenham without the presence of the ice rink. This means that the return on investment to the economy for the council’s spend was approximately £11.50 per £1 invested.

“A total of £1.2m additional business turnover occurred in Cheltenham as a result of the presence of the ice rink (indirect and induced) and this additional money supports the equivalent of 13 FTE jobs or 17 estimated actual jobs in the town.” 

The same report also suggests the local authority made back more than the loss in parking revenue during the period - “around £80,000 of direct financial benefit in November and December”.

Belinda Hunt, operations manager at Cheltenham BID, told Raikes “It is important that Cheltenham is able to offer a unique experience over the festive season, not just in the here and now of the event, but using it as an opportunity to showcase what a fantastic town Cheltenham is to visit.

“The experiences people have at the ice rink will remain with them and it is likely that those coming from further afield will return at different times of the year. 

“The positive implication goes beyond visitor spend, it encompasses the commercial impact for the local suppliers and potential business opportunities the delivery of the ice rink brings for them. For example, the innovative power solution which saw a 12.7 per cent reduction in fuel usage was brought about through a partnership between the council and KoniK, who are based in The Quadrangle.”

Given the rise and rise of Gloucester as a destination, Raikes understands there is also concern in the town that given the choice between the city and Cheltenham, an ice rink could sway a decision on which to visit. And with the new Arle Court Park and ride also operating regular bus services to Gloucester too, the spa town needs to continue to work hard to keep the visitors in the habit of coming. 

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🎄 While we’re on the subject of Christmas - when it comes to an exciting side hussle that’s bound to deliver you a captive audience at the same time every year, Adam Mason and Mike Simmonds’ business has it. Its core offer - designing, creating, and installing high quality bespoke Christmas decorations for hospitality businesses, large houses, and corporate headquarters. Why feature it now? It’s just rebranded from Christmas Creators to Christmas Makers - and we like to support small start-ups. The pair are no stranger to a seasonal business, also running the award-winning Gloucester-based lawncare company Tru-Green. Mason previously worked for Securitas and Simmonds, a graduate of the University of Gloucestershire, as head of business development at Parkwood Consultancy Services.

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Expert insight: Legal changes afoot post election

⚖️ Here’s an interesting article from the experts in employment law at Cheltenham-headquartered law firm Willans LLP. They ask the question ‘how could employment law change under Keir Starmer, if Labour go on to win the general election?’. And they go on to answer it too, explaining that changes could well occur around the qualifying period for unfair dismissal, sick pay and parental leave - all of which could be accessible for ‘workers’ from day one. And there is more, specifically around how employers will be expected to behave, and potential changes to ‘fire and rehire’ practices, zero-hours contracts, tribunal claims, redundance rights and TUPE (the law that protects employees and their benefits when their employment changes hands). Read the full article from Willans here. 

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Top 100: Turnover for serial entrepreneur's business empire passes £30m

Despite best efforts to avoid it, saving Gloucester City FC made Eamonn McGurk one of the county’s most high-profile businessmen. He may have slid from centre stage, but his empire is still thriving.

By Andrew Merrell

For a business well and truly wrapped up in a construction sector impacted by huge pressures on margins you would forgive it some fallow years, but McGurk Group continues to come out fighting – and winning.

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