North motor magnate leads by example
Feb 4 2009 by Rob Pattinson, The Journal
MOTOR magnate Sir Peter Vardy has said our bid to help the region out of economic hardship needs businesses to join families in buying North East first.
Speaking last night the car magnate urged local companies to use every opportunity to reinvest in the region’s economy.
And the entrepreneur showed his readiness to lead by example, revealing his Vardy Group’s annual conference for 800 staff has just been booked at The Sage Gateshead.
As part of our Think North East England First campaign, Sir Peter has called on other big businesses in the region to follow suit and commit to keeping their conferences local.
The Wearside businessman said: “I think it’s a good idea to have conferences closure to home. That’s why we’re holding our own conference here in October. I would encourage other companies in the region to do likewise.
“This is such a tremendous region and so accommodating. It’s good to showcase our premises and our people – that’s our real strength.
“If we pull together as a region we will be stronger because of it. If we take every opportunity to support local companies and organisations, we will be stronger because of it.
“We need to think carefully whatever we’re doing, is this helping the North East? When I had Reg Vardy we had a lot of local support and a lot of local customers. That was part of our success.
“And I think businesses need to do their bit to support each other. I think a lot of that happens anyway. But as we head towards difficult times we need to make sure it’s not North East businesses facing closure. And we need to act normally, there are still lots of people better off than they were last year with the high fuel prices. If we think and act normally with our spending then this will soon pass.”
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