being a city
Firm is confi dent
Kymin Financial Services was founded in Monmouth, but has been in Newport since 2002, exchanging contracts on its current Bridge Street premises on the day city status was confi rmed. Now comprising Kymin Financial Services,
Kymin Corporate (with stockbrokers Redmayne- Bentley), and Kymin Life and Pensions, the Kymin Group has since enjoyed continued growth, and now has three offi ces in the city. Gerald Davies, managing director of the
fi nancial services arm, who has lived ‘on and off’ in Newport for more than 60 years, said: “We have confi dence in the future of Newport. “People knock the city but I don’t go for that.
It is a much better place than people give it credit for. The shopping centre is no better or worse than a lot of others, and the council has spent excellent money on the city’s roads.” Mr Davies believes that small businesses have
a key role to play in Newport’s future as they do on a UK-wide scale in driving the economic recovery.
Another viewpoint
Charles Williams, director, FWD Law Associates, Newport, said: “It always puzzled me as to why Newport sought city status – to my mind the fact that Newport had a cathedral conferred city Status in any event and so it seemed a little bit of a wasted expense. I suspect that I am in the minority but I have not noticed any tangible benefi t and indeed the general economic circumstance has not been arrested or improved by the Royal Charter. I also think that the public generally associate city life with a vibrant shopping centre, a varied and creative night life, good quality restaurants etc, with a few notable exceptions, this is not really the case in Newport. Realistically it is diffi cult to see any benefi t and even the football team is still called Newport County as opposed to Newport City. Having said that City status has not brought much harm either. Newport is a good place to live – it is one of the greenest cities, the new areas and buildings on the riverfront are beginning to change perspectives, and as long as the centre redevelopment is done with style and panache then the publics key perceptions may well change.
20 THEbusiness QUARTER seen an explosion of new offi ce
and retail space – not to mention the further development of the Celtic Manor. Much of this has been positive. Some, however, not so. Newport has been pretty
successful at attracting some big government departments to re- locate (or at least locate part of their operation) over the years. The ‘Stats’ and the passport offi ce of course and, more recently, with the added ‘city’ brand, the patent offi ce and HMP admin. But that’s now become part of our problem. In a recent Experian report on
cities, Newport (along with Swansea) was found to be the least resilient to economic change, due in a large part to our reliance upon public sector employment. For me the three biggest economic impacts
of the last ten years revolve around the service sector and the potential for the future of the city as we know it. Firstly, and most noticeably, there is the city centre
retail offer. We would be deluding ourselves if we thought that this has improved in ten years. Quite the opposite. The rush to approve continued retail development
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