The SCR Chambers: East Midlands
East Midlands Chamber (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire)
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The Chamber is the largest business representation organisation in the East Midlands. With a growing membership of more than 4,300 businesses, it represents the interests of businesses across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.
Enterprising Women Awards 2019 A
n hotelier extraordinaire has been named Business Woman of the Year at this year’s Enterprising Women Awards.
Emma Brealey brought the Petwood Hotel, at Woodhall Spa,
Lincolnshire, back from the brink of bankruptcy to create a successful modern business. When Emma joined the hotel as a director in April 2010 it
was failing to make a profit on £2.5m sales and its wage bill consumed 49% of turnover when the ‘recommended level’ was 32%. The business was also not exploiting its military heritage but today is proud to boast that it was requisitioned by the RAF in 1942 as an officers’ mess and was home to 617 Squadron – better known as the Dambusters – and others. “Guests enthuse about the historic atmosphere and ‘walking
in the footsteps of heroes’,” Emma said in her awards submission. Built as a private home for a wealthy Edwardian baroness,
the Petwood was converted to a hotel in 1933. It is a Grade II listed building, now a three-star, independently-owned hotel that was rescued from group proprietorship by the current family owners in 1996. It offers 53 bedrooms, AA Rosette dining, five function rooms and 30 acres of beautiful grounds, catering for leisure breaks, golf breaks, weddings, conferences, parties and the casual food and beverage trades. Business predominantly comes from domestic
tourism, but favourable exchange rates for international guests has led to recent growth from the American, Canadian and Australian markets. As a first step on the road to recovery, Emma
‘I’m absolutely thrilled to be awarded
Business Woman of the Year’
persuaded the owners to step back from running the business and allow managers to take control. Eight years on and all members of the management team are involved in the budget process and have their own lines of responsibility. The wage bill is down to 32.6% of sales
and the historic gardens, once a run-down and neglected cost to the business, have been restored to their Edwardian splendour and are now a revenue- generating tourist attraction. Emma’s submission said: “From the
outset I have worked closely with local stakeholders, business groups and local committees, gaining an understanding of the Petwood’s role within the wider community as an employer, tourism partner, accommodation provider and champion of Lincolnshire tourism generally.
Emma Brealey, of Petwood Hotel
Reaction from the 2019 Enterprising Women Awards continues overleaf.
Spring 2019 CHAMBERconnect 43
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