Solihull


All the latest news, advice and events for the Solihull business community


Contact: Samantha Frampton T: 0121 678 7488


Pop-up food partnership


Mell Square’s new ‘immersive eating experience’ – Taste Collective – has announced a new partner. Taste Collective is a new ‘experience-led


eatery’, and will feature four ‘pop-up’ street food kiosks and a covered outdoor pergola style seating area. Mell Square owner IM Properties is hoping the project will prove a new and innovative way of attracting visitors. The developer’s partner in the scheme will be


gastropub operator Tap & Tandoor, who have premises in Warwick Road, Solihull, which offers craft beers, cocktails and Indian food. IM asset director Rob Hemus said: “We’re


incredibly excited to be working in partnership with the team behind Tap & Tandoor and Zindiya. Building on the success of both restaurants, we hope to use their creativity and talent to deliver a new individual and first-class leisure experience for Solihull. Their shared passion for promoting local independent business is entirely in-keeping with Mell Square’s high-quality offering. And their first-hand experience of operating in the town centre will enable them to work well with local traders and create a real point of difference for shoppers and people looking to socialise.” Ajay Kenth director of Tap & Tandoor and


Zindiya said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to work with IM Properties to broaden the offering in the town centre and bring our own individual style to Taste Collective, developing a new destination and eating experience I know visitors to Solihull will embrace.”


Trendy Taste Collective is replacing the Costa Coffee shop, which has relocated next to Marks & Spencer, also in Mell Square. The former is due to officially open in December.


Healthy competition


Leading sports nutrition brand, Grenade, has partnered with The National Enterprise Challenge (TNEC), a national school’s competition. The competition is an opportunity for pupils


across the UK to expand their business and creative skills, and will see them develop a healthy alternative to a chocolate bar. Each team will carry out seven different tasks,


which will include choosing the right branding, packaging and ingredients, and the launch plan. Grenade’s CEO and co-founder Alan Barratt


said: “We loved what we saw from TNEC, so we wanted to see what the next generation could do for our brand. Some of these students could be the future entrepreneurs of our country and they are at the right age to start thinking about healthy eating and nutrition. So we’re really excited to be launching the ‘Grenade Challenge’ as part of this year’s TNEC – if we get an idea we like, we’ll go ahead and take it to UK retail. And we sell about a million bars a week – so that’s a pretty big deal.” TNEC is the UK's largest Enterprise


competition for secondary schools, having attracted 450 schools and over 250,000 participants since it launched in 2013.


56 CHAMBERLINK November 2019


Accountants are primed for even further growth


A Midlands accountancy firm has dramatically exceeded its own growth projections after nearly doubling its turnover in just three years. Prime Accountants Group, which has offices in


Coventry, Birmingham and Solihull, has seen turnover soar from £4m to £7m. These figures are two years ahead of target,


as the firm had originally planned to reach the £7m by 2021. Managing director Kevin Johns (pictured)


said the remarkable success was the result of investment in the business, along with recruiting – and often retaining – top quality staff. He said: “We are delighted Prime’s growth is


far exceeding the strategy we first set out in 2016. At that time, Prime was turning over


around £4m and employed 80 staff across two offices. “The directors’ strategy was to


grow that to £7m by 2021 but we have surpassed that in impressive fashion – two years ahead of schedule. “This significant growth has come


from a two-pronged approach of investing both in the business and in talented new personnel. “Opening a new


office in St Paul’s Square, Birmingham, following the successful acquisition of Rochesters


‘We are delighted Prime’s growth is far exceeding the strategy we first set out in 2016’


Accountants in November 2018, has also played an important part. “There has also been a 30 per cent increase in


our staff numbers. We now employ 105 people and this has helped the business to expand and to excel, giving our clients the very best possible service.” Prime is now one of the largest independent


accountancy firms in the region and Mr Johns is predicting a continued upward curve for the business. He also revealed new targets for growth are already in place, and said: “The company’s strategy has been revised and our intention is to continue to grow. This will again be done by investing further in both our business and our staff. “Our intention is to further develop our culture of operating as a service-


focused business which provides expert advice to our clients across an extensive range of financial services. “We also believe in providing a modern, working environment for staff including a 21st century, digital approach to new technology to keep the company at the cutting edge of advances and developments on all fronts.”


Prodigy plays his way to top prize


At the age of only eight years old Aidan Siqi Zhao, a pupil at Eversfield Prep School, Solihull, has been named ‘Solihull Musician of the Year’. The child prodigy played pieces on both piano


and violin during the finals. His piano pieces included ‘Sinfonai No15’ by Sebastian Bach and ‘Lied ohne Worte’ by Felix Mendelssohn, which he followed with ‘Souvenir de Sarasate’ by Potstock on the violin. The ‘Sinfonai’ piece is one of a number Bach


wrote, and was originally intended to be an exercise for students. The Mendelssohn composition is from a series of short piano pieces, and the title translates to ‘Songs Without Words’. ‘Souvenir de Sarasate’ is the German American composer’s best known composition and combines various different techniques. Having taken first place in both the U11 piano


and U11 strings classes, Aidan wowed the judges with his performance at the final concert, beating adult musicians in the process. He was presented with a trophy and £1,000


Child prodigy: Aidan Siqi Zhao


music scholarship by Solihull mayor Stuart Davis. Eversfield’s director of music, Andrew Biggs,


said: “We are incredibly proud of Aidan. He is an incredibly talented musician who thoroughly deserves his achievements.”


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