Laurence and Stephen discuss losses in football's Championship, plans for a controversial McDonald's and backing for a Hull esports hub from a Real Madrid star.
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00:00Losses in football's championship, plans for a controversial McDonald's, and backing for a whole esports hub from a Real Madrid star.
00:08That's all coming up in today's business briefing.
00:16My name's Lawrence Gugannon.
00:18I'm Stephen Favreau.
00:19Well, morning Stephen.
00:20Morning.
00:21I think you'll have to answer the question that many watchers will be asking about.
00:25Who is this Real Madrid star? Perhaps you can tell us a bit more about that.
00:27So, yeah, it's a name that's very familiar to English fans.
00:30Thibaut Courtois, currently of Real Madrid, of course, formerly of Chelsea.
00:34Yeah.
00:34Excellent player.
00:35Yeah.
00:36He has backed a whole esports hub, Federation of Sport.
00:41That was established fairly recently in King William House in Hull Town, a really interesting building.
00:48It features a range of gaming hubs, sim racing setups, virtual golf, virtual golf, virtual darts, sorry, and gaming booths.
00:59So, a really interesting venue there.
01:01The founder has previously spoken to Insiders all about expansion plans.
01:05It started really strongly and is targeting international locations as well.
01:09I'm sure the Courtois link-up will help there.
01:12Yeah.
01:12I mean, how did that come about? Is he a massive gaming fan?
01:15I believe so, yeah.
01:16So, it's his first venue venture in the UK, but it is linked to similar projects that he's involved in.
01:21He owns a virtual racing team, TCE Sports.
01:28So, it is on all similar lines.
01:31Federation of Sport have also said that he was interested in their mission to get people away from just gaming at home on their own
01:40and make it more of a social and community event.
01:43Oh, yeah.
01:44Well, that's really important.
01:45And you should take Eid, Stephen, yourself.
01:48I'll bear that in mind, yeah.
01:50Well, excellent.
01:50Well, staying with football, we've got news today about losses racked up by the championship clubs.
01:57It was quite adding them together.
01:59It created quite a picture.
02:01So, there's 24 clubs in the league and I think 75% of them posted pre-tax losses in their most recent accounts
02:10and cumulatively they came to an eye-watering 317 million.
02:14Obviously, there's lots of reasons for that.
02:17Perhaps teams pushing the boat out to get to the Premier League and just the economics of football generally.
02:24I think, you know, I know it's, we hear a lot about the Premier League and the Champions League and the money available there.
02:32But obviously, as you filter down through the pyramid, that falls away significantly.
02:36But yes, of the 24 teams, only six were turned a profit.
02:41So, it was a very interesting bit of research there.
02:45Your team, Sheffield Wednesday, was among the teams making office.
02:49Yes, but only in the sort of the lower end, you'll be glad to hear.
02:55Now, you've got news for us about an interesting property development.
03:00Yeah, so, Avery in Leeds, there's plans for a new McDonald's restaurant that looks set to be refused.
03:06Bad news for fast food fans, essentially.
03:08The company had submitted plans to redevelop the old Red Lion pub on York Road with a restaurant and drive-thru.
03:16It has said that that development, if approved, would create about 120 jobs.
03:21The site itself, there was an application last year from the restaurant which was refused.
03:27Following that, they came back, they made various amendments to the scheme.
03:32They changed the opening hours, offered to do more tree planting and made some changes to the highway network.
03:38But still not managed to persuade the planning officers that it's a good bet.
03:40No, it would seem not.
03:42It's going to go before the Council's planning committee next Thursday.
03:46But the recommendation is, once again, to refuse Council.
03:50The report, planning office report, has highlighted, again, ongoing traffic and pedestrian safety concerns.
03:56Also, as potential historic significance of the pub building itself, although that has not traded as a pub for the last few years.
04:05And also, they've noted that the left front would be quite close to a couple of schools, so there are potentially issues there.
04:12Right, OK, so a number of issues, but then there's the job, so it's a difficult one, isn't it?
04:17Yeah, it's a tough one to balance, but we'll see what decision ultimately makes.
04:20Clearly, the dolls are keen on the site, though, because they're coming back.
04:24A lot of applications have gone in now, so we'll see.
04:27Watch this space.
04:28And sticking with property, actually, we've got news of a, there's a lovely, like, hotel wedding venue in Fylde, Lancashire.
04:36It's called the Villa Ray Hotel, and that's been placed on the market.
04:42It's actually been placed on the market by administrators who were appointed earlier this year.
04:45But now, Christy and co are looking to get a new buyer for the business.
04:50It's set in a sort of 19th century location, really popular for weddings and the like.
04:57And the venue will continue trading and welcoming guests as normal during the sale process.
05:01And there's apparently a busy summer of bookings in the pipeline.
05:04So, fingers crossed they'll get a new owner in there and some new investment to help drive them forward.
05:10Well, to find out more about the stories we've been discussing, go to insidermedia.com.
05:14There you can subscribe to our newsletters, you can subscribe to our magazines, and you can find out about upcoming events.
05:22That's everything from us. See you next time.