Arcinova boss and Sir John as speakers

Attendees at the event, on Tuesday, February 20, will hear from Paul Ryan, the finance director at the rapidly-growing, Alnwick-based Arcinova, and Sir John Hall, who masterminded the Metrocentre development and the Life President and former chairman of Newcastle United.

The Forum will be held at Arcinova’s premises, with registration from 5.30pm and the meeting proper starting at 6pm.

Alnwick Town Council’s projects and funding officer, Tim Kirton, said: “We are very proud that Paul and Sir John have agreed to come along to the Alnwick Business Networking meeting and speak to us about their experiences as entrepreneurs.

“With two such distinguished speakers we expect the meeting to be very popular so we would ask anyone wishing to come along to contact me as soon as possible to confirm their attendance, by emailing me at [email protected] or telephoning 07926 364339 or 01665 602574.”

Paul will present to the Networking Forum on his 15 years’ experiences as an entrepreneur in the North-East of England and how he has helped grow Arcinova so rapidly and effectively since taking on the former Covance site in 2016.

Sir John will speak about how he got started in business and went from being a local developer to become a developer of national renown, and will also offer his thoughts on how market towns like Alnwick can effectively tackle the loss of much of its retail trade to nearby and regional retail parks and to internet shopping.