Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 8th May 2025 - video Dailymotion

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Dan and Laurence discuss the UK property market,  a new McDonald's in Hampshire, and expansion for a major cinema operator.

Transcript

00:00Expansion for the light, an entrepreneur's confidence in the UK's property market and

00:06a new McDonald's on the South Coast. That's all coming up in today's Business Briefing.

00:16My name's Lawrence Kilgannon. My name's Daniel Zambatus.

00:19Well, morning, Dan. How are you today? I'm good, thank you. How are you?

00:22Yes, not bad at all, thank you. I think we'll start today with interesting news about the

00:29light. That's a cinema operator. It's got sites across the country, including my local cinema,

00:37and they're going to be expanding further because they've secured support from Barclays of £15

00:44million. They've enjoyed a successful time of late, so they're looking to expand further.

00:52The brand has actually attracted investment from Luke Johnson. He's a sort of prominent

00:57entrepreneur, perhaps most associated with Pizza Express back in the day, but numerous other

01:03investments. Since then, his risk capital partners is behind the light. Yeah, and actually, I don't

01:11know about your local cinema, but the light that I go to on the Wirral, it has things like retro themes,

01:19classics. So you can go and watch things like Blade Runner on the big screen or Jaws. You kind of think

01:26of these films that you've seen down the years, but to see them on the big screen. So they're always

01:30kind of thinking outside the box. I remember they were one of the first to start serving

01:35alcoholic drinks, comfortable seats. So it'll be really interesting to see where they go with this.

01:40It's good to see that sort of industry getting investment because they've had quite a hard time

01:43in the last few years with Covid. Absolutely. I mean, I remember in Covid when people

01:49kind of didn't fancy it, did he, sitting in a darkened room with loads of strangers.

01:52So that's completely gone now and people looking forward to sort of enjoying things like film.

01:59And I suppose for the cinema industry, they'll hope just the good films keep coming so that people

02:04go out and see stuff. I mean, I try and go along. I went to see Minecraft at the light and I saw

02:11Nosferatu. So, you know, as long as there's films there, I think the people are going to keep going.

02:15Especially if you've got kids, it's a great family outing, isn't it?

02:17No, it definitely is. Definitely is. And in fact, the light's most recent opening was in Huddersfield.

02:23So, you know, they're definitely all over the place. I drove past one in Stockport as well.

02:31Now you've got news of great, great news, I suppose, for fans of McDonald's on the south coast.

02:38A new drive through McDonald's in Fairham has been recommended for approval and that's expected to

02:43create about 120 jobs in the area. So the two-story restaurant would be built on unused land at the

02:48junction of Stampton Road and Farm Road and would span 2,680 square feet. Plans include a drive-through

02:56lane, parking, landscaping and outdoor seating. And if approved, it would be open from 6am to 11pm

03:02and employ 30 full-time and 90 part-time staff. So the council officers have recommended the plan for

03:07approval and the final decision will be made on the 14th of May. So I'll have to keep an eye out

03:11on the result there. Excellent. And I mean, we've done quite a lot of stories of late of

03:16McDonald's opening everywhere. So a real push. Yeah. And also, you know, great job opportunities,

03:24particularly for younger people. So let's hope that gets the green light. One thing that always

03:34sort of intrigues our readers as well is entrepreneurs. And I spoke to a residential

03:40property entrepreneur, Michael Sachs. He's behind the recently launched Sachs Properties. And

03:48basically, they look for people who are trying to sort of get involved in property investment

03:54and source discounted deals and things like that. And in speaking to Michael, I said, you know,

04:00why have you launched a business? Why do you think it'll be a success? And what he said, maybe

04:05Chuckle actually said that despite the absolute sort of real turmoil that we've seen in the last five,

04:12six years or so, you know, you can count COVID within that, you can count the fallout from Brexit.

04:18We've had world wars of sorts. Still, the property prices have gone up. So there's essentially an

04:27extra demand, sort of over demand and under supply. So, you know, he thinks it's always going to be a good

04:33best. So it's really interesting to speak to him about his hopes and that the business is

04:38already up and running. It's refreshing to hear an industry doing well in all that turmoil.

04:41Yeah, yeah. But I mean, there's all sorts of angles to the property market. I know lots of

04:44people say there aren't enough houses, but that essentially creates the demand that perhaps keeps

04:49those prices on the rise. And Michael was telling me that, you know, given all the turmoil, we've seen

04:57the way that the stock markets have gone up and down in recent times in response to President Trump

05:05and his tariffs, that perhaps some investors have thought, well, maybe property is a better bet for

05:10me. He's hoping to sort of cash in on that. Sounds really interesting. Always good to get an exclusive

05:15on the website as well. Definitely, definitely. And speaking of exclusives, we've got news of

05:20a major residential property scheme in Leeds. So perhaps you can tell us more.

05:23A new 18-storey apartment scheme on Leeds South Bank is expected to be approved by councillors

05:28after a recommendation to grant Palling Commission. So the developer, Country Lodge,

05:32behind the Build the Rent project, which will deliver 164 homes at a disused site near the Royal

05:38Armouries Museum. The new development would include one, two and three-bedroom apartments with

05:43resident amenities like lounge, workspaces and cycle storage. The specialist lender together has

05:48previously provided a loan to Country Lodge to enable the purchase of the land,

05:52and the council report has said the scheme would be in keeping with the emerging high-density

05:57townscape of that part of the South Bank. So again, you know, it'd be interesting to see

06:00if that scheme hits the green light. Excellent. Well, yeah, Leeds South Bank's a real sort of

06:05thriving area, so it'll be good to see. I haven't had a chance to visit, but it sounds...

06:08Well, it's University of Leeds. It's a great city, but I imagine when I go back,

06:11it'll be completely unrecognisable with all the development going on. That's right, yeah.

06:15Excellent. Well, to read more about the stories we've been discussing, go to insidermedia.com.

06:20There you can subscribe to our newsletters, you can also subscribe to our magazines,

06:24and you can find out about upcoming events. That's everything from us. See you next time.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 8th May 2025

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