Whenever I hear the name of Ian Penrose, the name of Trevor Hemmings is never far behind. Hemmings, who passed away four years ago, derived the majority of his £1bn-plus fortune from leisure and hospitality companies including Sportech and Arena Leisure, as well Scottish & Newcastle and Pontin’s holiday camps (twice).
In recent days, Penrose has again followed in the Hemmings’ footsteps by taking the top job at Preston North End, the Championship football club. Trevor’s son, Craig, was appointed chairman in 2019 but has now handed the reins on to Penrose.
As a lifelong supporter of Preston - and one who has spent his whole career in the sports, gambling and leisure sector - Penrose is seen as highly suited to to the chairmanship of Preston.
He holds active non-executive roles at companies including Playtech, the gambling technology firm where he is the senior non-executive director, and Weatherbys, the provider of professional services to racing, breeding, compliance and bloodstock.
From 2005 to 2017 he was CEO of Sportech, the sports venues and lottery technology provider. During his time there the business was best-known for securing a successful £100m VAT rebate, revamping the Football Pools and selling it off. For more than a decade, Penrose was chairman and trustee of the National Football Museum in Manchester.
“I’ve been a fan of Preston North End my entire life,” he told MCA. “Craig asked whether we would step up and front it.”
“I’ve been around the family for 30-plus years. Not as unofficial role but I’ve been friendly with the family for a long time.”
“Our most famous players were Sir Tom Finney and Bill Shankly, both of whom have their own stands named after them.”
“From memory we are the oldest football club in the world that still plays on the same pitch, having never moved from the 1888-89 pitch, the year of the Invincibles.
“It’s all owned by the Hemmings family. We’ve got a huge emotional stake.I’ve been coming since I was a boy. It’s great to be given an official role.”
Preston is one of the founding members of the Football League. We were the original Invincibles. Before Arsenal .”
————————————————————–
Every year at the end of August, I take part in a golf tournament with 30-odd friends from university. The Ryder Cup it ain’t, but some of the sport on display at this year’s venue - the Cavendish Golf Club, in the Peak District - had its moments, albeit fleeting ones.
In the 40 years since the event started many top venues have been visited, including The Belfry, Royal Porthcawl, North Berwick and St Andrews.
In addition to the exclusive roll-call of royal (and holy) golf courses played by our group was also one owned by the US president (aka Donald Trump) although we played at Turnberry, on the west coast of Scotland, well before it was “trumped”.
The hotel we stayed at this summer was the Palace Hotel in Buxton, a rather grandiose property dating back to 1868 and set in five acres of landscaped gardens. It gives itself the mantle of spa, although I’m not sure many of our golfers availed themselves of the indoor pool, gym, spa, sauna and steam rooms.
The Palace is part of Britannia Hotels, which has been voted the worst hotel chain in the UK for the past 11 years in a row. Based on the standards we saw during our stay, I predict Britannia will soon rise up the league table (although its breakfast offer remains underwhelming).
The magnificent dining room was also slightly let down by its food offer, although the service and friendliness of the staff was excellent. The night porter ensured we got a steady flow of wine and Moscow Mule cocktails topped up by Fever-Tree mixers. That’s quality!
__________________
Sir Tim Martin is finally set for takeoff. After years of vacillation, the Wetherspoon boss has finally outlined plans to make its international debut in 2026 using the franchise format. Martin has so far refrained from identifying the putative locations, although it is thought that a number of airport sites in Spain and Portugal sites in are under consideration.
The tabloid papers have cited possible summer sites as Alicante, Benidorm and Mallorca.
The move is likely to be franchise-based, a formula that it has successfully employed in certain locations in the UK, including Primrose Valley, in NorthYorkshire and a Haven holiday park. It also has franchise agreements to run bars in Hull and Kingston universities. If the project does get off the ground, the number of franchises is expected to reach at least 40
I will be fascinated to find out where these Spoons pop up. One thing’s for sure, though. The pub company’s chairman won’t need to buy any additional pairs of shorts, as the past couple of years has seen him already sporting three or four pairs of snazzy shorts. In the City!
