The Downtown Den Podcast

Dr Ben Sinclair joined Paul Cadman, Birmingham chair in the #DowntownDen talking business and practical health advice.

Downtown in Business Birmingham was due to host an exclusive event to celebrate the achievements of Brummie women in business; Female Entrepreneur Power Panel at the beautiful Gino D’Acampo Restaurant. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and following government guidelines, the event was postponed. However, Downtown in Business welcomed the panel of successful businesswoman (Christian Wolfe of Law and Br...

Downtown Chief Executive, Frank McKenna was joined in the #DowntownDen by the author of Carlo Ancelotti’s book ‘The Quiet Revolution’ Chris Brady and Andy McIntyre, the Managing Director of leading sporting executive training company VSI. They discussed the way the ‘beautiful game’ has handled the Coronavirus crisis, the financial implications for clubs and what happens next. Downtown in Business...

One of the North’s leading property PR specialists DOUGAL PAVER popped into the #DowntownDen to discuss the plight of the self-employed, the construction sector and a bit of footy with Frank McKenna.

We caught up with Mark Williams from Western Union Business Solutions to talk the economy, cyber security and what post #Covid19 might look like for business. Have a listen and for a more in-depth analysis listen to WUBS webinar HERE .

​London Labour MP Wes Streeting visited the #DowntownDen on Tuesday 7th April to give his reaction to the party's leadership election and to offer his thoughts on how Labour can start to become a credible electoral force once again following its crushing defeat at the General Election in December.

Downtown CEO Frank McKenna chats with Executive Director of Growth, Environment, Transport & Community Services at Lancashire County Council, Stephen Young.

To discuss business continuity and customer relations during these difficult times, Downtown in London's chairman, Simon Danczuk, was joined by Peter Ryan, an expert in BPO, call centres and customer engagement. He works across the world with those that both commission and deliver customer engagement, which means he provided us with an insight into the impact the current pandemic is having on the...

One of the UKs leading business coaches ANDY BOUNDS visited the Downtown Den to advise businesses how they can continue to ‘sell more stuff’ during the lockdown. As always, some straightforward, common sense and essential points from Andy that all businesses will find useful during these unusual times.

Sir Richard Leese was DIBs guest in the very first ‘Downtown Den’ Live event. The leader of Manchester City Council was joined by twenty business leaders and discussed a whole range of issues with DIB CEO Frank McKenna, including the city’s response to the crisis, planning for the future, the Northern Powerhouse and devolution, the climate emergency and much more.

Leading business group Downtown in Business and prominent civil and structural firm Sutcliffe have announced a new partnership. The unique collaboration will see Sutcliffe, who celebrate its landmark 35th anniversary year in 2020, become the latest high profile organisation to become a corporate sponsor of Downtown in Business.   The collaboration will allow Sutcliffe to access some of the leading...

Downtown Member and DJ Dave Seed has compiled a fantastic playlist to help you get through the next few weeks or months working from home. Thanks to Dave for taking the time to put this together, we hope you enjoy. #StaySafeStayHome

Downtown London hosted a high street experts panel to discuss the impact of the coronavirus and much more. Joining Simon Danczuk, London chairman, in the #DowntownDen were: Professor Kim Cassidy, a retail marketing and behavioural expert from Edge Hill University and member of the Grimsey High Street Review; Joe Barrett, member of the Government's High Streets Task Force, co-founder of The Teenage...

Downtown in Business invited four of Birmingham's leading property personalities into the #DowntownDen for a discussion on how the current COVID-19 crisis is affecting the regions property sector. Thanks to Rob Day from Blueprint Interiors, Alex Tross from Lambert Smith Hampton and Deborah Ritchie from Knights PLC for joining us and James Forrester from Barrows & Forrester for chairing this discus...

Due to a "Technical Glitch", which in this case is code for user error. This podcast was previously released with the incorrect audio. Here is the correct interview in full. Do enjoy. Downtown CEO Frank McKenna, chats to Director of The Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Henri Murison in the #DowntownDen. Henri shares his thoughts and views on the long term impact of COVID-19 and what the Northern P...

Chairman of Downtown London, Simon Danczuk, chats with Simon Pitkeathley, Chief Executive of Camden Town Unlimited, London Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) member, about the capital's response to coronavirus, the future of our high streets, HS2, business support and the fantastic regeneration initiative that is Camden High Line.

Watch an out-of-this-world webinar between Downtown Director, Chris McKenna and European Space Agency – Business Applications Ambassador, Alan Cross. In this intriguing episode of the #DowntownDen Alan shares a variety of business applications that local business can take advantage of during the Coronavirus lockdown.

Chairman of Downton in Business Birmingham Prof. Paul Cadman invited Jamil Shabir from Bootcamp Media, Christina Wadlow from Western Union, Prof. Nassim Belbaly from BCU and Sarah Grace from Kate&Co into the Downtown Den to discuss all things Brummie Business. A riveting conversation between a mix of business leaders from the region expressing their opinions on the current business landscape and h...

In our latest hospitality webinar, Head of Events Helen Bamford spoke to Abi Dunn, Founder of Sixty Eight People and Tomas Maunier, Managing Director of City District on the rapid changes they faced as the Coronavirus spread and how it affected their businesses. Staff have gone from one extreme to the other working in a fast-paced, busy environments to not working at all so we also discussed how t...

Downtown Director, Chris McKenna was joined in the ‘The Downtown Den’ by CEO of Knowledge Quarter and Sciontec Liverpool, Colin Sinclair to discuss what is happening at The Knowledge Quarter, the research into #COVID19 at Liverpool Science Park, the Hospitality Industry and his hopes for the football and rugby seasons to return so he can see his beloved Liverpool and Sale Sharks triumph.

Leading personalities from Liverpool’s hospitality sector visited the Downtown Den to discuss the challenges, trials, tribulations and solutions in an honest discussion about the state they’re in.

The Managing Director of financial firm Sedulo, Paul Cheetham, brought his big personality into the Downtown Den to give us a lively interpretation of what the many government pronouncements on financial help for business actually mean. He tells us how you can access the help you need NOW and discusses some of those more intricate issues that we still need answers to. For those who want to find ou...

The Head of Business Support for Birmingham, Abby Goldie was joined in the Downtown Den by Ben and Antony, two ex-royal marines and co-founders of ‘Find Your Edge Coaching’. Hear Ben and Antony’s strategies of combating the virus, mental-fitness and resilience during these unprecedented times.

Two of the Northwest’s leading property personalities Tom Higgins (Laing O'Rourke) and Alan Robson (Project Four Safety Solutions) have their say in the Den and give us reasons to be cheerful; the new Everton FC Stadium, the Knowledge Quarter and Liverpool’s central role as a location of excellence for science, health and innovation.

Our Birmingham Downtown Chairman called into the Den to discuss what the business landscape looked like for the West Midlands – commenting on politics, the charitable sector and education – with some high praise for Andy Street, Andy Burnham and the Chancellor.