Retail, restaurants and Reuben's bankruptcy - it all happened in 2007. Neil Tague tells the story.
January
Steve Oliver, managing director of Stockport retailer Music Zone, issues a terse statement following the withdrawal of banking facilities by Bank of Ireland before Christmas, that effectively left him with no choice but to appoint administrators. Music Zone had fallen behind its targets as supermarkets' share of the CD and DVD market grew to 35 per cent, while Channel Island-based VAT-free mail order stores, such as HMV, also exploded. Later in the year Scottish retailer Fopp steps in to buy some Music Zone stores, but overreaches itself and ends up being bought out of administration by HMV.
Liverpool promises a bonfire of the quangos as it tries to wrestle its miasma of committees, steering groups under control. No prizes for guessing which leader of a Liverpool business group tells Insider: "The intentions are good, but it's more like a barbecue of the quangos really."
Shy and retiring Mike Ashley of Sports Direct buys North West firm Streetwise Sports for around £310m, far from his last dabble in the region this year.
There's fury on the Fylde and groans in Greenwich as Manchester storms to victory in the race to host the UK's first supercasino. Many believe Blackpool's regeneration case was more compelling and are probably right - it's just a shame that no one there appeared to actually read the instructions of what the Casino Advisory Panel was looking for and write the bid accordingly. It doesn't matter anyway, as it appears that nobody will be getting a supercasino on Gordon Brown's watch.street fashion.
February
The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities starts public consultation over plans to bid for £31.2bn from the government's Transport Innovation Fund. There may be trouble ahead
The Guardian Media Group tightens its grip on Manchester media when RockTalk is awarded the 12-year licence for a new FM radio licence in the city. This gives the group three FM licences (along with Smooth FM and Century FM), the Manchester Evening News, several weekly papers and TV station Channel M.
March
Peel Holdings reveals £35.5bn plans for the redevelopment of 150 acres of Liverpool's waterfront over 30 years, mirroring its Wirral Waters plans across the Mersey. The property and transport group calls for the community to support its vision over the five-year planning stage and will later call for special planning rules to be created for such transformational projects.
Private equity firm ISIS sells its stake in Manchester fashion group Americana - which makes those Bench and Hooch togs that the young folk wear - to Hg Capital for £3190m. ISIS backed a £320m management buyout in 2003.
Liverpool FC supporters who'd revelled in the Glazer takeover of Manchester United as a shameless sell-out to faceless US investors develop selective amnesia as George Gillett and Tom Hicks trump Dubai International Capital's offer and win control of the Anfield club, borrowing £3298m from the Royal Bank of Scotland to do so. Departing chairman David Moores is disappointed to leave, but getting £390m for the 51 per cent stake he paid £312m for should help with that. The duo, seemingly briefed to mention the magic of the Kop every other sentence, have the club's planned new Stanley Park stadium redesigned so that it could extend to 80,000. Who's going to pay for all this?
A bidding war for Bolton-based tapas chain La Tasca sees the mid-market group Tragus offer of 185 pence per share defeated by Robert Tchenguiz's R20 vehicle, which offers 192 pence, then to be on the safe side ups it to 200 pence, valuing La Tasca at £3104m.
April
In Manchester, Argent's Piccadilly Place scheme bags two high-profile lettings in the shape of the Highways Agency and law firm Weightmans - bucking the trend for professional services firms to head for Spinningfields. With the City Inn hotel now open and users of the Manchester Curve bridge safe from being crushed by unseen trams, even the grumpiest critic would have to admit the site has come a long way since it was home to the "Piccadilly Indian" and not much more.
May
Brendan Flood, boss of canny retail specialist Modus Properties, is crowned Insider Property Personality of the Year. Seemingly unaware of the maxim that the best way to make a small fortune is to make a big one and invest it in football, he joins the board of his beloved Burnley FC, which announces stadium redevelopment plans. Chief executive Dave Edmundson soon leaves, with first team manager Steve Cottrell departing "by mutual consent" not long after.
Patak, the UK's best-known Indian food brand, is sold by its founders for £3100m, to Associated British Foods (ABF), which has courted the Leigh-based business for five years. ABF will combine the business with Chinese brand Blue Dragon under Kirit Pathak's chairmanship.
In other food news, Blackburn cake maker Inter Link Foods, shorn of Alwin Thompson's leadership, knocks back an unsolicited approach from Irish group McCambridge, but the game is up - McCambridge buys the business following an administration order in the summer.
Life on the high street may be tough, but N Brown, the Manchester-based home shopping giant, records a stellar year, with pre-tax profits up 21 per cent to £365.4m, two months after returning £380m to shareholders in a one-off payment. Internet shoppers now account for more than a fifth of sales.
June
Peel comes out in strident opposition to AGMA's congestion charging plans, with managing director Andrew Simpson telling Insider: "At national government level congestion charging has been kicked into the long grass. There has been a categorical refusal to give guarantees on charges, zoning and the timings of this charge." Manchester City Council, backed up by the usual posse of property industry cheerleaders, takes the view that what suits Peel doesn't necessarily suit everyone. Peel says the council should sell Manchester Airport to pay for transport improvements. Whether Peel would be among the bidders, it's not prepared to say.
United Utilities (UU) continues to sell off non-core divisions, selling the stake in Thus that it acquired when the Scottish telecoms business bought the loss-making Your Communications from UU in January 2006.
North West entrepreneurs win nine of ten awards at Ernst & Young's north region Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Matthew Riley, chief executive of Nelson-based Daisy Communications, Gary Jacobson of Bifold Fluidpower and David Pollock of Alderley-based Chess go on to win at the national awards in October.
Private equity buyers had sniffed around it, but in the end Wigan's unofficial emperor David Whelan, sells his 29 per cent stake in JJB Sports, the retail giant he built up from a market stall, trousering around £3190m for his troubles. Whelan has since disposed of the Wigan Warriors rugby league team to Harlequins chairman Ian Lenagan, leaving him with the glamour part of his empire, Wigan Athletic.
July
The worst summer in living memory is the last thing that the Manchester International Festival needed to make a flying start, but that's exactly what it gets. Visitor numbers are good though and private sector sponsorship is strong. Manchester City Council is pleased, but will make a few tweaks before work begins on the 2009 festival.
Football's often an unseemly business, but few takeovers have turned the stomach quite as much as that of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's acquisition of Manchester City. Human Rights Watch asks Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore: "In light of the widespread, serious and systematic human rights abuses perpetrated in Thailand under Mr. Thaksin's leadership, we are very concerned that you concluded that he is a fit and proper person to purchase Manchester City Football Club." Amnesty International adds that under Thaksin's war on drugs, 2,000 people were killed, some of them as young as 16 months, a claim that is barely contested.
But, hey, City are doing well now, so all's well.
Manchester's Co-operative Group and Rochdale-based United Co-operatives finally complete their inevitable merger, following overwhelming approval from shareholders. Co-op chief executive Martin Beaumont brings forward his retirement, allowing United boss Peter Marks to become chief executive. Paul Hewitt, deputy chief executive of Co-operative Trading Group, leaves.
August
Liverpool's Mathew Street Festival - or at least the officially sanctioned version - is cancelled, seemingly because the part of the council that runs it didn't speak to the part that deals with the city's "Big Dig" roadworks. And, because this is Liverpool City Council, an email is leaked in which leader Warren Bradley demands that Jason Harborow, chief executive of delivery body Liverpool Culture Company, be relieved of his duties, causing another round of wailing and gnashing of teeth. Harborow has since been signed off on a bout of sick leave, while Mersey TV founder Phil Redmond, drafted in as front man for the trimmed-down 08 board, has made it all look easy.
Everton FC's plans to move to Kirkby as the acceptable face of a mega- development by Tesco get around 60 per cent approval in a fans' ballot, which is nice, although chief executive Keith Wyness tells Insider it's a board decision anyway.
Cumbrian cult trucker Eddie Stobart is to list on the stock market following the reverse takeover of property fund Westbury, which will divest itself of non-core property as the new group bids to build a road, rail, water and air-based distribution empire that could include van expanded Carlisle Airport.
September
Bury-headquartered sports retailer JD Sports outperforms sector rivals to register increased profit over the first half of 2007. The Peter Cowgill-led group reaps the rewards from focusing on higher quality sports and fashion wear, rather than the high-volume, but fickle, replica football kit market - the sluggishness of which has damaged rival JJB Sports, which issues a profit warning.
Credit crunch? What credit crunch? Hybrid debt and equity packages are the answer, says Bank of Scotland as its integrated finance arm completes £32bn of deals since the global economy got all nervy, funding the £3255m management buyout of Wigan-based Ainscough Crane Hire.
October
Sir Michael Lyons's recommendation that local authorities have the chance to set supplementary business rates to pay for major projects is seized upon by a government feverishly trying to work out how it can sort London's transport before the 2012 Olympics, although Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese, just possibly playing to the gallery, says they'd prefer the chance to set their own rates thank you very much.
Littlewoods chief executive Mark Newton-Jones tells Insider that the business is well on the road to recovery now that it's away from the high street, but still lays off 200 people a week later.
US sportswear giant Nike is to buy Umbro, the very definition of an institution that's lost it's way, for £3285m. The retailers scrabble for a seat at the table - JJB buys a defensive 10 per cent stake in Umbro, while Mike Ashley doubles his stake to 29.9 per cent. He's a caution.
As is Reuben Singh, who finally caves in to the inevitable bankruptcy. The list of creditors produced by everyone's favourite young entrepreneur reveals massive debts with nine credit cards, bank loans and £3778,813 owed to his dad. Oh, and £31.5m owed to the Bank of Scotland.
November
Colin Gillespie of Pricewaterhouse-Coopers pulls off a double at Insider's Dealmakers Awards, winning Dealmaker of the Year and Deal of the Year for the take-private of Matalan. Having worked on Liverpool FC's sale as well, it's been a Scousecentric year for the Manchester United-supporting Gillespie. Presumably he'll be sorted for life when it comes to cheap pants, socks and LFC tat.
Steve Oliver bounces back from the Music Zone collapse with a new venture, Music Magpie, a mostly online second-hand music shop with a physical presence in Macclesfield.
Sportech, which operates the Littlewoods and Zetters football pools, completes the set in buying Vernons from Ladbrokes for a whopping £351m. Apparently 700,000 people still play the pools each week, despite all this new-fangled internet gambling malarkey.
Three brothers who ran the Manchester-based Aleef newsagency chain are jailed for three years each following a £35.3m VAT fraud. The brothers ran "two tills" in their 18 petrol stations and 16 newsagents' shops, one of which paid VAT, the other did not. Cash takings were siphoned away to bank accounts of Ahmed Patel, their father, and a Muslim charity (run by the father) and then back out to accounts in the Channel Islands. The scamps. A younger generation is now running the £392m-turnover business.
Also in: December 2007
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Barrow's got some front
With a multimillion-pound development in the offing, the fortunes of Barrow's waterfront look to be on the up. David Casey takes a look at the ambitious regeneration programme that will transform a former brownfield site into a high-quality business location.
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Are you being served?
Dave Whelan's finally sold up at JJB Sports, but life on the high street isn't getting any easier. Neil Tague caught up with new chief executive Chris Ronnie to see how he's going to turn JJB's fortunes around.