The visits were set up by InvestSefton – Sefton Council’s enterprise, business support and inward investment service who have helped both businesses through their ERDF Business Growth programme.

First up was a visit to Glennray House to meet co-directors Ray Warburton and Glenn Critchley, who have totally revamped a Victorian property in Alexandra Road into a 7-bedroomed B&B.

In its first year of trading, they have already received a Booking.com Gold Accommodation award of 9.7 to 10, an Excellence award from TripAdvisor and invitation and membership of Britain’s finest collection of luxury hotels and B&Bs. InvestSefton has supported the business since its inception and the business now trades on a range of social media and through its own website.

The group then visited Adaptive Communications Solutions – an owner-managed Telecoms IT and web solutions provider business based in Hoghton Street. The company was set up by Managing Director James Brayshaw in 2003 with the aim of creating a reliable telecoms company that focuses on building long term relationships with customers, offering a high-quality service.

The company has grown with a loyal workforce of 25 people and have accrued a wide range of accreditations, qualifications and awards.

InvestSefton has supported the business on its growth journey and more recently James Brayshaw worked with the team by using his expertise to facilitate a number of highly acclaimed b2b events attended by some 200 businesses, helping them to prepare for GDPR.

Cllr Marion Atkinson, Sefton Council’s Labour Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Skills, said: “Once again it was great to see two growing and successful ventures from two ends of the Southport business spectrum that support our own objectives for the local economy and both with a focus on customer quality. For Glennray House, they have gone to great lengths of time and investment to completely restore a beautiful Victorian property to further enhance the Southport visitor offer; I am delighted InvestSefton has been able to lend its support.

“Adaptive Communications Solutions are at the forefront of a growing and highly competitive Telecoms IT and web support market and I have been particularly impressed by the company’s continuing commitment to its staff in terms of their development and wellbeing; again it was good to see that InvestSefton has developed a good relationship with James and his team and in turn they have used their expertise to support other Sefton businesses.”

Ray Warburton of Glennray House, said: “This is the culmination of more than two years hard work and investment and InvestSefton has been with us every step of the way offering support and advice. The online comments we have received have been overwhelming and we are looking forward to grow the business further ”

James Brayshaw of Adaptive Communications Solutions Ltd, added: “I have always passionately believed in looking after your employees. I believe that if you look after people they will look after you. We take customer services very seriously indeed and will always go the extra mile for people. This has led to our fantastic staff and customer retention rates and ultimately been the bedrock of our growth.
“I have enjoyed working with the team at Invest Sefton, their local knowledge has assisted me with networking and development. I would highly recommend speaking to them to see how they can help you