Business Diary: December 7

Yorkshire-born Darren Gough may be best known for his skills on the cricket pitch and more recently on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, but his big love is cheese apparently.

Mr Gough says Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a festive cheeseboard to round off the Christmas Day feast.

The TalkSport Radio presenter says that although he loves turkey and Christmas pudding, he always looks forward to the cheese course.

"I really got into cheese a few years ago.

"This year I went to the International Cheese Awards which was just like a massive big fridge full of hundreds of different cheeses – it was fantastic! "

Great, so what is the Yorkshireman hoping to sell us? Er, Collier's Powerful Welsh Cheddar.

Hmm, maybe Gavin Henson might have been a better choice rather than a famous Yorkshire cricketer?

Although Yorkshire folk will be pleased about his second choice: Yorkshire Blue.

"I'm a Yorkshire boy born and bred so this is my number one choice for a blue-veined cheese. "

Oh well, at least he didn't forget his county of origin altogether.

Game of the name

SUB-PRIME lender Cattles continues to make mischief as it winds its slow path to non-existence.

The Batley-based company, which last week won "sufficient support" from creditors for a restructuring, plans to transfer the plc to a private company through a buyout.

The company, which was brought to its knees by a long-running accountancy problem, hopes that will allow the orderly wind-down of its loan book, ridding it of the inconvenience of a stock market listing.

The name of the new buyout company? None other than Bovess Limited, which sounds suspiciously like a play on bovine.

Back in February, Cattles' code name slipped into an RNS statement about another wave of job losses.

The press release referred throughout to Moscow plc – apparently another veiled reference to cows.

Shareholders, who've been told they will get a maximum of 1p per share from the restructuring, don't find Cattles' wordplay as funny.

"I did wonder if Bovess was a proper mickey take on 'Bovine' and the dead cow... or am I just being cynical?" said one investor.

Cattles declined to comment on the name for its new buyout firm.

Simon's sword play

IT'S not often that Diary is lost for words, but when Simon Cope, the managing director of Skopes Menswear in Leeds, produced a sword and death mask once belonging to Oliver Cromwell in the middle of an interview this week, it wasn't sure what to say.

The sword, which Cromwell took with him when he travelled from Scotland, through Yorkshire, and over to Ireland during the 17th Century, is inscribed with his name. Mr Cope said: "It's been in our family for years, I'm not sure where it originally came from."

The 'wear' wolf

MEANWHILE, it appears that no idea is too far-fetched when it comes to inventing new fabrics.

Malcolm Campbell, the commercial manager for clothing firm Skopes Menswear, who is tasked with coming up with outrageous new ideas for suit material, revealed his latest brainwave to Diary this week.

"It evolved from a marketing concept," he said. "I want to create a suit containing two per cent of wolf hair. The branding would be 'A wolf in sheep's clothing: Are you man enough?' Young American guys, our potential customers, would love that type of thing. It's this sort of outrageous idea that will one day become commercial."

Food for thought

THE restaurant scene in Leeds is hotting up again with some exciting new market entrants. Last Friday, Diary visited Fazenda, the Brazilian eaterie, in search of some South American warmth in this dreadfully cold spell.

It is located next to City Inn, sorry Mint Hotel, in that burgeoning area behind Leeds train station called Wharf Approach. It specialises in sizzling cuts of meat, but promises to cater for vegetarians as well. Diary tucked into several cuts of pork, chicken and beef, washed down with some nice Malbec from Argentina. Lovely.

It is owned by Robert Melman and his two partners. He is the man behind Argento, the Argentinian steak house in Huddersfield. The other new entrant to catch my eye is San Carlo, the Italian in South Parade. This is a big, bold affair. Competition is good for the dining scene – it forces everyone to raise their game.