Business Diary: January 10

Such a description certainly did not apply to an event organised by the Met Club in Harrogate.

The club joined forces with paint and wallpaper specialist, Farrow & Ball, to host a lunchtime talk at Harrogate’s Hotel du Vin, which should lead to the transformation of quite a few homes in the next few months.

Kate Osborne, Farrow & Ball’s colour consultant and manager of the company’s Harrogate showroom, told Met Club members how to create memorable results using colour.

Debbie Cussons, of The Met Club, helped to organise the gathering.

She said: “This is the first time we have arranged a colour talk and it has generated a lot of interest. Colour and decorating is an interesting subject as most people love to experiment but aren’t confident enough with colour to take the plunge.”

The big hits

IT may not come as a surprise that Tesco was the most searched for company in the last 12 months, according to research by Creditsafe.

After all, one in every £10 spent in British retailers pass through Tesco’s tills, said David Knowles, business development director at Creditsafe.

Meanwhile, Alan Sugar, who appears in The Apprentice, was named the most searched for company director.

He was closely followed by business moguls made famous by Dragons’ Den – Duncan Bannatyne, Hilary Devey, James Caan, Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis.

Hilary Devey has taken Katie Price’s crown as the most searched for female business director in the UK.

Mr Knowles said: “With reality television shows centred around entrepreneurship such as The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den securing huge audiences it is no wonder that the ‘real’ business people helming these programmes are being researched by other business leaders, managers and credit controllers wanting to learn more about them.”

Shopping experience

Following the news that celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson has apologised wholeheartedly to Tesco following alleged shoplifting over the Christmas period, Morrisons’ chief executive Dalton Philips was quizzed yesterday whether the cook would be welcome at a Morrisons store.

Asked whether Mr Worrall Thompson was among Morrisons’ 800,000 new festive shoppers, Mr Philips was quick to answer.

“Well, we are doing free shopping at the moment,” he quipped, referring to Morrisons’ January promotion giving 60,000 customers the chance to get their shopping paid for.

Whether Mr Worrall Thompson would elect to go for his branded utensils range on sale in Morrisons is yet to be seen.

To London by boat

Blacksmith Don Barker has adopted a novel approach when it comes to carrying out his duties as prime warden of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths.

Mr Barker, who is based in York and is the first working smith for several generations to be elected to the position, cruises down to his meetings in London in his narrow boat with wife Barbara.

The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths is one of London’s ancient livery companies and dates back to the 13th century.

It was originally set up to monitor and control the activities of blacksmiths working within the Square Mile but now covers the whole of the UK.

He said: “My year in office involves attending many appointments in London and we have found a pleasurable way of avoiding a lot of travelling by cruising our narrow boat from Doncaster down to London.”

Tesco pizza champ

Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco wins round one of the oven pizza challenge, based on a weekend taste test by Diary.

Diary sampled Morrisons’ Aldo Zilli’s Pizza Calabrese, part of the MKitchen range, on Friday night and compared this on Sunday evening with Tesco Finest Margherita.

Tesco’s effort won hands-down for taste and consistency, with a splendid base that maintained its crispiness.

The Morrisons effort was a little heavy.

Next up is Asda versus Sainsbury’s, assuming Diary’s cholesterol levels don’t get too high.