Cube Corner – September 20

Welcome to the September edition of Cube Corner and thank you to everyone who has made time this month to get together for a meeting, it really is appreciated. Brighton has I think, a really unique group of businesses who are willing to collaborate and help each other, never more so than in the recent months.

August saw the re-start of the Firmballs golf league up at The Dyke Golf club. Sam’s usual promise of fine weather came to an abrupt end as he unfortunately had to cancel one due to fog, although play resumed the following week with the sunshine brilliant and the golf not so..

There were a number of Cube Clients present for The Rockinghorse Charity Golf Day. Congrats to Toby for putting on the event, it was the first Golf Day I have attended since the start of lockdown and it was really good to catch up with some friendly faces, something I think all of us have missed is the face-to-face meets with people.

Thanks to Meyado Protect, Lisa Ollerton for sponsoring the 15th Hole and to Ellie; thanks for the goodie bags. Also thanks to City Utilities, Steve Darby and Malcolm Jacobs for taking the 13th, the energy bars and drinks were very welcome.

Eastbourne seafront was a venue for a meeting with Bruce Hayter and Amy White to meet with a potential client. Congratulations to Amy on becoming a partner at Rix and Kay – I look forward to catching up again soon.

The seafront theme continued by meeting with Elliott Moore at Rockwall on Western Esplanade in Hove. Elliott is Head of Ops for Delaware North, overseeing  the catering operation at West Ham and Arsenal Football Clubs. It was really interesting to hear in detail of the challenges surrounding the Hospitality and Events business at the venues and hopefully there will be an easing of the restrictions in the near future.

I was also lucky enough to be invited to a tour and tasting at the Ridgeview Wine Estate – it was lovely afternoon. I first went up to Ridgeview around 15 years ago when they were first establishing themselves and the operation they have running now is really impressive, it is definitely worth a trip up to Ditchling. Thanks to Mardi Roberts and for hosting us and to

Sam Thomas for the invitation. Obviously while in Ditchling we couldn’t resist a quick visit to The Bull, great to bump into owner Dominic Worrall and have a chat.

I have had a busy month at Rivervale where they have just taken a Maxus Van franchise which is an all electric van. There are a range of vans on display which we will be showcasing to local businesses as soon as the current restrictions allow. The team are really impressed with them, although it is a little unnerving driving a vehicle without an engine noise.

I also had a test drive in Rivervale C.O.O Vince Pemberton’s new Mercedes EQC, the all electric SUV. There will be a review on Rivervale’s Blog soon but it is a really impressive car.

I am sure these will be very popular for company owner drivers with the banding currently as zero company car tax. There has been a growth in enquiries for the electric models as the technology continues to move forward. Rivervale have recently installed smart electric points at Rivervale House as the fleet moves across to electric. The chargers have a smart system to allow the company to monitor each individual car power consumption and charge back to the user accordingly.

I hope you all have a great month.