County needs to stop talking to itself

Lancashire is a fantastic place to work, rest, and play. We know this because we tell each other every time we meet.

Whether that is at Burnley Bondholders meetings, Preston Partnership gatherings, events hosted by my organisation DIB, or indeed this wonderful magazine Lancashire Business View, we can bring together hugely impressive business leaders who are able to wax lyrical about their own personal success, and the potential and opportunity of the county.

However, when it comes to promoting our brand beyond ‘county lines’, we have lost our way.

After a flurry of hugely impressive activity from Marketing Lancashire pre-pandemic, including an award-winning appearance at the major property festival MIPIM in Cannes, Lancashire has returned to not so much hiding its light under a bushel, but burying it 10 feet under.

At that same MIPIM event this year, I will search in vain for a Lancashire presence, as I visit investor promoting stands from Manchester, Liverpool, and Newcastle.

At a parliamentary reception hosted by the county council in the Speaker’s House last year, the great and the good of the Red Rose county were in the room – but London investors, there were none.

It’s good to talk – and there is no harm during these challenging times of slapping ourselves on the back and building self-confidence.

However, we know how great Lancashire is. We need to find a way, once again, of telling everyone else, in the UK and internationally.