17/11/2011 Look East - East

It's hassle-free shopping. There is necessity to get in your car and

park. There are no costs involved there. Hello from Stuart and me.

Also tonight, the region's budget airlines join forces to demand an

end to the tax on flying. hasn't George Osborne scrapped the

tax? Because he lacks the balls. Suffolk today, it's master class

from Marco for the chefs of the future. And we go inside the home

of a breakfast favourite across the Hello.

The Christmas shopping season gets underway across the region tonight

with many shops pinning their hopes on making some money over the next

few weeks. For some it will be the difference between survival and

going under. Official figures out today show

retail spending holding up despite the highest unemployment rate for

17 years.. Shop sales rose by just under one per cent in October

compared with the same time last year. But experts say that was at

the cost of heavy discounting and sales. Smaller stores did better -

up 5.3%. But the larger stores saw takings dip by 0.3%. Tonight, it's

late-night shopping with many places putting on special events to

entice shoppers. The region's biggest shopping

centre is Norwich where almost �1.2 billion was spent in the last year.

Milton Keynes is next with a spend of just over a billion. Then it's

Lakeside in Essex, Cambridge, Ipswich and Colchester. Let's get

some more details now from Alex Dunlop in Norwich.

In Norwich, this happens to be the 10th biggest shopping centre in the

country. This gives you an idea why retail is so important in the east

of England. In the next couple of minutes or so the city's Festival

of Lights are going to be going on. This is late-night shopping, so for

these retailers and for retailers across the region, tonight will be

a real litmus test to gauge the mood of shoppers. Big discounts,

the warm weather, food wars - whatever the reason, at least we're

shopping more than last year, but retailers cannot rest on their pre-

Christmas laurels.Ate after 180 years, this store in Durham is

closing. They just can't get enough trade.

I reckon it's one of the best shops in town. They definitely tightened

the belt. It's really bad. You really feel it, especially this

time of year with Christmas. have cut right back. It is a shame,

but then again, this is the climate, isn't it? While it is hard times,

we don't want to talk ourselves into a recession. I think if we

talk ourselves up, a bit of optimism will at least encourage

people to spend even in these hard times. Some towns in the region are

faring worse than others. A straw poll in Ipswich has found an 11%

rise in two years. Where retailers move out, charity shops tend to

move in. This was once a thriving Virgin music store. In January the

British Heart Foundation will take over the top floor, but the

landlords insist there are fewer empty units than this time last

year. We have a complete buzz in the shopping centre. Everyone seems

to be out shopping. We do feel we're busier. I thought we were

supposed to be going through a tough time. It's strange. I know

that's what the reports say, but we're not seeing that at the moment.

For us, it seems to be doing well. The next few weeks must be critical

for you. Absolutely. Christmas is always a telling time for retailers

to see how they do. Christmas is a time when people spend the most

money. There are a lot more sales. Stores have to do what they can to

get people in the doors. Shopping centres are about to say the glass

is half full. I don't want to be a horrible Scrooge, but there was a

survey out by the Nationwide saying consumer confidence was at an all-

time low. The average of 78 points I am afraid hit a rock bottom of 36

points. Yes, retail figures are encouraging, but as any analyst

will tell you, don't look at the one figure. Look at the trend.

Once again, the star performers this Christmas will almost

certainly be the people who sell online. The biggest in the country,

Amazon, is based in Milton Keynes, but there are many more going on-

line. For more than 150 years Barwell's

has sold its pies and meat to the people of Bury St Edmunds, but on

Christmas eve, the shop will close its doors and move to the virtual

High Street. I'll have the red onion as well. It's not a prospect

the owner welcomes, but with a steady trend of customers shopping

on the internet, he believes the future for his business is online.

At my age, I'm sad of any change, but life goes on, and you have to

respond to it. As an overall economy we have 40 employees

excluding casual labour. We have to plan a company that gives them a

career base of 15 years. From the warehouse in Bedfordshire, the food

is prepared and shipped all over the country. Closing the shop means

the business can make savings of scale, but his customers back in

Bury are disappointed. People just can't compete with the supermarkets,

unfortunately. It's very sad for us. I will investigate the shopping

online. It's not the same, really, as coming in and having a chat.

family-run firm will join the virtual ranks of online giant

Amazon shipping goods from their warehouse near Milton Keynes, the

world's largest online retailer employs hundreds of people in the

east. It's another booming trade in Haiverhill. Fig Leaves which sells

lingerie gets more than a million hits on its website each month.

With rising petrol prices, they believe customers welcome shopping

from their front room. I think it's hassel-free shopping. There is no

necessity to get in your car, to go and park, so you've got no costs

involved there. We offer great advice over the phone. You can try

the items on at home and then, you know, we can offer you after-sales

service, if necessary, so it's just, you know, a hassel-free service.

The High Street may not be flourishing, but many retailers say

online is, and for shops like Barwell's, the mantra is you have

to change to survive. Everything is subject to evolution.

We don't have to like it, but if we're wise, we recognise and

respond to it. So can shoppers afford Christmas

this year? With me in the studio is Richard Proctor, a retail analyst

with Grant Thornton, and in Milton Keynes we've got Fiona Ellis-

Chadwick, a senior lecturer in retail management at the Open

University. If I can start with you, are you surprised by any of these

figures today to see they're actually going up? I think we're

all surprised, to be honest, because, as we know, disposable

incomes are under pressure. Unemployment is rising, so all the

science were that we were expecting a decrease, but an increase month

on month and year on year - very good news. What do you put that

down to? I think there are local factors. The mild weather probably

helped. Digital switch-over in this region probably helped, so a

combination of different things. People buying new televisions and

set-top boxes. Set-top boxes, indeed. We're seeing the retailers

discounting and earlier than expected. So a crucial few weeks

ahead. Fiona, you look at the trends of shopping. Obviously, one

of the biggest trends is the move to more online shopping.

Yes. One pound in every ten is now being spent online, but most savvy

retailers understand having a multi-channel approach to retailing,

which means they're in the High Street. They're online. They have

catalogues. They're mobile, so it's just a changing retail environment,

and what you do have to remember is whilst these figures are showing

that spending is up, when you factor in inflation, actually,

that's not looking so good. The pound in the shopper's pocket is

really being eroded, and shoppers are currently - they're spending.

They're buying food, and that's a priority at Christmas. What will be

much more interesting will actually - to see at the end of the

Christmas trading period how the money is being spent. Is there a

much bigger increase at Christmas in the online shopping because

people don't want to face the Christmas rush and the crowd? So

they actually do it online during the Christmas period, but maybe go

back to the shops to do their traditional shopping afterwards?

have become really savvy. In the UK, we're really avaricious at spending

online. We have come to love it. You can be objective about what you

buy online, so really calculated, and that's really bad news for

retailers because it takes away that impulse spend. One of the big

challenges for High Street retailers to get the consumers into

the store, but discounting prices is not going to be the only thing

shoppers are going to be interested in. There's got to be something

extra. Richard, very briefly, a crucial few weeks ahead for those

trying to sell their goods. Indeed. The next few weeks will be critical.

Thank you very much. Later in Look East: with just 24

hours to go before the big day the Children In Need choir in this

region is put through its paces. We will be hearing from the One

Show's Matt Baker as he nears the end of his rickshaw challenge.

Plus: Behind the scenes at the company which makes one of our

favourite breakfast cereals. The story of Weetabix coming up.

Normally they're at each other's throats. But today, the two main

airlines which operate in our region came together. They want the

Government to scrap air passenger duty. The bosses of both easyJet

and Ryanair say the tax is destroying the economy and driving

passengers away from Stansted. Anyone who flies from a British

airport has to pay air passenger duty. It can be as much as �170 if

you're flying first class to the other side of the world, but for

most of these passengers at Stansted, it's likely to be as

little as �12. Is air passenger tax a big deal as far as you're

concerned? I don't think so, not at �12. It's not stopped me from

travelling at all. If it went up, would it deter you? Yes, if it went

up. I would rather there wasn't one. Here is a site we haven't seen

before - the bosses of British Airways, Ryanation, EasyJet and

Virgin side by side campaigning for the tax to be scrapped. The owner

of Ryanair was being kairkristically blunt. Why hasn't

George Osborne scrapped the tax? Because he lacks the courage and

balls. He and his hello competitors say the tax is putting people off

flying, and that's affecting jobs and economic growth. Most other

countries don't have APD, and their passenger numbers keep going up.

million less passengers came to Britain in the last four or five

years. Contrast that with Europe where 66 million more people came

into mainland Europe, so this is very, very uncompetitive for

Britain. The Government says British airlines benefit because

there is no VAT on flights. After veesing the tax this year, it's

planning an increase for 2012. Air passenger duty generates more than

�2 billion a year for the Treasury. There is no way the Chancellor in

the present climate will scrap the tax, but the airlines hope at the

very least he may agree to a freeze or a very small increase when he

delivers his autumn statement. Four children who were taken to

hospital when their school bus and a car were involved in a crash have

been allowed home. The driver was released after treatment.

All the Tornado aircraft based at RAF Marham in Norfolk .. Have been

cleared to fly again. They were grounded nine days ago after a Red

Arrows pilot was killed in an accident involving his ejector seat.

The GR4's are fitted with the same type of ejector seat. Travellers

who were evicted from Dale Farm in Essex say more families are now

returning to the site. A multi- million-pound eviction operation

only ended officially this week. But the travellers say they've

nowhere else to go. One of the few caravans allowed to stay. After

weeks, this is all that's left of the farm. The owner of this

legally-built house at Dale Farm is angry at the devastation around him.

For the life of me I can't see the sense in doing that. The only thing

that's going to happen is when it rains, we're going to have stagnant

water, leaking sewage. But although it's not much to come back to, some

travellers do seem to be returning. We're really desperate. We have no-

where else to go. That's the reason we're still here and have come back.

Most of the people couldn't handle watching the eviction going on.

That's why they have moved out. They're back. People are entitled

to stay on this road. They have permission of the landowner.

They're here because they have no- where to go. This is what I said

all along. They have no-where to go. They wouldn't be living like this

in this condition if they had somewhere else to go. Yesterday the

owners of caravans that crept too close to the pitch were threatened

with legal action. They have gone back. The council says it's

determined not to allow the reoccupation of Dale Farm. It

denies it's persecuting the travellers. It says anyone who

breaches planning law is treated the same.

The Norwich-based company Virgin Money is taking over Northern Rock.

The bank was nationalised three years ago when it came close to

collapse. It employs 250 people in Norwich. It's paying the company

�257 million for Northern Rock. That's around �400 million less

than the cost of the original bail- out.

The celebrity chef who taught Gordon Ramsey everything he knows

about cooking has been in Bury St Edmunds today. Marco Pierre White

was passing on his knowledge to a new intake of apprentice chefs at

Green King. The star of Hell's Kitchen and the

stock cube adverts started as an apprentice at Saint George at the

age of 16. Did I learn that much about cooking? No. Did I learn how

to work very long hours? Yes. Did I learn how to work 25,26, 27 days on

the trot? Yes. Did I learn to be respectful? Yes. Did I learn how to

use a knife? Yes. He's always been known as the bad boy of British

cooking, a perfectionist, scowling, grumpy, intolerant of silly

journalists. We got on OK but I did ask one question which prompted

this rebuke: This is a question for The Apprentices, not for the BBC.

You shouldn't allow your journalistic tendencies to get the

better of you, sir. One of the watching apprentices was Ashley

Wilson who works in the White Hart in Braintree. He started washing

dishes and is now working his way up. He was delighted to meet the

chef. Yeah, he's a good chef, nice to get on with, nice to talk to.

You're going to be trying sea bass en papiot in the White House?

tonight, no. Every job is hard if you're committed, and hard work is

a pastime. Cooking to me is a way of life, not a job. Everyone works

you have from the bottom to the top. You've got to do it. Like this man.

He's got to be worth a few quid. Yeah, he has, hasn't he? He's just

bought five pubs and restaurants in Norfolk and Suffolk. I did ask

about the acquisition, but he didn't want to talk about it. By

the way, the dish was really very How do you like your Weetabix? Do

you like it hot or cold? Floating in the milk or not? With fruit or

without? So many options. Well, tonight the

company which makes Weetabix is celebrating after winning one of

the Oscars of the food industry. They have been making the little

oval biscuits for almost 80 years at a factory near Kettering. Today

our Northamptonshire reporter paid a visit.

Weetabix was originally developed in Australia, then in 1932 it came

here, renaming itself Weetabix. Over the years the company has

remained loyal to the original recipe, the original factory

workers wouldn't recognise this production line. Within the process,

we weigh the raw grain from the silo. We add liquor, and then we

cook it, which is about temperature, pressure and time. We surface dry

the grain, and then we mill it to create the flake that you see here.

The flakes are then packed into moulds and baked in these ovens for

nine-and-a-half minutes, precisely. Paul's job is to check the

consistency of the biscuits. His father worked here for 25 years.

Now he's following in his footsteps. Everybody around here know what we

produce. My father worked here. He worked in production, so it was

just indoctrinated into me, so I grew up hereers I got a chance to

work here and jumped at it. Then after baking, the Weetabix is make

row waived to dry the centre of the biscuit, then out they pop. There

are four Weetabix production lines in operation at any one time. They

operate right the way through 24 hours a day from Sunday through to

Friday, manufacturing over 70 million Weetabix biscuits every

week. Then comes the clever bit - packed,

wrapped and boxed in just a few And Weetabix really is made in the

east. All the wheat comes from a 50-mile radius at the factory.

doing it within a 50-mile radius, obviously we're trying to reduce

our carbon footprint and do our best for the environment, but the

local farmers are a key part of helping us make the great products

we make here. The company employs 1,000 people,

making not just Weetabix, but Alpern and Ready Breck. Weetabix

now exportss to 80 countries, a success story which

Northamptonshire and the east can be proud of.

I love to see how things like that are made.

You like them floating in milk. actually like the flakes. Yes,

Oata-bix flakes. The choirmaster Gareth Malone from

BBC Two series The Choir is bringing together 3,000 children to

sing live tomorrow night. In in region, we'll be at the

Charter Hall in Colchester. Five choirs become one - tomorrow

night, our Children in Need choir of 215 will be singing for Gareth

Malone. They'll be coming together for the first time to perform Keep

Holding on by Averil Levine. This is the Plume School rehearsing.

They'll be joining up with four other schools tomorrow. The job of

bringing them together falls to singer, musician and choir director

Andy Hopgood. There are loads of you that are really going for it. I

wouldn't say 100% of you yet, but 80% of you are really performing it

and really going for it. Every choir I hear, they all are on

the ball. Friday is going to be easy for me it's just bringing all

the groups together to be one complete choir rather than separate

groups, so I'm looking forward to meeting them. It's Gareth Malone's

ambitious plan to bring together a choir of 3,000 children from all

over the UK. He's calling it The Big Performance. This is something

like 11 million people watching Children in Need. It's the

television event of the year. Hopgood is Gareth Malone's sous

chef in the east. This is a school in Colchester. The

hope is they have all learned to sing the song the same and sing the

same too. You really have to go for it. This is your moment to be stars.

I feel like mini-celebrities. They're really excited about it,

and it's just a brilliant experience to have. At this school,

the students can't believe they'll be part of something big in the

east that'll be part of something massive across the UK. It's a nice

idea. It's nice we can be involved. All over the country. The Big

Performance is at 8.30pm tomorrow night on BBC One as part of

Children in Need. Will Andy pull it off? Five into one - Keep Holding

On - the united choir of the east. That's going to be a great sound.

Fabulous. We're doing Look East from the Charter Hall. Louise had a

fashion parade today. Shall I wear this? The little ears... The Pudsey

ears, yes, I think they might tame TV presenter Matt baker is in

Cambridge tonight on his marathon rickshaw ride. He's raising money

for Children in Need. He set off from Peterborough and arrived in

Cambridge a short while ago. We caught up with him earlier. Feeling

all right, good spirits. We're now - got under a hundred miles to go

now, so can't grumble, keeping my head down, trying to get through

the next 40, 50 miles and push on because this potentially could be

quite a day. I bet you are very glad Cambridgeshire is flat. I am

finding the flat is the worst for this vehicle because you get no

let-up at all. It weighs an absolute tonne anyway, and you have

to just keep working, keep peddling all the time. Even a slight incline

is the same as the plait. Hold on. Give me a few seconds. Hello,

everyone. There is a car behind us. What was the reception like in

Peterborough last night? Unbelievable considering I turned

up four hours later than expected. They were in lines in the street -

loads of people were, yeah. That's what keeps you going, really. Watch

this. You'll just be amazed by it. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Incredible. What an extraordinary challenge, and we wish him all the

very best for the final leg of his journey. At least it's not too cold.

At the moment, we've got some exceptionally mild autumn

conditions, so at the moment, if we look at the pressure chart, you'll

see there is an area of low pressure that is trying to bring in

wet weather, but for the east the only thing it's going to do is

increase the wind speed. This is the satellite chart before the sun

went down. You can see there is a little bit of patchy cloud around,

so for tonight, clear intervals, patchy cloud at times, and perhaps

during the second half of the night, it will tend to cloud over from the

west as that weather front approaches, but with the wind speed

picking up, it's not going to get too cold. We're expecting south-

west to south-westerly winds, generally moderate in strength, an

expected low of 6 Celsius, which is 43 Fahrenheit. Tomorrow it may

bring a bit of cloud to start with, but not a bad day at all.

Reasonably sunny spells for all areas. Today parts of Norfolk and

Suffolk under cloud, but tomorrow, it looks like that'll break up to

allow some sunshine. You'll see some exceptionally mild

temperatures - most locations getting to 13 Celsius. One or two

spots perhaps 14 Celsius, which is about 5 Celsius above average for

this time of year. The wind speed still stays moderate. It's south to

south-westerly in direction. For the afternoon, it stays dry with

further sunny spells, and we end the day with fairly clear skies. If

we look at the pressure chart to see what happens next, you'll see a

change on the way. Looks like we'll get some more unpredictable autumn

conditions or perhaps more typical autumn conditions. By Monday this

weather front here is trying to bring in some wet weather, so it

looks like we might start start the beginning of next week with some

wet weather potentially, but for the next few days, it stays fine.

It stays dry, with daytime temperatures above average, light

southerly winds and overnight lows not falling low at all. Into Monday,

potentially cloud around, possibly rain. Into Tuesday as well, cooler

nights, and for the barometer tonight two, readings - one for the

east, 1,5020 millibars, one for the Thank you very much indeed. Did you