Well, at last downtown comes to Manchester. After establishing our brand in Liverpool six years ago, and Preston three years back, I’m absolutely delighted that we have been able to bring downtown to the premier city in the north.

It was, I suppose, almost inevitable that we would end up here one day, because the very idea of downtown was, at least in part, born out of a conversation that I had with Tony Wilson in 1999.

Tony told me about a pressure group he had been involved in following the IRA bombing of the city in 1996. Other members of the organisation included Tom Bloxham, Peter Saville and Colin Sinclair. They called themselves the ‘McEnroe group’ – as a ‘you cannot be serious’ commentary on Manchester’s agencies response to the incident. He told me that the group came up with some alternative proposals and suggestions, some of which were subsequently taken on board, and that a good deal of the private/public sector partnership that we take for granted in this great city now, had started with that initiative.

There were a lot of ‘you cannot be serious’ moments in and around Liverpool’s regeneration in 2004 and in the run up to the capital of culture year in 2008, and downtown, in a way, became the city’s ‘McEnroe group’.

That we started out very much as a property dominated lobby group, that has developed into a cross sector business club that influences every level of government, whilst also offering what we consider to be the very best business networking environments, both through the events that we organise, the business to business introductions we facilitate and our exceptionally strong on line presence  is testament to the 400 plus companies that have supported us since our inception, and the great team that we have built in that time.

So what is Downtown?

We work with the key decision makers from fast growing businesses; we work with them collectively and individually to make sure that they get the very best profile and marketing opportunities; quality and diverse networking environments and business support that means they can grow their companies more efficiently and effectively.

Our networking offer is second to none, and we do breakfast events, lunchtime gigs, more intimate chairman’s dinners and ‘sexy’ networking’. In other words, we cater for everyone’s needs.

It is estimated that in the other cities where downtown operates, we have facilitated business deals worth literally hundreds of thousands of pounds since 2004.

On the political side, we have a dialogue with politicians at a national, local and regional level. Over the past twelve months our members have met with the prime minister, the shadow chancellor, the shadow home secretary and the minister for schools and education.

We hope we positively influence some of their policy thinking, and we hope we help them to understand issues that face the private sector on a day to day basis.

Of course we know that in this city the public sector, particularly its local authority is one of, if not the, best at forging strong, genuine relationships with the private sector that often go on to deliver change and success.

We also know that people like Tom Bloxham, Peter Saville and Colin Sinclair, once the great agitators, have become part and parcel of the Manchester establishment, which ensures that those partnerships remain and progress.

You only have to look at media city, and the planned regeneration of east Manchester and oxford road to see that Manchester is continuing to modernise, renew and regenerate.

We hope that we can bring some new people to the table from the business community and with them some new ideas. Certainly, if we do, we know that there will be an opportunity for those ideas to be put forward and listened to.

The principle reason for this, as I indicated earlier, is the way in which the city council operates here. I have nothing but admiration for Sir Howard Bernstein and his colleagues and the work they have done to make Manchester the great city that it is today.

I have known Howard for almost twenty years now, and I wondered how he would react when I went to see him to tell him that I was thinking of launching downtown Manchester.

I needn’t have worried. He encouraged me, introduced me to people who have become our first sponsors, and of course, has agreed to speak to us all this evening. I will be back in a bit to say a few thank you’s, but in the meantime, can I ask you to give a warm welcome to the chief executive of Manchester city council, Sir Howard Bernstein.