Results tagged “Chester” from Chester Chronicle - And Finally

A CITY centre store owner enjoyed tremendous luck during his day at the Chester races.

Will Pinnington, owner of the Shop @ Panasonic store on the Bridge Street Rows, backed an astonishing seven winners in last Friday's six races.

The feat was made possible after Will backed two horses for each event during the day.

Watch the video shot by Canadian Marty Wilbur from his Chester flat of a strange orange object flying over the city on Sunday (April 26) night.

What do you think of the video?

(Safe for work language - audio edited to remove profanity)

Families in Preston are the least likely to be targeted by burglars - while Londoners are the most plagued by break-ins.

A study found those living in Preston are 66 per cent less likely to be burgled than the national average. But the risk of burglary in Londoners is 55 per cent greater than the average.

The capital is followed in the league table of break-in hot spots by Nottingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Manchester and Reading.

Good morning all,

Sorry I've not added many posts the last couple of days but I've been on a video editing course. In case you don't believe me, here's the efforts of my travail.... (Scorcese, be afraid - be very afraid!)

THREE Chester lap dancers have been performing for Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan.

Emma Phillips, Katie Firth and Lisa Williams went before the judges on ITV's Britain's Got Talent with their synchronised pole dancing act which was toned down compared with their normal routine at Chester's Platinum Lounge.

Calling themselves Aspara - named after mythical 'nymphs' who used to dance for gods and fallen warriors - the girls also had to impress female judges Amanda Holden and Kelly Brook at the audition in Manchester.

A disappointed Lisa, 24, who lives in Chester, said: "They didn't like it. We got buzzed off 10 seconds before the end. They were not impressed and we didn't get much feed-back.

"I think the production team thought we would go through and they couldn't believe it. We couldn't believe it."

Lisa added: "Piers said we were 'technically rubbish' but Simon had an argument with him saying 'what would you know?'. He said 'I've been to many lap-dancing clubs with you Simon' and that got a laugh.

"One of the girls, I think it was Amanda, said we should have done it in our underwear and Simon agreed."

Lisa said she and the other girls "loved" the day.

"It was brilliant and one of the scariest things I have ever done," she said, explaining that the idea to take part came up while she was at work.

"I was on the pole in work and when I came off this guy went 'Britain's got talent!' and I thought why not? We featured more the sporty side of it because it is very physical - I think it should be in the Olympics.

"The judges said it should have been more like a dance in a club but we couldn't have done that on a family show."

The third series of the show will be broadcast this spring and Lisa understands the Aspara audition will be broadcast.

SCHOOLCHILDREN had a lucky escape when the driver of a 4x4 reversed through the front window of a Chester sci-fi game centre.

Pupils from Derwen Primary School, Higher Kinnerton, were playing at Quasar on Volunteer Street when a woman drove the rear end of her silver Honda through the front of the premises on Wednesday at 5.30pm.

None of the 16 children were injured and were able to carry on with their party before being collected by shocked parents.

Quasar owner Robin Lee said that only luck prevented a fatality. He said: "It was lucky that there was nobody in the foyer or walking past outside because they would now be dead."

The female driver, aged in her sixties from Bangor, had accidentally reversed the vehicle through the front window showering the inside of the building in debris and glass.
She was taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital and treated for shock and chest pain.

Chester Fire's white watch crew manager Rob Monk explained: "The lady thought the car was in forward gear but in fact it was in reverse. She put her foot down to stop but her foot has slipped off the brake and onto the accelerator."

The school group were celebrating the birthday of a Year 2 pupil inside when the incident happened.

A MASSAGE parlour on the outskirts of Chester is seeking compensation from the Highways Agency alleging loss of trade due to roadworks.

The business, known as The Bungalow, hit the headlines in November after it emerged the Highways Agency had erected temporary signs directing customers to the parlour during the upheaval.

Owner Bonita Westgarth has successfully applied for the massage parlour in Welsh Road, Woodbank, to be granted lawful development status giving her the green light to apply for compensation.

She said in a letter to Chester City Council: "Since the commencement of roadworks the scale of my business has been reduced very considerably and I am making an application for compensation as a consequence."

In a report, planning enforcement officer Leslie Smith explained the history of the site. He said in 2000 the business was invited to apply for a change-of-use planning application "to regularise" the use of the premises but this was refused on highway grounds as the entrance is near to traffic lights at the junction of the A550 and A5117.

During an enforcement inquiry it emerged that there was sufficient evidence to indicate the premises had been in continuous use for more than 10 years and therefore an application for a lawful development certificate was likely to succeed.

Mr Smith added: "In the past year or so extensive road improvements have taken place in the area which she says has led to a loss of business. Compensation is only payable by the Highways Agency to lawful businesses and she has been advised by her solicitor to submit the application now."

Highways agency spokeswoman Barbara Phillips said: "We are not aware of such a claim being made to the Highways Agency. However, the Highways Agency does not provide compensation to businesses for alleged loss of trade except in the sole circumstance of access to a business being totally denied as a result of its work. No business has had access totally denied as a result of work on the A5117 Improvement Scheme."

In November we reported that diversion signs had been erected by the Highways Agency due to £58m highway improvement works on the A5117, alerting drivers they could still gain access to The Bungalow.

A CHESTER lap dancing club has come with "a cheeky" idea for how struggling companies can defy the credit crunch.

Dan Phillips, booking agent for the Platinum Lounge in Bridge Street, says businesses can now get themselves noticed and increase their bottom-line...by advertising on the girls' bare behinds.

Dan said the commercials were similar - if a little more racy - to those on Premiership football shirts or Formula 1 drivers' racing suits.

He said: "I thought of it more as a cheeky bit of fun until we realised the potential that it was an interesting and unusual way for people to get their businesses noticed.

"Local firms can sponsor as many of the girls as they wish and we hope the novelty of the scheme will ensure their message will stick in the minds of those people visiting the club.

"We have a very diverse selection of customers from all walks of life and are pretty sure they will have never seen anything like this before."

The dancers will have the 15cm by 10m adverts applied to their bottoms using a stencil and body paints.

"I had to do a lot of research with a tape measure to come up with the optimum size for the adverts!" added Dan.

Corporate sponsors will be offered a special deal for their clients to visit the club and Dan reckons "it could just help clinch that important contract".

Platinum lap dancer Emma-Louise, who has had a stencil applied to her bottom as part of the research stage, said; "I think it's a nice fun idea and a bit quirky which is exactly the kind of thing that sets the Platinum Lounge apart from many other venues of this type.

"I always like to help out, and anything which helps promote anybody's business must be a good thing, especially during these 'credit crunch' times."

THOUSANDS of motorists are being directed to a Chester massage parlour by Highways Agency road signs.

Diversions set up at major roadworks in Shotwick are alerting drivers that they can gain access to a business called The Bungalow.

The business, which offers customers various services in its pink room and red room, has been in operation for 16 years and is just yards from the busy A550 on the Cheshire-Flintshire border.

Owner of The Bungalow, Bonnie Westgarth applied to Chester City Council in September this year to change the use of the building to a massage parlour.
Now, due to the £58m Deeside Park Junction Improvement project, thousands of road users will be able to find it.

Highways Agency spokeswoman Barbara Phillips said: "As part of the Deeside junction improvement works, changes are being made to the access of this business.
", the black and yellow signs have been put up to alert individuals using the business that they can still gain access.

"As far as we are aware, the business is a massage parlour but if someone came to us to say it was an illegal business then the signs would come down."

The roadworks, which are designed to ease congestion at the key gateway to England and Wales, are expected to be completed by December.

The temporary signs advertising The Bungalow - which stand alongside those directing people to the M56, Manchester and Birkenhead - will be removed once the works have been completed.

Staff at The Bungalow have declined to comment.

A DRUG-DEALING ex-fireman drove for a quarter of a mile with a policeman clinging on to the bonnet of his car.

The white-knuckle ride lasted for more than two minutes as John Williams, 53, of Glyn Garth, Blacon, tried to escape from two plain clothes police officers.

Williams was found guilty of conspiracy to supply the class A drugs heroin and crack cocaine and dangerous driving.

The court heard PCs Roger Smith and Iestyn Lewis- Jones were patrolling Chester city centre on Saturday, October 20, when they followed three suspicious men to a house in Mason Street, off Liverpool Road.

Moments later Williams turned into the street in a green Hyundai Accent with drug dealers Kevin Corbett, 42, and Liam Harvey, 20, as passengers.

Myles Wilson, prosecuting, told the court: "One of the officers tried to open a passenger door, shouting "stop police", but the occupants locked the doors.

"PC Smith smashed the passenger window with his elbow and jumped on to the bonnet of the car.

"The second officer reached into the car to try and take the keys when the driver's side window was wound up trapping his arm."

Williams then reversed on to a busy Liverpool Road and started to accelerate towards Fountains roundabout. PC Lewis-Jones ran along side the car with his colleague, PC Smith, spread-eagled on its bonnet.

Luckily, PC Lewis-Jones' arm worked free allowing him to call for back-up as the car disappeared towards St Oswald's Way. Williams slowed down to allow his passengers out and PC Smith rolled off the bonnet.

Corbett, 42, Harvey, 20, and Williams will be sentenced at Chester Crown Court on Monday, April 21.