PRESENTERS

James Barker, Managing Director, Barker & Stonehouse
 

James Barker is the third generation of his family to take the helm of the Stockton-on-Tees headquartered furniture retail group, Barker and Stonehouse, which first opened its doors in 1946.  The company is one of the UK’s leading independent furniture retailers and seen as a leader in its sector, with a turnover in excess of £100m and employs over 400 people.

James’ retailing career started early with his first job at New York department store, Macy’s, at the age of 21, before returning to the UK to join international advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi in London and Harrods. He brought this rich experience to Barker & Stonehouse as Marketing Director, before progressing to Managing Director in 2004. 

Under James’ management the company has experienced excellent growth and achieved a variety of significant milestones. Branching out from its traditional heartland to Yorkshire, the Midlands and the South East, Barker and Stonehouse’s retail portfolio now includes stores in London, Hove and Guildford, a hugely successful online store and two concept stores in Fenwick Newcastle and Bentalls in Kingston. 

James also extensively adapted the businesses process to achieve Carbon Neutral Plus status last year.

Baker Furniture, the Barker family’s wholesale business arm, has recently invested in a new warehouse, showroom and office facility at Riverside Park and sales should achieve £25 million this year, with 30% exports into Europe.  

James has also played a role within the community, providing access to the firm’s delivery fleet and drivers to help fulfil NHS and related deliveries during the pandemic, raising tens of thousands of pounds for a variety of regional charities as well as the welfare arm of the Furniture Makers charity. In 2007, James co-founded a reforestation trust in Indonesia, which is one of the most highly regarded in the south east Asia region and was recently endorsed by AstraZeneca. It has planted 1.9 million trees and helped more than 40,000 farming families, to date. 

Daryl Chadwick, Chef and Owner, Chadwick & Co and Levan



Daryl Chadwick is the chef and owner of Chadwick & Co café, based in Barker & Stonehouse’s Teesside Park store, and of Levan, a new venture including a bakery in Norton village  in Stockton on Tees and a wood fired street food shipping container at Teesside park. 

He has been involved in restaurants for most of his adult life, first as front of house and then later, when he really found his passion for cooking, started learning alongside some of our region’s leading chefs and restaurateurs.

Daryl has owned restaurants and cafés for many years but still loves cooking every day. It can be hectic and unpredictable at times – let’s not mention 2020! – but at the end of it all he gets real pleasure from seeing people enjoying what he cooks.

He believes good food is something that we should all be interested in, and many of the ingredients he uses are sourced from the Tees Valley, North Yorkshire and the North East coast. He is a true believer in getting the best ingredients you can, from as near by to you as you can. Buying locally means that you can support local food producing businesses and also means you will enjoy very fresh high quality ingredients. Daryl says: 'For me, knowing that I’m buying local also adds to the pleasure of the finished dish."

Daryl spent a lot of time sailing in the Mediterranean before settling down to life in the kitchen. His dishes are all from that region, with strong Greek and Levantine influences and flavours. Regulars at the café will have no doubt tried some of these dishes, but he hopes many more of Tees Valley Business Cub's members will give these delicious favourites a go!