The Tinker Bell Principle

PETERBOROUGH, AND THE GENERAL MOOD SEEMS ONE OF EXCITEMENT ABOUT THE FUTURE, WITH A PERIOD OF GREAT SUCCESS JUST ROUND THE CORNER. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU SENSE?

Indeed. There is a real positive growth attitude in Peterborough, with people that want to make things happen. Peterborough was identified in the McKinsey report as being the fastest-growing city in England over the next 10 years. There is a lot of interest in Peterborough and many things have happened. When you’re on it and part of it it’s not always evident, the strides that are being taken, but there are lots of very successful businesses that have been developing and expanding, new companies wanting to invest in Peterborough, and from the retail offering, very positive things with Queensgate, Primark opening this week, additional tenancies in Queensgate, Cathedral Square, the restaurants and food offerings. National companies recognise the growth potential of Peterborough and they’re always looking to invest where they’ll get the best return.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE STARTING OUT IN BUSINESS NOW, DURING THESE CHALLENGING – BUT ALSO EXCITING – TIMES?

The key thing is to really understand the details of what you’re planning on doing and have a robust business plan, so that you can see exactly what you need to achieve, you know, what volume of turnover you need to get to deal with your costs, for example. I’ve seen so many examples of people who haven’t gone through the nitty-gritty detail in the way that they need to. Above all, there is the principle of believing what you’re doing is going to be possible and achievable.

ADDENBROOKES ROBOT APPEAL – FUNDING EQUIPMENT TO HELP TO BATTLE PROSTATE CANCER – WAS THE CHAMBER’S CHARITY OF THE YEAR IN 2012, AND YOU HAVE HAD PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF HOW IT CAN HELP. HOW DID CANCER CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE TO LIFE AND BUSINESS?

The situation was that I’d had good health all my life and then in the space of 18 months I had to have two major operations. I wanted to keep in contact, because when you have a physical illness nothing happens to your mind and your brain, and you need to keep that operating. It teaches you to take advantage of all the hours you’ve got available to you and utilise them from both a business and a personal point of view – and understand that you may not have the opportunity to do all the things you planned and wished to do. Life is all about ensuring you can keep focused and achieve the things that you wish to. You need to have a passion, need to be motivated. I think overall it’s very easy to succumb to illness and buckle under. It’s not easy when you’ve got a family and you’ve got things wrong with you, and the family is thinking, “What is going to happen?” You’ve got to be strong and reassure people that things will be all right. You’ve got to grit your teeth and get through it, and get well as quickly as possible. And one of those things is making sure, physically, you start doing things again as quickly as you can. You’ve got to help yourself to get well. When you are living through such experiences they can be pretty traumatic and difficult, but actually when you look back you see them in a rather different light. But it is very difficult at the time to be able to raise yourself out of that difficulty, and you do have to be quite strong, and there are some who you have to help to do that because they can’t do it for themselves.

PRESUMABLY, AT SUCH TIMES THE TINKER BELL PRINCIPLE BECOMES MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER?

Well, it does. I am also a Christian, and I am quite content in my own mind that what will come to pass will come to pass. I’m sure in my own mind that there is another being who has a watchful eye and does help me to succeed in what I do. That doesn’t mean just letting things happen, however. As I said, one of the best bits of advice I’ve had is, if there’s a problem, deal with it straight away. If there is something bad, cut it out as soon as possible. And that relates to the prostate cancer, too.

TELL ME ABOUT THOSE THREE LETTERS AT THE END OF YOUR NAME: OBE…

I got it in 1997 in John Major’s resignation honours list for work that I’d done for him whilst he was Prime Minister. I was John Major’s constituency chairman, and lived through some of the many challenges he had, particularly when he retired as leader of the Conservative party. They had a leadership election, if you remember, and I had to deal with that, working behind the scenes and in particular dealing with the media. It’s not something you’re ever prepared for, and you have to operate on instinct, but I think the way we handled it was absolutely right. One of the things I did was to talk with John Redwood’s chairman and said: “We’re all in the Conservative Party together, the last thing we want to do is be used by the media to appear to disagree with each other”. And we agreed a common approach to dealing with it all.

HOW DID YOU REACT TO THE HONOUR WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD OF IT?

It was something I wasn’t expecting. There are so many people who help and contribute that I was bit surprised when it happened. It was a reaction of almost disbelief, and took a while to sink in. But although you get it, it’s very much in relation to a team of people that you’ve worked with who have all contributed, and you get the accolade on behalf of all of them. I think it’s something you need to be humble about.

IF YOU WERE TO MEET THE 20 YEAR-OLD JOHN BRIDGE, IS THERE A PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’D GIVE YOURSELF?

I think the one thing I believe now is that you must never give up. There are so many things that happen and come at you these days you think, well, is it really worth it? The key thing is, if you’ve really got the right attitude and approach you will not give up and you will overcome all the adversity you will meet during your business life. It’s a challenging time but it’s also very rewarding.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR JOHN BRIDGE?

The key thing is I very much enjoy what I’m doing both with the Chamber and with Opportunity Peterborough, and it’s something I feel I can continue to provide a valuable contribution to, and I think when you are happy and enjoy what you’re doing, then that’s a thing you want to carry on doing. Why would I want to change to something when I really have all the ingredients I would be seeking now? ■

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