New Remedy café brings home cooked food and quality drinks to Bretherton in Lancashire

A brand new Remedy café has opened in the beautiful Lancashire village of Bretherton. The successful local, independent business, famous for its high quality drinks and freshly cooked food, already operates venues in the town Hall Gardens and inside Beales department store, both on Lord Street, in Southport town Centre, and on Botanic Road in Churchtown Village.

The 4th Remedy is situated inside the Old Corn Mill Antiques building on South Road in Bretherton, in the space previously occupied by The Village Pantry. The fresh, home cooked food that people can enjoy through breakfast and lunch will be created by acclaimed local Head Chef Simon Dickens, who has a real family connection to Remedy; as his children, Isabelle and Ollie both work there too! Remedy in Bretherton will be open from Wednesday through to Sunday, between 10am and 4pm each day.

Remedy owner Susannah Porter said:- "We are delighted to have taken over the premises and are enjoying working with our staff to bring everything to meet the Remedy standards that customers have come to expect and enjoy. It has been great to already see some of our customers from Southport and Churchtown coming to see what we are doing here; some bringing their Remedy loyalty cards with them, which is great to see! We would really love local people to come in and give Remedy a try to see what they think, and to come and support Bretherton's newest independent local business. We are really pleased that Simon Dickens will be our Head Chef here. He 1st came to work at Remedy in 2018, and he is an amazingly talented chef. He has got lots of fabulous ideas. Vicky and Louise will be running the venue. It is a really friendly team. We have got our famous Remedy coffee beans in here, so people can enjoy freshly roasted coffee. We have already carried out some improvement works in the premises, such as putting new lights in, and improving the toilets, with more work to come. We have been adding lots of little touches too, it is looking really cute. We have a large courtyard to the front of the building, where people can sit out in the sunshine. Bretherton is a lovely, cute little village, and we are really pleased to be here, very close to the park and the primary School. It has been lovely to see some parents bringing their children in for a hot chocolate after School. This is a great spot to be in. People can call into Old Corn Mill Antiques, have a browse around, and then call into Remedy for a nice coffee and a slice of home made cake, or stop for some breakfast or lunch. All of our cakes for Remedy will be baked here in these premises. We use local ingredients too, supporting other local businesses, with our milk from Bates Dairy in Southport and all our meat from H. Greaves and Son. We have applied for an alcohol licence for the premises so that our customers, if they wish, can sit and enjoy a nice glass of wine or beer with their meal."

Remedy started on Lord Street, in Southport, in July 2015. Owner Susannah Porter works full time on the business and along with the awesome Team Remedy the business has gone from strength to strength. The team is committed to serving high quality food and drinks. Remedy has grown into a high quality venue with great food and drinks for those people looking for something different. It offers an escape from the daily stresses of life and a comfortable place to meet your friends, watch the world go by, host a meeting, write a report or read a book. It has followed the growing demand for sustainable, high quality, local produce and great service, which has allowed the business to build a core group of repeat, loyal customers.

NFU Mutual issues warning to Ghost Brokers preying on needy and vulnerable

NFU Mutual is warning ghost brokers who buy fraudulent policies on behalf of others that they will be found out and could face prosecution. The mutual insurer is supporting the Insurance Fraud Bureau's campaign to raise awareness of ghost broking, which can leave vulnerable people with inadequate or non-existent cover while ghost brokers line their pockets. While ghost brokers frequently sell non-existent car insurance policies to unsuspecting people online, another common type of ghost broking fraud is to buy fraudulent policies on behalf of vulnerable people who may struggle to access insurance.

Charlotte Brown, Underwriting Counter Fraud Manager at NFU Mutual, warns that this is illegal and could leave the drivers without proper insurance:- "We regularly intercept attempted fraud where ghost brokers buy policies for people using false or misrepresented details, often with many policies being traced back to 1 or 2 individuals. The named drivers on these policies are frequently vulnerable people, those with prior convictions or living in neighbourhoods which make it difficult to access insurance, who can be left without insurance when the fraud is uncovered. Meanwhile, ghost brokers are preying on their vulnerability to cash in; money which is then often used to fund further criminal activity. We warn these pernicious ghost brokers that we know their tactics and will not hesitate to refer them to the Police. For those who are struggling to access insurance and may be approached by those offering a cheap deal, we advise to shop around and speak directly to insurers; if a so called broker offers a deal which seems too good to be true, it probably is."

An example of this was highlighted when a NFU Mutual counter fraud investigators recently uncovered and broke up a £120,000 ghost broking network where 1 person attempted to purchase car insurance cover for 47 policies. The individual called NFU Mutual Agency offices across the country and, each time claimed that a different car was registered to a false address nearby. As the address provided was false, the individual requested each time that policy documents were sent over email. The real owners of each vehicle were listed as named drivers on the policies, but almost all lived in higher risk postcodes elsewhere and the majority had a County Court Judgment (CCJ) or conviction against their name. The policyholder occupations were usually listed as relating to financial services, to give them the appearance of being an attractive customer, and the name and date of birth of the policyholder was taken from Companies House.

NFU Mutual counter Fraud Officers were aware of each attempted fraud through established fraud detection systems, then began an investigation into the call recordings which eventually uncovered a vast network of 47 policies linked to the same individual. This investigation uncovered the named drivers' real addresses, most of which were in London. NFU Mutual voided all the quotes and ultimately saved NFU Mutual members an estimated £120,000 in policy and claims savings, referring the ghost broker at the centre of the network to the Police.

NFU Mutual continues to work with partners across the industry and with the Police to raise awareness and improve the joint response to the multibillion pound insurance fraud industry. David Phillips, Chair at the General Insurance Fraud Committee (GIFC) and Claims Validations Technical Manager at NFU Mutual, said:- "We know that fraud increases in times of hardship and that impenitent criminals will be looking to prey upon innocent cash strapped motorists. Insurance fraud is a socially corrosive crime and those that create illegal and bogus policies leave young people, often some of the most vulnerable of society, without cover and without a safety net against the far reaching consequences of driving without a legal policy in place. The General Insurance Fraud Committee (GIFC) brings together the UK's largest group of insurers to fight insurance fraud and protect our customers from fraud, so we are proud to be working with IFED, IFB and ABI to raise awareness of the pernicious and damaging effects of ghost broking fraud."