The Northumberland Gazette Features Cat’s Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Award Finalist Place
It’s always a lovely moment when local press picks up a story you care about.
The Northumberland Gazette this week featured Cat Robson-Scarborough, co-director of Your Man With A Van, following her shortlisting as a national finalist in the 2026 Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Awards. The piece, written by Ian Smith and published on 20th June, covers Cat’s place in the Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year category, reached from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants across the UK.
It’s a proper bit of Northumberland representing on the national stage, and we’re really chuffed to see it.
Why the Coverage Means a Lot
YMWAV is based in Alnwick. That’s not a detail we mention as an afterthought. It’s where this all started, where Dan and Cat are rooted, and where a lot of the thinking behind the franchise has been done. Seeing a local paper like the Gazette carry a story about the business making noise nationally feels fitting.
The Great British Entrepreneur Awards have been running since 2012 and exist specifically to celebrate founders who’ve built something without large corporate backing. No big war chest, no inherited advantage. Just graft, character, and a good idea executed well. For a business that started with one van and a DJ kit in 2010, that framing feels about right.
What Cat Said
The Gazette quoted Cat directly, and it’s very her.
“When Dan started this in 2010 with one van and a genuinely ridiculous work ethic, awards weren’t part of the plan. The franchise is two years old and we already have 65 branches. That’s not my achievement. It belongs to every franchisee who said yes to this idea, packed their van on a Monday morning, and went out and built something real in their town.”
That’s the thing about YMWAV. The people doing the moving every day are the story. The awards just give us a chance to say it loudly.
Read the Full Feature
You can read the full Northumberland Gazette piece here. Winners of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards will be announced at a ceremony later in the year.
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