THE board of Barrow's new Business Improvement District (BID) has appointed Simon Craig as its chairman.

Mr Craig is the manager of the town's branch of Marks and Spencer. He said: "I am delighted, really really pleased that the rest of the board have put their trust in me."

Mr Craig is a native of Barrow and has worked for the retail giant for 32 years, joining as a Christmas cleaner in 1984.

Since then he has worked his way up to become store manager, having also run the operations in Kendal, Lancaster and Workington as well as commercial manager of the stores in Carlisle and Manchester.

"I am the first person from Barrow to run the town's store," he added.

Jeff Dandy, of Dandy's, will be vice-chariman and Stephen Metcalfe, of The Drawing Room, has been put in charge of the finance brief.

Mr Craig said: "I think it is good that we have a board which is not made up of 'yes' people, so we are going to have some good debates and I think that is to be very encouraging.

"The outcome is going to the same. It will be what is good for Barrow."

The organisation will now look for a manager, who will be employed on a freelance contract.

Barrow businesses endorsed the BID proposal by a hefty majority in a ballot in April.

The decision means that town centre businesses with a rateable value of more than £4,000 will pay a 1.5 per cent levy on business rates, which will raise £800,000 over five years.