CHRIS Sullivan has gone from trainee to being the boss!

Chris joined Whitbread in 1979 and has just been made the leisure group North West's Regional Director, responsible for more than 12,500 staff in the region.

And the promotion represented a Lancashire homecoming for the former Accrington Grammar School pupil who will be based in Blackburn.

After joining the group as a graduate trainee, Chris held various posts include operations manager for Bowland Inns and for the Beefeater Chain. He also spent time in Luton before leaving the group to join rival Scottish & Newcastle.

Chris, who lives with his wife and two children in Clitheroe, rejoined Whitbread in 1998 as deputy managing director of Whitbread Inns North West.

He takes over his new role from Norman Jepson, of Hurst Green, who retired from the company due to ill health.

Whitbread employs more than 1,000 people in East Lancashire at its Blackburn and Samlesbury sites and owns major leisure names including Brewers Fayre, Pizza Hut, Beefeater, Thresher and Travel Inn.

The firm is planning to invest more than £670 million in the region over the coming year, creating around 1,000 jobs.

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