Future bright insists Pike

Lifelong Hampshire fan Pike arrived at the Rose Bowl soon after Graham Walker, the former chief executive, left at the end of November.

That was one month after the end of the last financial year, during which the company suffered an operating loss of £1.105 m and an overall loss of £4.384m, as exclusively revealed in yesterday's Daily Echo.

But Pike is adamant that the future is bright.

He said: "Clearly last year was not a good year but all I can talk about is what's happened since I've been here and we've had seven very good months.

"The financial side is strengthening all the time.

"The conference and banqueting is very strong and with the concerts and other musical events coming up at the Rose Bowl, as well as the opportunity to host one-day international cricket, we are confident of a very good year.

"The business is making very good progress and the nice thing about it is that we can influence things quite quickly.

"The most exciting thing for me is how much more there is to do. We have 150 acres to work with and I'm absolutely convinced that the Rose Bowl will become one of the event locations of the south."

Rose Bowl PLC came into being in February 2002 and was soon followed by a share issue that only raised £2.65 m of the £5m it hoped for.

Later in the year golf driving range specialists Playgolf served High Court papers on Rose Bowl plc, claiming £300,000 in damages after alleging that the company pulled out of a deal that involved Playgolf building a 60-bay driving range at the Rose Bowl.

Bransgrove was on holiday yesterday but earlier this year he said: "We remain confident that a suitable operator will be found on viable terms to provide a high quality golf driving range.

"There is, however, a significant financial deficit resulting from the breakdown of these negotiations.

"As we have always maintained, our prime objective is to provide high quality cricket in high quality facilities.

"Such things do not come without a cost."