The launch of Sutton Coldfield Chamber of Commerce attracted an “amazing” response from the town. Over 120 attended the event at Quinto Lounge on the town’s High Street and its creation received an immediate endorsement from Sutton Coldfield’s MP Andrew Mitchell. He said: “I am delighted that Sutton Coldfield is to have its own Chamber of Commerce. This is excellent news for our Royal Town and I know that there has already been significant interest in the branch with over 40 local members joining.

“I am sure that membership will increase steadily as word spreads about the Sutton Coldfield branch, which will work together with the wider Greater Birmingham Chamber group for the benefit of the local community.

“I wish the branch well and look forward to addressing one of their meetings before too long.”

The Chamber is part of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and its chief executive Paul Faulkner said:

“The response has been frankly amazing and underlines that this is exactly what the town needs. It means that Sutton Coldfield’s important business community becomes part of the Greater Birmingham family of Chambers with all the benefits of networking and services that it brings with it.”

Julia Gray has been appointed to manage the Sutton Coldfield Chamber and Paul added: “She has done a great job in giving the Chamber a fantastic start and we look forward to it becoming firmly embedded in the business life of the region.”

Julia said: “I’m delighted with this start and the fantastic response from  the Sutton Coldfield business community. We now have a firm base for forging ahead with the development of a really meaningful Chamber of Commerce in the town.”

Many accolades were received for the new Chamber and Steve Corbett, associate director at Robert Walters, said: “Congratulations for a cracking Sutton Coldfield Chamber launch event last night.

“As Sutton Coldfield is my home town, it was great to see the room packed close to bursting and it sent a great message out to the wider Chamber. Look forward to seeing how things develop.”

Steve King, director of operations at Sutton Coldfield RFC Limited, added: The turnout was fantastic and we were able to network with a wide diversity of local business people to introduce our Community First philosophy and the potential B2B opportunities available through our extensive setup at our HQ in Walmley.

“We are delighted to be involved at the start of this exciting , already growing Chamber and look forward to working in partnership with yourselves and local business.

“Once again many congratulations on a very successful launch.”