1996

After a successful launch year the business continued to grow, building its brand in the Cheshire area to expand its client base.  With more clients coming to Applewood the business moved to its first office premises in Didsbury.

Based at Xenon House in Didsbury, the new office space allowed clients to come and have meetings with their adviser on a regular basis – something that is still important to the business and continues today.

Key events

• Moved to first office premises in Didsbury
• Number of Applewood clients continued to grow
• Rebranded the Applewood logo to blue

What else happened in this year?

In finance…

Annual UK Inflation: 2.4% CPI

Bank base rate:

• 18 January 6.1250 %
• 30 October 5.9375 %

IHT threshold: £200,000

In the charts…

The Spice Girls released their first hit single with Wannabe which sold 1,320,000 copies in the UK.

On the screen…

Independence Day was released by 20^th Century Fox, taking $817,400,891 at the box office worldwide. 

Around the world…

• 23 June – The Nintendo 64 system is released in Japan
• 29 August – US President Bill Clinton defeats Republican challenger Bob Dole to win his second term in office

In the UK…

• 15 June – In Manchester a massive IRA bomb injuries over 200 people and devastates a large part of the city centre
• 30 July – Alan Shearer becomes the most expensive footballer in the world in a £15 million transfer from Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United
• 28 August – Their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales, are formally divorced at the High Court of Justice in London