History

Founded in 2000, thecitysecret is the brainchild of Martin Worner, a one-time employee of a big City investment bank. It occurred to him that while out-sourcing work abroad was already accepted practice in the industry, the same could be done in Britain, without the usual constraints of different time zones and language barriers.

A company's running costs could be significantly reduced by being located away from traditional commercial and financial centres and - if it was based somewhere that people wanted to live - there would be considerable savings in the amount of time and resources spent commuting; a practice that blights modern working life. Convinced that he was not alone with these thoughts, he decided to set up his own business in Richmond - a small market town in the Yorkshire Dales - from a room above a shop with two employees. It paid off and 10 years later, thecitysecret occupies a couple of smart office conversions and achieves an annual turnover of £2.2million and has 30 employees.