THE region’s top entrepreneurs and leading business brains will gather to network and share ideas at a special event this month.

The first Invest Middlesbrough Breakfast Exchange of 2019 takes place in Middlesbrough’s newly refurbished Town Hall on Thursday, January 17.

The free networking session provides businesses with an opportunity to meet up on a less formal basis, chat and share, learn more about Middlesbrough’s ambitious regeneration plans and do business.

The Breakfast Exchange gets under way at 7.30am, with the spotlight at January’s event on the newly-launched Albert North project.

Councillor Lewis Young, executive member for economic development and infrastructure, said: “A vibrant, thriving city centre economy is crucial to Middlesbrough’s future success and growth.

“That’s why the Breakfast Exchanges have become so popular as an informal forum in which people can find out what’s happening across Middlesbrough."