A FAMILY-RUN business is laying the groundwork for a football club with a naming rights deal that will bring major stadium improvements.

Northern League first division club Newton Aycliffe FC have agreed a stadium naming rights deal with nearby sports turf experts Beaumont Landscapes.

Newton Aycliffe-based Beaumont – which was originally formed in the same year as Aycliffe’s football club, in 1965 – have agreed to take on the upkeep of the club’s ground and playing surface as part of the sponsorship agreement.

It means the club’s ground – formerly known as Moore Lane Park – is now officially recognised as the Beaumont Landscapes Stadium.

club chairman Allan Oliver said: “Players want to play on the best surface they can, and we didn't have the best pitch in all honesty.

“We had massive drainage issues, we were spending money on it but by October and November the rain came, we couldn't get it off the pitch and we were back to square one. Now the drainage has improved, the water gets away a lot better, and that will enable Beaumont’s team to vastly improve the surface.

“Our team is earning itself a good reputation for playing good football, getting it down and playing, and we’re good to watch.

“To play that way you need a quality surface, so this is a massive step forward for us.”

Alex Lineton, managing director of Beaumont Landscapes and a third generation of the family running the firm, said: “This partnership works really well for us, because we can showcase our grounds maintenance and sports turf services in one package.

“We feel the football club is a real heart of the community that we want to be part of. Being an Aycliffe-based company we want to be here at the centre of it, showcasing our services but also supporting the local community.”

Beaumont was established in 1965 by Steven Lineton, who ran the new business alongside his garden centre based on Beaumont Hill in Darlington.

In 1991 Beaumont moved premises to larger premises on Aycliffe Business Park and has since pushed more into the commercial maintenance sector.

Beaumont now has a growing list of 150 contracted sites across the whole of the North-East, down to the Yorkshire and Humber areas and across to the Cumbria region.

These include a range of public and private sector contracts – various commercial premises including factories, hotels and premises run by national property management companies – as well more than 50 schools around the North-East.