FOCUS: THE MIDLANDS - Benefits of a central location/As businesses based in the Midlands shift from a ’London is best’ attitude and are demanding local knowledge, it is PR agencies which are cashing in Jennifer Whitehead reports.

There is no denying that this year has been a big one for the Midlands-the most powerful leaders in the world converged on Birmingham for the G8 summit in May and the same month saw the attention of Europe focused on the city again for the Eurovision Song Contest.