THE founder of a multimillion- pound baby and maternity wear company has called Newport’s new £22 million railway station a “travesty”.

JoJo Maman Bebe founder Laura Tenison MBE, who frequently cycles between the station and her head office in an industrial estate in Lliswerry, said it would have been better if the money spent on it had gone towards renovating the old building .

She said she was not involved in city politics but “it appears to me a lot of money was spent on making Newport cosmetically better without really addressing the underlying problems”.

“I was appalled by the money spent on the preparation for the Ryder Cup,” she said saying that the new railway station is an “ostentatious folly built in a hurry”

for the competition. The businesswoman, who is a 44-yearold mum-of-two, said that she notices every time she gets off the train that the building has weathered “a little more”.

“When I cycle from the office back to Newport and I want to buy a cup of coffee I have to go to the end of the station, which when you are in a rush for the train the shop is in an inconvenient place,” she said.

She added she thought the bike racks were inconvenient as well.

The businesswoman, who regularly cycles from the station to the office and back, said the older facilities were charming and historic: “The awnings over the railway lines was a beautiful way to arrive in South Wales.”

The original station is currently being converted into a council information centre.

However she said there were many great things about the city, commending the lighting on the castle, Newport Market and the renovation of the Transporter Bridge.

She told the Argus the company may double the number of people that work for it in Newport over the next three to five years as it continues its UK retail roll out and builds international sales.

It currently employs 110 people at its head office and warehouse in Lliswerry and expects to employ another 20 in Newport over the next 12 months.

The firm is planning to open five new stores before Christmas, bringing the total number up to 42.

Praise for role models

JOJO Maman Bebe, which turned over £26 million in the year up to June 2011, has its warehouse and head office staff based in Newport while design, buying and marketing are based in London.

The company has recently launched a multicurrency website, the orders of which would be fulfilled from Newport.

Laura Tenison, who lives between her home in London and her cottage near Raglan, said being an entrepreneur is something “you are born with” and said it is a mistake to try to teach it.

“What we have to do is find people that are natural entrepreneurs and give them role models,” she said, praising schemes like the Welsh Assembly’s dynamo project, which sends small business owners into schools.

JoJo’s founder said the situation for women in business in Wales was “improving hugely”, and although there were few female business role models when she started out, now there are plenty.