In summary
If you have been an FSB member for a while but haven’t used many of our services lately perhaps it would help to have a ‘refresher’ to ensure you’re making the most of your membership? Along with our brilliant local Membership Advisors, we would be happy to chat online/in-person about any business issues or making the most of your amazing FSB benefits. Just get in touch via the links at the bottom and let’s talk......
Featured news and events
Some possible leads to finding grants and business support
Questions about grants and business funding are probably the ones we get asked about most and although finding support isn’t easy at the moment there are a few avenues worth exploring.
As a starter, all our local councils have economic teams/support so finding the relevant pages on their websites may open some doors. Also both Gloucestershire and the West of England (Bath, Bristol and South Glos) are served by Government-backed Growth Hubs whose local business experts have up to date info on available grants. If you are in Gloucestershire go to Glos Support and for West of England it’s WoE support.
The Government itself has a nationwide Find a Grant scheme which is rather wide ranging but may still be worth looking into and it could also be worth investigating the South West Investment Fund run by the British Business Bank which aims to support small businesses regionally.
The FSB itself doesn’t provide grants but if you wanted to go down the loan route or get more ideas about possible financing you can try our ‘Funding Platform’ where your details are shared with potential lenders via a simple application. You can find out more at this webpage.
Gloucestershire, Bristol & Bath Virtual Networking
Our virtual networking meetings are currently having something of an upsurge in interest with some fantastic attendances and new attendees signing up for every session. We are continuing to meet throughout the summer so why not sign up for our mid-July meeting to be part of a great event?
Book your delegate place now >
In other news
Could you be a ‘case study’ for our press or policy work?
At FSB we are often asked – usually at very short notice – to comment to either the regional or national press on a breaking news story about business issues. Sometimes it is specific for a type of business or sector but very often it is just about what businesses think about key issues of the day such as interest rates, inflation or the cost of living crisis.
When this happens an appeal comes out from our central press team looking for businesses who may be able to share their thoughts and comments so if you think you might like to be on a ‘press list’ to possibly help then email Sam Holliday with a bit of info about yourself, your business and the type of issue you would feel comfortable talking to the press about. We may never need you of course – or you may find yourself in a newspaper or on a TV/radio broadcast so if you are happy to be considered just let us know.
In addition to this, we often need help with our policy work usually on very specific issues. If being a policy case study appeals then just drop us a line with your areas of interest/specialisms.
Celebrating the importance of local independent businesses
Although Thursday 4 July 2024 will be remembered in the UK for the General Election, the date has far more long term resonance in the US as it marks their official Independence Day celebrations. To coincide with the theme of independence, Gloucester’s Business Improvement District (BID) has a July tradition of hosting ‘Independents Week’ to use the first week of the month to celebrate the amazing independent companies in the city.
Gloucester, like all the areas in Gloucestershire and West of England, has a huge amount of small, independent companies and with the city itself boasting nearly 1,000 new business starts in 2023 that looks set to rise further. The FSB contributed to the week with a blog where Sam Holliday said: “The week is a celebration of all the city’s smaller businesses and it invites us all to respect, support and enthuse about Gloucester’s independent sector so it remains at the heart of this diverse, unique and special city.”
You can read more about the week at Gloucester BID and we wish all our local independents across the area every success in this (and all!) weeks.
Still in the news
Leave your car behind for this month’s ‘Big Bristol Travel Challenge’
Business owners in Bristol and South Gloucestershire are being invited to take part in this year’s ‘Big Travel Challenge’ which is running throughout July.
The scheme invites business owners and their staff to try to leave their cars at home in July and walk, ride, run or scoot for more of their everyday journeys. The ‘Big Bristol Travel Challenge’ organisers say as well as helping the environment the scheme is designed to be ‘fun, free, and open to everyone’. They say it will help boost your health and wellbeing this summer and everyone who registers this year will also get a free day bus ticket from First Bus.
To find out more about the scheme see this link and to register sign up here.
Time to think about hospitality offering at Christmas (yes, already!)
Talking about Christmas may seem strange now that the summer has (finally) put in an appearance, but a meeting in July has been arranged so hospitality businesses can fully exploit the hoped-for Christmas surge.
With the high street facing a number of pressures, hospitality business owners and managers will be keen to make Christmas 2024 as successful as possible to ensure a strong start for 2025. To try to help them, the company Christmas Makers have teamed up with Gloucestershire firms Wagada Digital and 10 Yetis to stage a free seminar exclusively for hospitality owners and managers. It will look at everything from whether shops should do Black Friday to the best ways to market your services both online and on the high street.
Places for the Cheltenham-based event are limited so to check availability and find out more about the 11 July ‘How to make Christmas 2024 the best ever for your hospitality business’ event visit Christmas meeting.
More news and activity near you
- Cornwall
- Devon
- Dorset
- Somerset and Wiltshire
- More from FSB South West
Get in touch
Your FSB Development Manager for Gloucestershire, Bristol and Bath is Sam Holliday. If you'd like more information about the topics above, or if you have news about this area that you'd like to share, please get in touch.
- email us: [email protected]
- follow us on X: @FSBGlosandWoE
- follow us on Facebook: @FSB.GloucestershireBristolBath
- connect with me on LinkedIn: Sam Holliday