Column for the Leicester Mercury looking ahead to the first Small Business Saturday UK.
Last Sunday I joined the crowds
at the popular Clarendon Park Christmas Fair on Queens Road. This event was one
of many excellent showcases of Leicester’s vibrant and growing small business
economy.
Whether it’s Queens Road, Stoneygate
Shops, Narborough Road, the Golden Mile, Aylestone village, Evington Road,
Leicester Market or the city centre, small businesses are making a big
contribution to the city’s economy.
In Leicester, the city council is
supporting small businesses all year-round with a number of initiatives that
aim to help them prosper. Small businesses are the engine room of Leicester’s
economy and illustrate the entrepreneurship and creativity which typifies our
city.
This Saturday, the UK will
acknowledge the importance of these businesses by encouraging people to shop
locally and support small businesses in their area. I want to encourage people
to back Leicester’s small businesses.
Leicester recently retained its
place as 11th in the UK’s retail league table - a major achievement
given the tough economic times. Small businesses and independent traders can
claim their share of this success as an integral part of the city’s retail
offer.
The council is making big
improvements to the city centre to ensure it continues to be an attractive
place to visit. Our city centre director leads a board made up of local
retailers and businesses, which is also helping to improve the shopping
experience in Leicester.
From promoting what’s on offer in
our shops, bars and cafes, to organising special events to attract people into
the city, the board is giving small businesses a voice alongside the bigger
retailers.
Independent retailers outside the
city centre are benefiting from our shopfront improvements grants, and other
work we are doing to improve signage, and spruce up shopping areas.
Small businesses on Belgrave
Road, Melton Road, Churchgate and Granby Street have taken advantage of these
grants with great results, and we are now talking to those on Narborough Road, Braunstone
Gate and Humberstone Gate East about the improvements we can help them to make
there as part of this £380,000 scheme.
In September this year we
launched our Enterprising Leicester grant, opening up a pot of £2m of European
funding to small and medium sized businesses looking to grow and create jobs in
the city.
So far we’ve given out £70,000 to
local businesses, with more awards coming through every week.
The council is also supporting
small businesses by making it easier for them to apply for council contracts. It
is one of our priorities to use the council’s spending power to help boost the
local economy.
Last year the city council spent
£3.2m with local small and medium businesses. Our target for this year is to
award £10m of contracts locally, and we are well on our way to achieving this.
There’s no doubt that small
businesses will play a significant role in the development of our city over the
next few years, so I urge you to go out and support them in any way you can,
not just this Saturday but every day.
More information on the support available to small businesses in
Leicester is available on the council’s website at www.leicester.gov.uk/smallbusinesssaturday
Tweet #SmallBizSatUK
This column first appeared in the Leicester Mercury, Thursday 5 December 2013.
