The latest lockdown measures will be devastating to many Bristol firms despite their best efforts to make themselves Covid-safe, the region’s largest business organisation has warned. Most businesses were forced to close yesterday as the country entered its second lockdown, with staff being urged to work from home where...
Bristol businesses suspected of flouting measures aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus could be visited by a new team of Covid Secure Marshals being set up by the city council. The council said it is to have “at least 16” of the marshals operating around the city...
Nearly 6,500 Bristol businesses were in ‘significant financial distress’ between July and September as the coronavirus pandemic hit the city, according to a new report. The total of 6,476 was a 4% increase in the number of firms struggling in the previous three months, according to the figures from...
Bristol start-ups will continue to get access to national location data and expertise following city enterprise hub Engine Shed’s renewal of its partnership with Ordnance Survey’s innovation arm Geovation. Under the agreement, which started early last year, specialist data support from Ordnance Survey (OS) and HM Land Registry (HMLR)...
Bristol-based naval architect and boat design consultancy ENPLO has received funding to help establish its profile. The £15,000 loan, secured through regional alternative finance lender SWIG Finance via The Start Up Loans Company, is being used by ENPLO to provide working capital to cover initial repair costs and marketing...
Bristol firms are being urged to prepare now for the end of the Brexit transition period on January 1 next year, despite many questions of how it will work in practice remaining unanswered. The government has launched a campaign for businesses with the strapline ‘Time is running out’ as...
Business West, the group that runs Bristol Chamber of Commerce, has welcomed the latest government job and self-employment support measures – but warned that many firms, including those in the city’s vital hospitality and events sectors, continue to miss out. The new support package was announced yesterday by Chancellor...
Construction work on Bristol’s £70m motor industry global centre of excellence has shifted up a gear with the handover of vital research areas, despite disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The 13,500 sq m, two-storey building on the Bristol & Bath Science Park – which is still on track...
Firms will ‘despair’ over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s comments today that they should prepare for a no-deal Brexit, the region’s biggest business organisation said. Describing the move as “another period of political theatre”, Business West managing director Phil Smith, pictured, said firms across the West of England were already...
More than £100m is to be spent on ambitious plans that use the West of England’s creativity and diversity to protect and secure jobs while building back greener and creating opportunities for all residents. The plan has been drawn up by the region’s Recovery Taskforce, which brings together businesses,...
The co-founders of Bristol tech firm Open Bionics, which makes innovative hi-tech prosthetic limbs for amputees, have been honoured in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honour’s List. CEO Samantha Payne and COO Joel Gibbard, pictured, who founded the company four years ago, were recognised for services to international trade and...
Buy-and-build opportunities for tech firms in the post-Covid world are to be explored at a webinar jointly staged by Bristol-based tech-focused investment bank ICON Corporate Finance and city-headquartered national law firm TLT. A panel of leading international acquirers will look at tactics and best practices, as well-capitalised private equity...
New support for firms forced to close by law because of coronavirus restrictions announced this afternoon by Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been welcomed by Business West, the organisation behind Bristol Chamber of Commerce. The scheme, under which the government will pay two-thirds of the wages of staff working for...
