Bristol communications agency Ambitious has launched a podcast series shedding light on thought leadership – with one of the city’s most successful entrepreneurs of recent years as its first guest. Dr Zara Nanu co-founded Gapsquare, where she combined her passion for human rights with the power of data analytics...
Three Bristol deep tech spin-out businesses will be vying for investment of up to £2m at a high-profile event aimed at shaping the tech investment landscape. The innovative firms will line up against 17 other businesses at Investment Futures in London, which will also feature panel and roundtable discussions on...
Employers have been heavily impacted by this Budget. Employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will increase by 1.2% to 15% from April 2025. And the threshold at which it becomes payable has decreased from £9,100 to £5,000. That double whammy of tax rises is partly offset by the Employment Allowance increasing...
Rachel Reeves’ first Budget is the largest tax-raising Budget since 1993, with around £40bn being raised for government programmes of ‘national renewal’. Following months of speculation, we finally know the details of what this Budget has in store. While it will take some time to fully examine and understand...
Tax rises in the Budget aimed at companies could slow much-needed economic growth and undermine investment decisions, the region’s largest business organisation fears. Business West, the organisation behind Bristol Chamber of Commerce, said it recognised that the Chancellor faced a tight fiscal position and so had to make hard decisions....
Chancellor Rachel Reeves started her Budget speech by saying the country voted for change on 4 July. As a result, the Labour government could now “fix the foundations”. The way to ensure growth was to “invest, invest, invest”, she added. In total, the Budget will raise taxes by £40bn. Business...
Business owners are on tenterhooks in advance of tomorrow’s Budget, the first by new Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Despite election campaign promises that tax rises would not affect ‘working people’, subsequent claims of the discovery of a £22bn black hole by the government suggest the nation’s finances are in a...
Bristol award-winning animation studio Aardman is to co-develop a new stop-motion animated Pingu TV series after teaming up with toy giant Mattel. Created by Otmar Gutmann in the 1980s, Pingu, pictured, first aired on BBC One in 1990. The cheeky South Pole-dwelling penguin has been a mainstay of kids’ television since and...
Bristol-headquartered café group Boston Tea Party, which six years ago became the first in the UK to eliminate single-use cups, has launched a challenge to its larger rivals to follow its lead. Describing the bold campaign as a way of shaking up the industry, it said the big coffee chains...
A section of the BBC’s historic Whiteladies Road site in Bristol, which it has occupied for 90 years, has been put up for sale. The move follows BBC Studios’ relocation to Bridgewater House at Finzels Reach in the city centre and consolidation of the corporation’s main productions on another...
The University of Bristol’s catalyst for innovation has appointed Rosie Bennett as its new innovation lead to grow its programmes for business members. Bristol Innovations was created two years ago to offer innovation-led businesses access to cutting-edge research, technology and talent, creating breakthrough solutions and scalable commercial opportunities that...
A Productions, the specialist Bristol animation studio, has started work on a new series featuring one of the best-loved children’s book characters of recent decades. My Friend Maisy is based on the Maisy books, written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins, which have sold more than 46m copies worldwide, with the mouse Maisy...
A bookshop specialising in witchcraft, fantasy and horror titles has opened in Bristol time for Halloween after receiving a loan from a specialist regional fund. Owner Monika Killer secured the £25,000 Start Up Loan through non-profit company SWIG Finance to help open The Haunted Bookshop in Stokes Croft. The...
