GROWTH HUB
A lifeline for local businesses Covid-19 has had a profound impact on businesses across Cornwall. The national lockdowns have seen ‘non-essential’ businesses forced to close for months at a time. Social distancing measures have constrained shops, restaurants and cafés from operating at capacity. Travel restrictions and closed workplaces have had a huge impact on footfall in town centres. On the front line of helping businesses cope with the pandemic is the team at the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Growth Hub. Since 2016 they have provided free Because of Covid we and impartial help to over 3,000 new and established had to find another businesses in Cornwall and way of keeping the Isles of Scilly, signposting income coming in and them to business support and advice. when it first started
anything indoors just wasn’t happening. Since we have done the outside stuff we have got six or seven weddings booked for next year. We probably wouldn’t have gone down this road, so it definitely helped without a doubt. Toby from Axe Heads, an axe throwing venue which diversified with Growth Hub support to offer activities outside.
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TALKING TOURISM
In the early weeks of the pandemic the Growth Hub saw a fivefold increase in phone calls and a fourfold increase in web traffic from businesses looking for help and information. And although those early peaks have levelled off, between March and October there was a 187% increase in people using the Growth Hub website and a 289% increase in new enquiries. In the same period the Growth Hub team handled almost 5,000 phone calls, spending the equivalent of 53 days on the phone, and close to 600 webchats.
They have booked over 700 business reviews and supported close to 1,100 people, as well as managing a £1.4 million Covid support grant funding scheme which was fully subscribed within 45 minutes of launching. Growth Hub operations director, Stu Anderson, says: “We’ve seen huge demand for our services and it’s no surprise when you consider how reliant our area is on the visitor economy and the ripple effect the closures have had on other areas like pubs, restaurants and town centres.
Business is always changing, even without Covid. The Growth Hub has always got their finger on the pulse. Especially for me, who has been running a business for sixteen years and I bumbled through setting it up, it was good just to do some general business house-keeping. Kerra’s Catering, events catering company run by Kerra Buchanan.
“But there is also reason for optimism because we have seen first-hand how resilient businesses can be, by adapting what they do to the realities of Covid. We’re hugely encouraged by how many enquiries we’ve had because, whatever the circumstances for their business, people are looking for advice and guidance on how to move forward.” There are 38 Growth Hubs across England, one for each Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) area. Last summer the Government provided extra
SPRING 2021
