Sussex Business Times - Issue 393 2015

SBT

ISSUE 393

FREE

SUSSEX BUSINESS TIMES

LOCAL PUZZLE

LOCAL PUZZLE HAS PRODUCED OVER £500K FOR INDEPENDENT RETAILERS

5

TOP CHRISTMAS VENUES

FIND THE PERFECT VENUE FOR YOUR CORPORATE CHRISTMAS PARTY THIS YEAR

A HOT STONES EXPERIENCE

SBT REVIEWS THE LAVA STONES IN LUDO’S BAR & BISTRO IN EASTBOURNE

PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION SUSSEX DOWNS COLLEGE’S NEW PRINCIPAL, MIKE HOPKINS SHARES HIS VISION FOR EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY AS A WHOLE

SUSSEX DOWNS COLLEGE LAUNCHES NEW A LEVEL CENTRE The exciting A Level specific department at our Eastbourne campus will be offering a wide range of A Level subjects including English, Mathematics, Languages, Sciences, Creative and Digital Studies with its team of award winning teachers and a reputation for successful progression to Universities and employment. Find out more about what the College offers in SBT’s interview with Principal, Mike Hopkins on page 32.

LEWES CAM PUS Friday 9 Oc to Saturday 10 ber October EASTBOURNE CAMPUS Friday 16 Oc Saturday 17 tober October

SERVING THE SUSSEX BUSINESS COMMUNITY SINCE 1975

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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SBT Welcome MEET THE TEAM

Lee Mansfield, Managing Director/ Publisher

Simon Skinner, Group Director

Clare Fermor, Operation Director

Jenny Ardagh, Editor

Jon Goodwin, Title Manager

Patrick McCreanor, Commercial Manager

Harriet Weston, Amy Watson, Production Manager Production Designer

Amelia Wellings, Financial Controller

CONTRIBUTORS

Mike Hopkins, Tracy Ewen Principal and Chief Managing Director, Executive at Sussex IGF Downs College

Anthony Stonham, Local Puzzle

Arron Hopkinson, Precision Massage

Christina Ewbank, ACES Facilitator

Christian Pott, Images-on-Line

Sussex businesses have been thriving this year, with the economy seemingly finally on the mend. With an economy rebuilding itself, you need people to not only support it on its way up, but also make sure the future stays on an upward path, with new skills, new assets and more know-how.

Our society is built on the foundations of education, and this month we speak to the new Principal of Sussex Downs College, who implores apprenticeships as the way forward, and solid local business links as the lifeblood of a good economy. Equally passionate about supporting local businesses, Anthony Stonham has set up an ingenious way of marketing your business without any loss to you based on the ethos that shopping = prizes. Play along, and have a read on pages 20-21 to find out more about how Local Puzzle could benefit your business.

The leaves are starting to turn, the weather has got dramatically colder, so Christmas is creeping ever closer, and now is the time to be booking your corporate Christmas party with your colleagues and friends. We have collated a round up of the top 5 venues in Sussex for you to consider. If you’re looking for a small get together in the run up to this festive period, read my review of Meat in the Middle in Horsham, where you can enjoy sumptuous burgers, all made with locally sourced meat. Read pages 41-42 for my very positive review.

In addition to the above, we also have all the latest news and updates from across the county and also nationally for you, plus information on key events such as the Best 4 Biz conference, and we announce the winners of the Brighton and Hove Awards.

Enjoy your October read!

Mike Chapman, Senior Manager at Knill James Chartered Accountants

Jenny Ardagh Editor

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 3

Contents SBT Issue 393

SBT

ISSUE 393

FREE

SUSSEX BUSINESS TIMES

LOCAL PUZZLE

LOCAL PUZZLE, THAT HAS PRODUCED OVER £500K FOR INDEPENDENT RETAILERS

5

TOP CHRISTMAS VENUES

FIND THE PERFECT VENUE FOR YOUR CORPORATE CHRISTMAS PARTY THIS YEAR

A HOT STONES EXPERIENCE

SBT REVIEWS THE LAVA STONES IN LUDO’S BAR & BISTRO IN EASTBOURNE

PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION SUSSEX DOWNS COLLEGE’S NEW PRINCIPAL, MIKE HOPKINS SHARES HIS VISION FOR EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE AND ITS ROLE IN SOCIETY AS A WHOLE

SUSSEX DOWNS COLLEGE LAUNCHES NEW A LEVEL CENTRE The exciting A Level specific department at our Eastbourne campus will be offering a wide range of A Level subjects including English, Mathematics, Languages, Sciences, Creative and Digital Studies with its team of award winning teachers and a reputation for successful progression to Universities and employment. Find out more about what the College offers in SBT’s interview with Principal, Mike Hopkins on page 32.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

LEWES CAMPUS Friday 9 October Saturday 10 October EASTBOURNE CAMPUS Friday 16 October Saturday 17 October

SERVING THE SUSSEX BUSINESS COMMUNITY SINCE 1975

Cover: Sussex Downs Principal, Mike Hopkins www.sussexdowns.ac.uk

Managing Director/Publisher: Lee Mansfield lee@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 007 Group Director: Simon Skinner simon@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 017 Operations Director: Clare Fermor clare@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 007 Title Manager: Jon Goodwin jon@sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 01323 819 012 Commercial Manager Patrick McCreanor patrick@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 014 Editorial: Jenny Ardagh jenny@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 011 Production Manager: Harriet Weston harriet@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 010 Production Designer: Amy Watson amy@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 018 Subscriptions: Linda Grace linda@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 015 Accounts: Amelia Wellings amelia@lifemediagroup.co.uk 01323 819 007 Published by Life Media Group, Unit1, Swan Barn Business Centre, Swan Barn Road, Hailsham, BN27 2BY Printed by Berforts 17 Burgess Road, Ivyhouse Lane Hastings, East Sussex, TN35 4NR 01424 722733 www.berforts.co.uk All material in this publication is strictly copyright and all rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. The views expressed in Sussex Business Times Magazine do not necessarily represent the view of Life Media Group LTD. Every care is taken in compiling the contents but the publishers of Sussex Business Times Magazine assume no responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from the participation in any offers, competitions or advertisement contained within Sussex Business Times Magazine. All prices featured in Sussex Business Times Magazine are correct at the time of going to press.

Copyright Life Media Group LTD 2015 ©

4 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

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News

View the latest local and national business headlines.

Spending it

W. Brufords show us their new his and her jewellery and watches.

Events

The winners of the 10th annual Brighton & Hove Business Awards have been announced.

Money Matters

After a recent survey by IGF, we attempt to understand why more and more SME managers are turning to the Internet for financial advice.

Social Media

SBT provides some top tips on how best to use social media in business.

Cover Feature - Sussex Downs College

Sussex Downs College’s new Principal and Chief Executive, Mike Hopkins aims to growthe College’s influence, improve its facilities and reputation and provide the highest quality.

Top 5 Christmas Venues

Find the perfect venue for your corporate Christmas Party this year, whether you want cosy and homely, or luxurious and grand

Tried and Tested in Sussex

Jenny Ardagh reviews Meat in the Middle in Horsham and the SBT team reviews the lava stones in Ludo’s Bar & Bistro in Eastbourne

Chamber News

All the latest news and events from ACES.

Motoring

SBT previews two new cars for 2016: Rolls Royce Dawn and the Jaguar F-Pace.

Ask the Experts

Local Sussex business experts advise on relevant issues.

Made in Sussex

This month’s home grown hero is Grafton Banks.

For top designer paint brands, the finest and widest selection of wallpapers and a great range of furniture, lighting, blinds, shutters and soft furnishings, visit brewershome.co.uk You can also come to our new Eastbourne showroom and discuss your ideas with our experienced advisors.

Online at: brewershome.co.uk • In store at: Brewers, Birch Road, Eastbourne BN21 6PL www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

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SBTLocal News Smes In The South East Predict 18% Growth Over The Next Five Years

According to the latest Business Growth survey from Santander Corporate & Commercial, small and medium businesses in the South East are predicting 18%, or the equivalent of £1.5 million turnover growth, over the next five years.

The survey suggests a strong outlook for short-term growth, with 51% of SMEs in the South East reporting growing the business organically as an immediate priority, rather than last year’s priority of staying in business. Nearly a third wish to introduce developments, and on a national level, an average turnover growth of 37% is predicted

by SMEs over the next five years.

Gwyn Price, Regional Director, South East, Santander Corporate & Commercial, said: “We are encouraged to see that SMEs in the South East are forecasting growth over the next five years. We are particularly impressed to see that SMEs are planning to introduce the most research and development or new products of any region in Great Britain.

Groundwork South Wins Exclusive Right to Deliver National Citizen’s Service programme Local environmental charity, Groundwork South has won the contract to deliver the government’s National Citizen Service (NCS) programme across Horsham and MidSussex, aimed at 15 to 17 year olds to help improve their confidence improv3 their skill set, taking part in their local community. Following workshops, the young people take on a social action project and at the end of the programme they receive a certificate signed by the Prime Minister. recognise their achievements.

Groundwork will soon be visiting schools and colleges to recruit the final few participants for the October half term programme.

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Parker Building Supplies Golf Day Success For Charity An impressive £15,000 was raised for the Teenage Cancer Trust, thanks to the Parker Building Supplies annual golf day. More than 250 customers and suppliers attended the event at the East Sussex National in Uckfield.

Parker’s Marketing Manager, Jamie Pierce, said: “We were so lucky, the weather was near perfect for our annual golf day and we raised a fantastic amount for our partner charity, the Teenage Cancer Trust, thanks to the generosity of our staff, suppliers and most of all our customers. We’re already looking forward to next year’s event.”

The team golf events were won by Gow Roofing and Rod Allen and his

crew, and individual winners were Luke Broomfield of Team Paul Rodemark and Richard Smith of Team Phil Belfield.

Prizes for Nearest the Pin were won

by Steve Hampton of Team Allen and Pavestone’s Russell Judd. The Longest Drive winners were Darren Hill of Rowlinson Timber and Adam Skelton of Total Project Management.

Survey Shows Brighton As Most Charitable

Last month, the people of Brighton were found to be amongst the most active in charity in the UK, with around 10% of people regularly fundraising and/or campaigning for a cause of their choice compared to just two per cent of people in Bristol and Cardiff.

The Attitudes to International Aid Survey, lead by leading UK membership

body, Bond also found that half of those people questioned are ethical shoppers with 48% of people choosing product purchases based on ethical, environmental and/or political reasons.

Nearly two thirds of people in Brighton said it was important that the UK keeps its promises to help people.

This all came from Bond bringing its VW Camper Van Summer Bus Tour to the city itself for the Together the People Festival in Preston Park, Brighton on last weekend.

Ben Jackson, CEO of Bond said: “We are really pleased to have brought the Bond 10 Day Summer Tour to Brighton to celebrate the role we play in helping others around the world despite fierce criticism from people who question the UK’s aid commitment.”

SBTLocal News Chichester based architects lead the way in 3D technology Local architectural practice, jbA is now pioneering the use of 3D printing throughout its design process. The firm can create detailed 3D models made from PLA plastic, created on the latest AirWolf 3D printer that enables the team to print scaled models of buildings and internal rooms.

Nat Ellis, Head of 3D Visualisation, comments: “Having a 3D model helps with any questions about the scale, placement or features of the design and makes the whole design process much smoother for our clients.” jbA has also launched a new service

offering clients a 1:50 scale printed 3D model of their proposed kitchen.

Their latest innovation is the use of 360 degree panoramic views to provide a virtual 3D view of any room before it is built or refurbished.

To find out more about jbA please visit: http://www.jbarch.co.uk/

Business Growth High On The Agenda For Smes In The South East

Business growth is top of the agenda for over a quarter of small and medium sized firms in the South East, according to the latest research from Close Brothers Asset Finance.

The Close Brothers Business Barometer, a quarterly survey of UK SME owners and senior management from a range of sectors, also revealed that half of firms in the region have already experienced growth and a further 38% expect their business to expand during the next year. The results also found that 41% hoping are

take on new staff within the next year.

Commenting on the figures, Mike Randall, CEO of Close Brothers Asset Finance said: “With the UK economy set to grow by 2.4% in 2015*, it’s great to see that many SMEs already appear to be experiencing the benefits of this improving financial climate. More than two fifths of the firms we talked to in the South East said that trading conditions were better now than this time last year, and many are making strategic decisions to expand and move their business forward.”

Proposal Agreed To Revitalise Burgess Hill Town Centre The Martlets Shopping Centre in Burgess Hill is owned by Mid Sussex District Council and leased to NewRiver Retail. Mid Sussex District Council worked with independent property development specialists, BNP Paribas to carry out a financial assessment of the proposed scheme, which was to provide over 130 new homes, 500 new jobs, over 160 additional car parking spaces and a modern shopping offer with Cineworld, a purpose-built library and much more.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Burgess Hill,” said Councillor Garry Wall, Leader of Mid Sussex District Council. “The redevelopment will bring much needed investment and jobs. It will transform the town centre and act as a catalyst for growth and even further investment. It will make Burgess Hill an attractive destination for families and young people, providing shopping and leisure that fits the aspirations of a modern and vibrant town.

NewRiver Retail will now prepare a detailed planning application for submission and should planning permission be granted, construction work will start in 2016/17 and the development will be built in stages until the whole scheme is completed in 2020/21.

South East Named Top Uk Exporter, Baker Tilly Responds To Latest Trade Figures The latest regional trade statistics published by HMRC have shown encouraging signs for trade within the region, with the South East now contributing to fourteen per cent of all exports from the UK – the highest exporter amongst all the UK regions.

Exports for both the South East and South West were up from the same period last year, with the South East up from £9.6bn to £11bn, and the South West up from £3.5bn to £4bn.

Machinery and transport equipment made up the top export commodities

for the entire South region. The positive effect was also felt across the UK as a whole, with the value of exports increasing by 1.2 per cent compared to the same period last year, although imports did see a decrease of 2.2 per cent.

Kirsty Sandwell, Office Managing Partner for Baker Tilly’s Gatwick office, said: “These results are hugely encouraging for the region, and really demonstrate the strong contribution that the export sector in the South makes to the UK economy as a whole.”

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SBTLocal News Sporting Legends Support “Enable Me” Charity For 10th Birthday Celebration Event Football legend and superstar David Beckham and England Ashes winner, Cricketer Stuart Broad have lent their support to the 10th Birthday celebration of Disability Awareness Charity, “Enable Me” with some superb auction prizes for their anniversary event on Friday 2nd of October 2015 from 6.30pm at the Woodlands Centre in Rustington in West Sussex.

Enable Me, a not-for-profit organisation working in the community to raise disability awareness as well as provide high quality services that are designed and delivered by disabled people, this month celebrated all the things it has achieved over the last 10 years including their work with schools, colleges and the local community.

Chris Jay, Executive Chairman of the Charity, Enable Me said: “We are looking forward to welcoming our guests to this event and celebrating the achievements of the amazing team of people that I work with.

Likewise we would like you to bid in huge numbers at our auction items as all the money raised will help the Charity continue its great work for the next ten years.”

Visit www.enablemeproject.org. uk to find out more or call Enable Me on 01903 734400

‘Starr Wars Challenge’ In Shoreham Raises Over £6500 For Local Charity activities. The event Hove-based managed to raise in charity the Starr excess of £6,500.

Trust launched Tracey from the its exciting Multi Starr Trust told us Sport event at “Wow!! What an Adur Outdoor amazing day, it Activities Centre Photography @jeffmoodphotography © just couldn’t have in Shoreham gone any better. We have never put on 13th September. The Starr Trust on this kind of event before but will supports young people living in the BN certainly be running it again next year. post code area aged 10-18 to fulfil their It ran like clockwork with the help of potential in sports, arts and education, all the fabulous volunteers and local by providing a helping hand to achieve businesses really getting behind us and their goals at a time when they really with Neil Laughton leading the way, need it. Sponsored by Brighton and everyone had a brilliant time.”

Hove Buses, the day included teams To find out more about the made up of local businesses and young Starr Trust please go to people previously championed by the www.starrtrust.com Starr Trust taking part in a range of

Bartercard Boosts Business and Helps Charities

Bartercard Sussex members have enjoyed the largest increases in sales in the year to June 2015, with some achieving growth of close to 25%. The last quarter in particular has seen a surge in the volume of bartering businesses with growth that outstripped this time last year.

Data analysed by Chris Edworthy, CEO and Director of Operations in Sussex shows the county’s non-cash economy is thriving, with more goods and services ‘bought’, ‘sold’ and swapped this past year through the Bartercard network. He said, “They stay in the

scheme because they know it works – and works well – for their business.

Over 2,500 businesses in the UK are using the modern day Barter exchange system to increase cash flow and profitability as well as able to trade with 100,000 Bartercard businesses worldwide.

Membership ranges from start-up companies to long-established family businesses and charities, some of which use Bartercard ‘pounds’ to pay for advertising as well as to ‘buy’, ‘sell’ or swap goods and services.

Pitman Training Supports National Work Life Week and World’s Biggest Coffee Morning Showing its support for a wide and varied audience, Pitman Training last month opened its doors for two very good causes this month, in support of Working Families’ National Work Life Week 21st 25th September, and Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.

National Work Life Week launched

by Working Families – the UK’s leading

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work-life balance organisation, aims to promote harmony between working life and home life, and encourages us to find ways to strike a better balance. As keen advocates of this way of working Pitman Training held a Worklife Breakfast on 22nd September, to support local employers and employees. Offering a free breakfast, the opportunity to meet other

local businesses and the chance to learn within the hour, the top 10 secrets of MS Office, that could shave hours off your tasks, Pitman aimed to help local workers achieve more productivity at work.

SBTNational News Accenture Named This Year’s Of Shopping On Mobile To Sponsor Top £53bn The Disability Standard

By 2024

The Disability Standard is the only business-led measurement tool used to assess a company’s whole organisational approach to disability and inclusion.

It allows businesses to measure their entire performance on disability and identify ways to improve their strategy for disabled customers, clients, service users, employees and stakeholders.

Accenture serves clients in over 120 countries worldwide, and inclusion and diversity are fundamental to its culture.

Alongside its highly regarded Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Employee Resource Group, Accenture’s 2015 Mental Health Allies programme is a

recent example of thinking outside the box when it comes to disability. Acting to promote understanding of Mental Health both in and outside of the workplace.

Zahra Bahrololoumi, Head of Human Capital and Diversity at Accenture in the UK and Ireland, added: “Accenture is committed to diversity in the workplace and is continually looking for ways to better support its employees with visible and nonvisible disabilities. Our sponsorship of Business Disability Forum’s Disability Standard demonstrates the drive the company has towards creating an inclusive environment for all.”

New Smoke Alarm Check Laws For Landlords This October sees the launch of new laws for landlords that state that they must check themselves that smoke alarms are working at the start of every new tenancy. Landlords could potentially face penalties of up to £5,000 if they do not comply.

Previously, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service would have been responsible for keeping tenants safe.but now, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service has been promoting this forthcoming law with its

“Don’t Gamble with Your Tenants’ Lives” campaign.

Also, a series of seminars were held across Hastings, Eastbourne and Hove to update landlords on this forthcoming change to help potentially save thousands of lives, and also save landlords from the penalties.

Community Safety Manager for East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Steve Wright, said: “We are keen to make sure that all Landlords understand the importance and the legal implications of the proposed changes.”

The National Business Awards The Lloyds Bank National Business Awards is the flagship awards programme that recognises excellence across all sectors.

Deloitte, the leading business advisory firm that provides audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services, is partnering with the 2015 NBAs to support the UK’s Employer of the Year category, which celebrates organisations seeing the best return on an investment in people

and recognises the employee strategy that best attracts, retains and develops talent. Finalists have been chosen, but for the winner, judges will look for evidence of how employees are engaged in strategic goals and company values, and how human and supporting resources have been optimised to achieve and sustain commercial and competitive success.

Recognising enterprise excellence, innovation and ethics, the fourteenth

Volkswagen Scandal

German automaker Volkswagen’s share price fell over 20 percent on 21st September after the company admitted to rigging U.S emissions tests on around 500,000 diesel cars, and later stating that it affected 11 million vehicles worldwide. VW has already stated that it’s setting aside £6.5 billion to cover the costs of the scandal, and CEO, Martin Winterkorn has resigned.

Mr Winterkorn commented on the scandal: “I am shocked by the events of the past few days. Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group. As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the Supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrong doing on my part.

“Volkswagen needs a fresh start – also in terms of personnel. I am clearing the way for this fresh start with my resignation.”

annual NBAs will celebrate a range of achievements through accolades and it has also most recently been announced that world renowned astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, will be the headline speaker at this year’s Awards, which will take place at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane on 10th November.

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SBTNational News Small Businesses View on EU Referendum

FSB conducted a study on small businesses’ opinions on the forthcoming EU referendum and found mixed responses For the first time, The Federation of National Small Businesses (FSB) has conducted News and published an extensive study into current small businesses’ opinions on the forthcoming referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union (EU). The research acts as an indication of what FSB members currently think about the UK’s EU membership. Taking into account how a vote would impact their businesses, the study examined small businesses’ voting intentions, views on a reform and gave a unique insight into regional and national overall voting preferences to either leave or remain in the EU. Mike Cherry, FSB Policy Director, said: “This research is a vital starting point in outlining the key issues and areas of concern for small businesses in the EU referendum debate. Regardless of what a firm’s current position is, there is a shared message that small businesses feel they lack clear, impartial information on which to form their views.

“This is only the beginning of our work to support our members throughout this complex debate. Our role will be to ensure the small business voice is heard in the discussion, and that our members have all the information they need to make a decision which is right for them and their business.”

The FSB commissioned independent research agency, Verve to conduct the study in a two-stage quantitative and qualitative approach, between June and July of this year. An online survey was followed by a cross section of 123 members participating in a 12-day online discussion forum. The forum participants were carefully chosen to ensure a representative sample from the varying nations, regions, business types and voting preferences.

Rebecca Stamp, Verve Director of Client Services, said: “This unique report is based on research that is both robust and representative. We were particularly impressed with the level of FSB member engagement, receiving 6,263 survey responses and over 1,300 individual comments in the online discussion forum.

This dual research approach allowed us to explore in detail the complex and sometimes emotive issues at the heart of what FSB members feel about the European Union.”

Key findings from the research: When faced with the hypothetical statement: ‘Imagine that the referendum was held today’, the majority answered ‘Yes’, with ‘No’ answers still high, and a small percentage still unsure.

The survey revealed a close match between those who would vote ‘Yes’ and who would vote ‘No’, with the most likely to vote ‘Yes’ exporters to the EU (66.3%).

Employers of Non-UK EU nationals followed closely behind at 60.7% then FSB members in Scotland (59.9%).

Among members who would currently vote for the UK to remain a member of the EU, the most popular outcome was the transfer of EU powers back to UK with 34.7% of the ‘Yes’ vote wanting just this. 25.8% of the ‘Yes’ vote would like the EU to remain in its current form, 21.4% would like to see other reforms

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and 12.9% would like to see further integration with the EU. The findings suggested a confused stance on whether the EU has a positive, negative or no impact on the UK, and equally how beneficial it is to its businesses, with fairly equal responses between the EU being ‘beneficial’ or ‘not beneficial’.

Among FSB members who would vote for the UK to leave the EU, the most popular outcome was improving trade links with rest of the world, with 42.7% of the ‘No’ vote wanting the UK to withdraw from the EU and concentrate on strengthening trade links with the rest of the world. 29.1% would like the UK to negotiate individual trade and other agreements with the EU and individual member states, and 22.1% would like to remain in the European Economic Area despite wanting to vote ‘No’.

There were high levels of understanding and opinions found, with 78% of FSB members surveyed having views on the UK’s membership of the EU. 37% of members surveyed didn’t feel informed about the referendum from a business point of view, with 40.8% feeling informed. Only 19.2% felt very well informed.

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2015 Brighton & Hove Business Awards Winners Revealed The winners of the 10th annual Brighton & Hove Business Awards have been announced Celebrating Brighton and its diverse excellence, the Events Brighton & Hove Business Awards (BAHBAs) create a fantastic opportunity for many different types of businesses to come together and celebrate the success of Brighton & Hove’s talent and achievement. Attended by 300 of Brighton & Hove’s great & good, the BAHBAs are the biggest celebration of

14 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

business success in Brighton, and this year was the awards’ 10th year, so was a particularly special occasion.

Winners of the Brighton & Hove Business Awards (BAHBAs) were announced at All Saints Church Hove on Friday 4 September. The big winner on the night was Posh Totty Designs, shortlisted for three and winners of Fastest Growing Business and Creative Industries Award as well as the newly introduced Judges’ Award for the Best Business in Brighton. Another notable

winner was The Kitchen Store, coming top of the Best Independent Retailer category.

Alan Margetts, MD of The Kitchen Store and also winning Highly Commended for MD of the Year at BAHBA 2015 commented on the win: “We work really hard to make each of our stores within The Kitchen Store stand out and be part of its local community and we’ve been totally amazed by the recognition we’ve received over the last couple of years.”

He added: “It is a great credit to all our Hove team to be recognised as the Best Independent Retailer – I think they deserve it too! Being part of these awards each year you quickly realise the breadth of brilliant, innovative and successful business concentrated in Brighton and Hove and it’s great to be a small part of it.”

Also shortlisted for three was Organic Roofs, which took home the award for The Best Environmental Industry Company.

Other big Brighton names who took home gongs on the night included Brighton Fringe who won The Best Event in the City, Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival for The Best Customer Service and SEA LIFE Brighton which was named Best Place to Visit for the second year running.

Individual awards were presented to

Sussex Events & Networking

Andrew Mosely for MD of the Year and Nick Mosley for Outstanding Brightonian, recognising his work in taking the Brighton food offer to an international stage.

Mike Gilson, Editor, The Argus and Chair of this year’s panel of judges commented: “The roof was raised at All Saints Church as each accolade was awarded – such is the spirit of camaraderie within the business community of our great City.

“The companies, and their leaders, showcased at the 2015 Awards demonstrate that combining passion and business nous with fun and individuality can be a real recipe for success. It is Brighton and Hove’s personality that puts it among the UK’s favourite cities, and that personality is reflected in our business community.

“While Brighton is renowned as being a creative tech-hub, our business scene is thriving with ever more successful companies across a range of sectors.

From the professional services, to events, environmental industries, visitor attractions, creative industries, start-ups and restaurants, Brighton and Hove has it all. And no doubt, our economy would not be booming without such business talent.

“Our winners and finalists all demonstrated financial security, creativity and success; but were also chosen on merit of how well the run their businesses and how well they represent all that is best about the City.

“I was impressed, and delighted, to note themes of staff retention, investment in staff training and development, and staff wellbeing initiatives throughout this year’s BAHBA entries. With such commitment to bettering staff and companies that are already excelling, the future is very bright indeed!”

This year’s sponsors were Allied Irish Bank, Aspect 8, Boxharry, Brighton and Hove City Cabs, Cardens Accountants, Classic Consulting, Gemini Print, Graves Jenkins, Martin Searle Solicitors, Robinson Low Francis and Yelo Architects. Media sponsors included Title Sussex, Juice 107.2FM and The Argus.

The BAHBAs were also supported by the Chamber of Commerce, Brighton & Hove City Council, Brilliant Brighton, the Brighton Business Curry Club and B&H Tourism Alliance.

Who Won What? The Full List: The Best Independent Retailer WINNER: The Kitchen Store FINALIST: Posh Totty Designs FINALIST: The Radiator Centre

The Creative Industries Award

WINNER: Posh Totty Designs FINALIST: Simon Webster Hair FINALIST: Vivid Event Group

The Best Place To Work WINNER: Stelfox FINALIST: Brandwatch FINALIST: Expand Executive Search FINALIST: Organic Roofs

The Award for Business Beyond the City

WINNER: Qualifa HIGHLY COMMENDED: Fishlove FINALIST: C.Mitten Plumbing & Heating

The Professional Services Award

WINNER: Vivid Event Group FINALIST: Griffith Smith Farrington Webb FINALIST: Search Seven

The Greatest Contribution To The Community WINNER: Groundwork South FINALIST: Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce FINALIST: The Girls Network

The Best Event in the City WINNER: Brighton Fringe HIGHLY COMMENDED: Paddle Round the Pier Beach Festival FINALIST: Brighton Pride CIC FINALIST: Brighton Summit

The Best Place to Visit in Brighton & Hove

The Best New Kids On The Block

WINNER: Silo Brighton FINALIST: Advice Cloud FINALIST: Ellie Ellie Ltd FINALIST: The Radiator Centre

The Best Customer Service

WINNER: Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival FINALIST: Blanch House FINALIST: Duke of York’s Picturehouse

The Best Environmental Industry Company WINNER: Organic Roofs HIGHLY COMMENDED: C.Mitten Plumbing & Heating HIGHLY COMMENDED: Groundwork South

The Fastest Growing Business Award WINNER: Posh Totty Designs FINALIST: Gene Commerce FINALIST: Organic Roofs

The MD of the Year

WINNER: Andrew Mosley, The Grand Brighton HIGHLY COMMENDED: Alan Margetts, The Kitchen Store FINALIST: Charlie Hepburn, Vivid Event Group FINALIST: David Wicks, European Recruitment Ltd

The Judges Award for Business of the Year WINNER: Posh Totty Designs

The Outstanding Brightonian

WINNER: Nick Mosley, Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival

WINNER: SEA LIFE Brighton FINALIST: Duke of York’s Picturehouse FINALIST: Komedia

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 15

Sussex Events & Networking

BEST4BIZ: Your Agenda The 2015 BEST4BIZ Conference, held in association with Events East Sussex County Council and the Alliance of Chambers in East Sussex this year takes place on 16th October. The focus for 2015 is on innovation and new business methods and the agenda includes terrific keynote speakers, business networking, a B2B exhibition, an expert panel, valuable breakouts, a Sussex Sparkling drinks reception and three course dinner to celebrate the Best4Biz “Business of the Year East Sussex” Award as nominated by the ACES Chambers.

From Midday Business networking lunch and B2B Exhibition From 2pm • Becky Shaw, CEO of East Sussex County Council Conference Launch • Amber Rudd Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Energy and Business - the OPPORTUNITY • Josh Valman of IDP International Challenging Convention

From 3pm Your choice of one business seminar out of: 1.Marketing Your Business for Free Matt Turner, Managing Director of CreativePod and Young Start-Up Talent 2.Innovation and Change The University of Brighton 3.How to be a Talent Magnet in a Skills Shortage Martin Ellis Recruitment South East and Jennifer Wells University of Brighton.

With the right skills in short supply, it’s tough getting the right people to want to join you when there’s lots of career choice in the market. But it can be done - and without throwing money at it.

Our speakers will share some practical and uncluttered ideas and examples of what’s working for small and large organisations across the county, and how local organisations are making better employment choices for short and longterm growth.

4. Hastings, Rother and Wealden Plans for Growth Council Leaders and Senior Managers From 4pm Your choice of one business seminar out of:

1. Selling to the public sector made simple Laura Langstaff Head of Procurement for both Surrey and East Sussex County Councils 2.Only Connect - connecting businesses Fred Thomas Business East Sussex Growth Hub Navigator 3. Finding new international markets - with ease UKTI and UKEF 4. Eastbourne and Lewes Plans for Growth Council Leaders and Senior Managers From 5pm Expert Question Time panel with Rupert Clubb, ESCC Director of Communities, Economy and Transport Conference closes From 6.30pm Sparkling Sussex Drinks Reception showcasing Ridgeview Wine Estate’s “Sussex Sparkling” Wine. A multi-award winning vineyard, Ridgeview beats Champagne in blind tastings so join us to celebrate the very best of East Sussex.

From 7.30pm Celebration Dinner This will be a three course meal, during which short films made by Sussex Downs College will showcase the companies nominated by each Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Small Business to become the “BEST4BIZ East Sussex Business of the Year” which will be awarded this evening.

To book overnight accommodation at the reduced ACES rate of £75.00 plus vat per room, call 01825 880088 and quote WEAL151015. The room rate includes bed and breakfast for two people with free access to the gym, pool and spa area although treatments and golf are additional and should be booked in advance.

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15-085

Money Matters

SME Finance Under Threat

After a recent survey by IGF, we attempt to understand why more and more SME managers are turning to the Internet for financial advice, and explore the dangers of acting on Social Media and Google tips over expertise Running a business The Internet, although it’s an undoubtedly can be hard work, invaluable source of information, simply especially running cannot possibly offer the same reliable, Finance the finances behind a personally catered and high quality advice company’s potential that an expert can. Additionally, advice success or downfall. found online can often be either out of It’s important to get date or simply erroneous. Applying what the finance right to reap the rewards of you read online to your business plan is being in business and continue to do so. a risk that’s not worth taking, no matter From 31st August to 6th September, how much cheaper it is. Tracy Ewen, it was Small Business Advice Week Managing Director of IGF Invoice Finance (SBAW), providing millions of small commented on the findings and why businesses up and down the nation with finance managers may be turning to the great advice and key tips on how to Internet over professionals: “The quick improve their business, from branding to and accessible nature of the internet customer service, and of course, finance. means that it has become the default SBAW has become a staple fixture in for researching practically everything. the media calendar, with programmers, While sometimes this mass of information presenters, editors and forward planners available may be useful, there is a keen to cover any related events and high volume of unregulated and often speak with any spokespeople associated inaccurate information. Furthermore, the with the platform. top sites the search produces are usually After a new survey there simply because

by IGF Invoice Finance, of paid advertisements “To prevent SME a leading independent or clever SEO. commercial finance She adds: “Most managers from relying provider for SMEs on unregulated sources, importantly though, is nationwide, revealed the belief that valuable the financial industry that 30% of SME and personalised must make a concerted advice is expensive Finance Managers looked to the Internet and to some, effort to encourage – in places such as considered a luxury SMEs to seek Social Media and they cannot afford. professional advice” search engines – for Small businesses must financial advice instead look for the wealth of of experts, this Advice up-to-date and reliable Week seemed particularly appropriate. sources of free or low cost information This was a shocking find. A financial that will support key business decisions advisor can give you advice on how to moving forward – and this isn’t usually structure your company, insure your found online.” business, protect your employees’ The survey found that only slightly more financial well-being and protect the (34%) say that their accountant is their business if a key employee cannot work. most trusted source of business advice,

18 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

which means that there is little difference between the number of SMEs turning to trained experts for advice and those using content they have found online.

SMEs have long been dubbed the lifeblood of the UK economy, but sustainable and accurate business projections are essential if these companies are to survive and grow in the current environment. Tracy commented on the findings: “Without advice, SMEs simply cannot make an informed decision, and in business an uninformed decision is often a wrong decision. It is therefore crucial that those making financial choices for a company are obtaining sound advice from trusted, reliable sources.”

During Small Business Advice Week, businesses were urged to seek the right information at the right time. Tracy

Money Matters

continues: “No two businesses are the same, so using tactics or applying advice that has worked for another company does not mean it will work for you. Many financial service providers offer a wealth of free advice and expertise that is often unknown and untapped by SMEs. For small businesses to flourish, revitalise the economy and create more jobs, they must be developed sustainably with the advice of experts close at hand.”

The research from IGF also found that 25% of the respondents from the South East said that business borrowings give them ‘sleepless nights’ and 43.7% said that borrowing in/for their business made them nervous. This is even more reason to get the right advice when you need it.

As Tracy suggests, taking advice from online may lead to even more sleepless nights: “By assuming that advice for

another business is applicable to an entirely different company puts finances at real risk. Any wrong, or lack of advice can diminish capital and potentially lead to strains on the business.”

Tracy strongly advises SME Managers to sought out the correct advice, and offers some words of wisdom as to how they should go about it: “To prevent SME Managers from relying on unregulated sources, the financial industry must make a concerted effort to encourage SMEs to seek professional advice. In particular they should emphasise that this advice is very often free and comes from trusted, reliable experts.”

“There are numerous sources of free advice that SMEs in Sussex can utilise such as East and West Sussex county councils, accountants, alternative finance providers, banks, financial partners and

in certain circumstances, even their own customers.” www.igfgroup.com

Tracy Ewen Managing Director, IGF

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 19

Money Matters

Local Puzzle

Local entrepreneur, Anthony Stonham has created a free website, Local Puzzle, that has produced over £500k for independent retailers Numerous independent reports claim that every £1 Develop spent with a local business generates about £3 for the local economy, which creates jobs, and improves services.

Horsham based entrepreneur, Anthony Stonham has clocked on to this and created a fun, free and engaging website that supports local businesses and communities.

Local Puzzle is a community minded enterprise that pieces together local business with local people and local good causes by rewarding them all for shopping locally. It was an idea born 3 years ago from the motivation to create a way of helping independent businesses in Horsham, Anthony’s hometown, grow in the most transparent and accountable way; a particularly important move after the recession hit independent retailers hard. What was created was a website based on the idea of rewarding the community for shopping in their local independent stores. It’s simple and effective: Local Puzzle allows shoppers, or ‘Players’ to collect points by shopping, then by emailing a copy of their receipt and taking part in promotional activities, they can win cash prizes themselves whilst giving back to their community.

Retailers don’t have to purchase any new equipment or enroll – they are entered for free, and can choose to become ‘premium retailers’ by profit sharing with the Sussex based company running Local Puzzle. This enables them to create targeted campaigns that drive additional consumers to their store by seeing the benefit of Local Puzzle and acting on the Player Market Intelligence data provided. This is a hugely beneficial addition to the scheme, with the promise

20 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

of a potential ten to twenty-fold increase in revenue.

Anthony Stonham, owner of Local Puzzle said: “My mission is to make sure that as Local Puzzle grows, the majority of the money it makes goes back to the people involved and our customers.”

Local Puzzle has certainly grown over the past couple of years, having now spread to 500 towns in the UK and helping 2,500 businesses across the country too. More than £60,000 has been given away to Local Puzzle Players, with over 80% of the shoppers winning between £5 and £4,000 already.

Anthony commented: “When Local Puzzle first launched, player spend had totaled to around £5,000 per month and now we are up to £70,000 spent with independent businesses each month.

This has been mainly in Horsham as that’s where our Player base began, but we have spread across hundreds of towns across the UK since the launch.”

Local Puzzle awards cash prizes to those who shop the most with local independent businesses, whether they’re butchers, cafe’s or candlestick makers;

they all count. With a little more cash in your pocket, you can afford to shop a little more, and when you shop a little more, independent retailers can grow and thrive in their community. As your local businesses notice a lift in spending, they can choose to contribute back into our prize fund, so there’s more money to win. This creates a spiral of economic contribution: wealth for you and your local businesses.

Not only do independent retailers and Players alike benefit from this scheme, Local Puzzle also gives away thousands of pounds to local causes including schools and charities every six months.

These include the likes of St. Catherine’s Hospice, St. Mary’s Primary School, Springboard Project, Chestnut Tree House and Sussex Wildlife Trust, among many others. By shopping more yourself, you get to vote for which cause receives more money too, with £4,000 donated to first place, £2,000 for second place and £500 for third.

You may be thinking that you need to shop heavily in order to win a relatively small percentage back, as with most

Money Matters

“A player has already clocked up winnings of over £4,000, and many others over £1,000, I’d love Local Puzzle to one-day be a viable alternative to working for a living – after all, why work when you can play?” reward schemes of this kind, but that’s not the case. Although more shopping is the easiest way to earn more Puzzle Points and move up the leader board to win more prizes, there’s a whole bunch of other free activities designed to help promote Local Puzzle and reward you in return.

Anthony Stonham, Owner of Local Puzzle said: “A player has already clocked up winnings of over £4,000, and many others over £1,000, I’d love Local Puzzle to one day be a viable alternative to working for a living – after all, why work when you can play?”

Playing Local Puzzle really does help to increase the standard of living for your entire community, bringing in new customers for local retailers, and increasing existing customer spend by up to three times more than average.

Lucinda from Westons Farm Shop, an independent shop in Itchingfield benefiting from Local Puzzle said: “We joined Local Puzzle as premium members in January and it’s been a huge success for us. We contacted Anthony after so many of our customers asked us to sign up. When he explained the scheme, it was a no-brainer decision. Since then we’ve noticed a major rise in new customers who are coming from across Horsham and from window shoppers who are now coming in to buy. The trade figures on our trade dashboard speak for themselves! Local Puzzle is fantastic marketing for a very reasonable price and a great win-win scheme.”

Ian, from Taylors Dry Cleaners in Horsham reflected: “Local Puzzle is a fun way to generate extra income for local businesses. I can monitor how many customers I’ve had and how much they’ve spent through my own ‘Trade

Dashboard’, it seems to me like a great idea for everyone involved.”

Local Puzzle shoppers are hugely enthusiastic about the new scheme: “The puzzle is a genius system which actually rewards my use of local businesses. It’s a bit like a loyalty card but it’s more fun, doesn’t involve a card and it gives MUCH better returns! I really can’t fault it. I won £10 in the first round I played. This round, by continuing to submit a few photos of my receipts, I’m in line to win over £150!”

Exclusively for SBT readers, type in the Puzzle Code 4589LP2467 which allows you as the Player to redeem 20,000 bonus points on the site.

Anthony Stonham would like to thank COBB Digital and Innovation Capital for their support over the recent months.

If you own an independent business, activate it today at localpuzzle.com/activate

How to benefit from Local Puzzle: 1. SIGN UP FOR FREE 2. SHOP Shop with any independent business in the UK. 3. SNAP Capture a photo of your receipt with your Smartphone.

4. SEND Send your photo to Local Puzzle to be rewarded.

5. WIN People with the most Puzzle Points share thousands of pounds in cash every two months. www.localpuzzle.com

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 21

Health & Wellbeing

I L

Preventing Back Pain in the Office Arron Hopkinson shares his advice on the best way to keep a healthy posture at work, and prevent back pain that is all too often caused by sitting at a desk all day This edition I will be speaking about back pain. Movement is Health a big part within our lives and anything which provides a barrier to us moving freely and without pain can have serious negative effects on our quality of life.

Back pain is one of the biggest problems within the UK and is the injury with the highest prevalence at the moment. I’m sure there’s a high percentage of readers who have suffered or are suffering with back pain at the moment. If you are not currently suffering with back pain then I’m sure you still want to prevent it for the future. Within this section I will cover some self-care principles to help avoid the dreaded back pain.

Good healthy posture Poor posture places strain on your spine and can lead to muscular imbalances. These imbalances can affect the way we move and can cause discomfort when seated or standing. When standing if you feel your weight is falling down through your heels or toes then it is likely you have a poor standing posture.

Daily activities and hobbies We all complete potentially strenuous activities daily, whether that’s brushing our teeth and leaning over the sink or attending fitness classes.

Some precautions can hold off the onset of back pain: • Take regular short

breaks from repetitive and strenuous work • Avoid looking up for long periods • Avoid over-reaching • Housework - avoid bending from your back; use your hips and knees.

• If working overhead, use a ladder rather than reaching to a high uncomfortable position.

Desk work Around half of the UK working population has sedentary occupations, most notably office-based jobs, where more than 75% of the working day is spent sitting.

This shows the importance of correct posture when within a desk based role.

Some things to help improve desk related posture are: • Have your shoulders back and neck comfortable • Don’t look down for too long • Consider a headset if using the phone frequently • Avoid holding the phone between your ear and shoulder • Get up and stretch regularly • Have your workstation assessed by HR department if this facility is available.

Driving We spend a vast amount of time on a weekly basis travelling to and from work and home. We often tend to lean to one side and slouch especially when in traffic! When driving, try to ensure you do the following: • Avoid slouching • Sit right back into the seat • Adjust your seat to

a comfortable position allowing you to reach the controls • Don’t lean to one side • Take regular breaks if driving long distances Sleeping A good night sleep is essential for our health. If you find that you are regularly waking up with a stiff neck or sore back then the chances are it could be related to your sleeping position. Your pillow needs to be thick enough that it supports your head into a position where your spine can be in a neutral position.

• Avoid sleeping on your front • Find the best pillow for you • Ensure your neck is supported but not over supported • Choose a good quality mattress • Sleep with pillow in-between your knees to support the lumber spine.

There’s various medication that can be prescribed either by your GP or over the counter to help relieve some back related issues. However, it’s always best to address the underlying problem, which can be done through physiotherapy, sport massage, osteopathy or chiropractic care.

If you would like to contact me personally regarding any information you have read in this column or concerning friends, family or you’re back related pain then please contact me via email at arron. hopkinson@yahoo.com or via www.precisionmassage.co.uk I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Sussex Business Times readers for their great feedback. I hope I can continue to provide readers with some valuable in help.

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Marketing Your Business Through Social Media

There are many ways of marketing your business, and social media is one to really consider.

SBT provides some top tips on how best to use social media in business

“It is this level of detail that makes social media an ideal platform for the savvy marketer on a budget�

26 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

Business Owners and Managers are constantly trying to Develop market in the most cost-efficient way possible in order to reach new customers and get their message out to their target audience, without spending all of the capital. Social media offers an inexpensive alternative that just happens to be proving equally successful.

One of the most commonplace ways of

getting your message out there nowadays is through social media platforms, namely Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. While different platforms may vary, the purpose of them all is exactly the same: providing a means of informal communication between businesses and the general public. This model is a gold mine for small businesses, however with such ease of use, rapid feedback and a vast audience, it can also be a dangerous tool if not used correctly.

It may be complex to prove that social

Social Media

media marketing is getting results through revenue or statistical data, but your business will get instant feedback from the audience online at that time. That means that you not only know when a post, idea or comment is reaching your audience, and affecting them, but you also know when it’s not. It is essential, however to target your social media marketing to when your audience is most likely to see your efforts. Pick the right time of day for your audience, the right tone of voice, and the best content to reach the best readers: demographic profiling.

It is not possible to target people interested in travel, aged over 21, with a pet and living in Bath with Google but with Facebook it is – that’s the beauty of it! It is this level of detail that makes social media an ideal platform for the savvy marketer on a budget, and it can be implemented in an efficient time scale.

Here are some top tips for marketing through social media:

1

Target your audience Social media takes targeted marketing to the next level because your audience is made up of individuals who have specifically chosen to follow you. Build a relationship with your audience. Find out who is following, liking and communicating with you so that you can in turn follow and match their activity. The more you know about your target, the more you can utilise, prepare, grab their attention and excite them.

2

Always Hashtag A hashtag allows users to pick up the key messages, components and themes from a post without even intending to do so. A Twitter user might be looking for something very general, such as ‘shops’ – if your post has that key word as a hashtag, they will come across your post. Don’t be the one that puts every hashtag under the sun on every post; you should think carefully about which words you hashtag, and most importantly, keep it connected with your brand. Keep your hashtags consistent, just as you would any other form of marketing campaign so that

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 27

Social Media

“One of the most popular ways of complaining to a company is through social media because it gains an immediate response” the public has a chance to pick up on your message. If your content is good, it may lead to engagement. The more engagement the better, but you want to make sure this engagement is the right kind, with the correct key message attached: the right hashtag.

3

Customer Service The danger of misusing social media is that it is so very public. You want your brand to shout ‘Great Customer Service’ to everyone who comes across it. One of the most popular ways of complaining to a company is through social media because it gains an immediate response.

You want to be seen as caring for your customers, and if that means showing it in the most public way possible, then so be it. You can learn a lot about a brand through feedback, so build a positive relationship with the consumer, ensure you are maintaining a consistent, friendly tone of voice across all social media platforms and you’ll get positive feedback in return.

4

Timing is Everything There’s nothing worse than telling a potentially hilarious joke to an empty room. If you don’t time your posts right, this is essentially what’s happening on social media.

Posting the best deal out there, or your greatest marketing message at 2am it useless. The way social media works is very much at a fast, almost instant

28 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

pace. Users go through information at an extremely rapid rate when online. If the message isn’t there when they are, the likelihood is, they’ll never see it as it will get clogged up by all the other marketing messages, hot deals, friend updates etc from even just an hour afterwards.

This is why it’s important to know when the highest percentage of your target users are online. Maximum exposure is everything! There are a number of great, and often free tools to help you do this.

5

Use the Tools Available Don’t have time to stay online all day every day to make sure your reaching your audience? Well, you don’t have to because there’s a wide range of

social media tools which will keep your online presence persistent at all times. These tools work by scheduling posts to be uploaded to the newsfeed and your page when you want them to be, whether that’s on the weekends, on your holidays or during the night even. Hootsuite is a great social media scheduling tool. It provides you with an in depth analytics section, so you can see what succeeded and what didn’t succeed so much.

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www.sussexdowns.ac.uk www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 29

Money Matters

Principles of Education Sussex Downs College’s new Principal and Chief Executive, Mike Hopkins aims to grow the College’s influence, improve its facilities and reputation and provide the highest quality experience for all students With campuses in Eastbourne, Lewes and Newhaven, Growth Sussex Downs College is a key education cog within East Sussex. The College offers education for 16-18 year olds as well as a range of qualifications for those aged 18 plus. SBT’s Jenny Ardagh had the pleasure of speaking to the new Principal, Mike Hopkins who expressed his passion for keeping not only the student experience of high quality, but maintaining and building strong relationships with local businesses, over a thousand of which they already have links with.

Jenny: How long have you been Principal at Sussex Downs and what was your background previously?

Mike: This is my eleventh working day here at Sussex Downs and I am absolutely loving it! Most importantly is how the staff and outsiders are viewing it, but I’m having a ball, and I hope to have a positive impact on the college as a whole.

I was a teacher, then I went through the ranks and ended up as a Principal –

30 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

this is my third time as Principal having previously worked in Middlesborough. I also worked in government for a spell.

What’s your main ethos as Principal?

Essentially, I focus on two main ingredients: one is ensuring that whatever we deliver is delivered at the highest possible quality available, and second is serving the business community and economy as best we can.

I absolutely believe that excellence, reputation, growth and success are bound together. We focus on excellence for all and I aim to ensure that the college is as closely aligned with the local and sub-regional economy as it can be so that this can be implemented. The history and routes of colleges are in creating opportunities for skills training in employment. It all comes back to working people wanting to equip themselves with the knowledge and basic skills to allow them to progress in their careers and earn money. Colleges have of course adapted a large amount and adapted to society as a whole, with key aims to serve the business community. That’s great for employers as well as the people that come here.

Mike Hopkins

How do you foresee maintaining the college’s continuous role in the business community? Is there anything you wish to improve?

My aim first and foremost is to make the employer voice a very large and prominent voice in this college. We need to listen first with big ears, and speak afterwards. Listen to what the needs are, and how we can adapt to change and then align our offer such that it is as relevant as possible to employers. We want employers to feel that this college is entirely a part of their supply chain.

Education

Specifically, we want to grow our apprenticeship program, to grow our bespoke offer to employers – listening carefully to them and customising what we do around that.

Do you think vocation-led training, i.e apprenticeships is the way the business world is going?

I think certainly apprenticeships have a lot of value. They used to have great prestige, however, unfortunately that seemed to wane slightly during the 80s and 90s but I believe it is back with full force now. A lot of that credibility is back– it is a serious offer in addition to higher education that businesses are really supporting. Companies are now starting to sponsor apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships are an opportunity to earn and learn, instead of paying to learn like at University. If Britain wants to be a high wage, high skill economy, apprenticeships, training, skills updating and technology innovation are very important.

Sussex Downs offers Work Place Training and Employer Short Courses – is it important business men and women take advantage of this?

Yes, very much so. Without training, our civilization would fall apart. That’s how fundamental colleges are, and how important developing skills is. I want to share our assets with local businesses, and I want to spend a lot of time building an employer voice for Sussex Downs.

Listening is key: if businesses think we’re not doing everything we can, I want to know, so we can develop and improve for are targeting well over a thousand apprenticeships, as a minimum within the good of the community. a three year period.

Our employer short Although I don’t have courses offer, if you “If Britain wants an upper limit to this imagine the breadth to be a high wage, goal. There’s a lot of our society, pretty going on, and there’s a much every occupation high skill economy, lot more that could be and trade, in a general apprenticeships, going on. sense. We have training, skills updating We have hundreds construction, motor of young people on A vehicle, health and care, and technology Level programs in the electricians. We’ve all innovation are very 16-18 bracket and also got our role to play and important” offer BTEC Nationals, we’re all in the skilland City & Guilds building team. qualifications. Vocational certificates are mostly BTEC Nationals.

How many students do you have We offer a chance for people who here? perhaps have done less well at school, We have 13,000 students, several to excel. We are traditionally a second hundred apprenticeships and we chance institution, and we work on the work with over 700 employers. We

ethos that everybody has more potential than they think. If someone got off to a bad start in education, it doesn’t mean they have to have a bad end.

Is there anything that you would personally like to improve within the college?

This is a great college. But, however well I’ve done something, in any walk of life, I know I can do better. That is what I want the college culture to be. There’s always room for improvement and I’m here to make that happen. I want to spend a lot of my time in building an employer voice for Sussex Downs by listening, learning and developing.

www.sussexdowns.ac.uk

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 31

Education

Young Enterprise

Equipping Young People with Enterprise Skills to Create Future Entrepreneurs The Young Enterprise scheme, which encourages young Careers people in their latter years of education to learn about business and explore their entrepreneurial spirits by starting and running their own company under the auspices of the charity, has had a highly successful return to schools and colleges in Eastbourne and the Wealden area.

This year, a local team went on to win the Sussex county finals and be highly recommended in the South East regional finals.

Young Enterprise helps teachers embed practical business skills and the Government’s guidance on careers advice into the curriculum. A number of exam boards map the Young Enterprise Company programme against a range of their qualifications. This renowned programme has been running since 1963 and in that time over a million 15-19 year olds have taken part.

Under the Company programme, students find out what it is like to set up and run a real business. Delivered across an academic year, young people make all the decisions about their company, from raising the initial share capital through to designing their product or

32 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

service, to selling directly to customers and ultimately closing the company and paying their taxes. Students can also choose to set up their business as a social enterprise, which focuses on addressing a social need rather than maximising profit. All this is assisted with the support of a local Business Adviser who brings a wealth of business knowledge and expertise to the team.

Not only does this teach them about how business works but also better equips them to understand commerce and, hopefully, consider a future career in this sector. The programme aims to engender an entrepreneurial spirit and significantly enhances the confidence of those that take part.

In addition to achieving success with their own company, the students present their results and experiences in a competition to find the most successful Young Enterprise business. A local competition is held in the late spring for a number of awards, many of which are supported and sponsored by prominent local businesses. County, regional and UK Finals follow, with teams battling it out to be crowned UK Company of the Year.

They then go on to the European Final.

Research has shown that 82% of students participating in the Company programme agreed that the scheme

gave them the confidence to succeed in the future. In addition, 94% of teachers agreed that the Company programme increased student self-awareness in their own capabilities and potential, plus raised their career expectations.

The board for the Eastbourne and Wealden area is currently recruiting further local Wealden schools and colleges to participate in the Young Enterprise scheme. It is also seeking business advisors to work with the young people and assist them by imparting their business knowledge and giving guidance through the various phases of establishing and running their companies.

Sponsors are also being sought to assist with the financing and support of the scheme in the local area.

Anyone interested in participating in the Young Enterprise Company scheme is invited to contact the Chairperson of the Eastbourne and Wealden Young Enterprise Board, Gordon Piggott on 01323 502436 or by email to gordon@gordonpiggott. co.uk. Further information on the Young Enterprise scheme can be found at the local website, which has just been launched at www.yeew.org.uk.

The Berwick Inn

A friendly pub in East Sussex with all you’d need for a fun and cosy meal out The Berwick Inn, owned by Jack Visick and Nick Davis, is a Venues delightful family pub set in the countryside of East Sussex just off the A27. After many different owners, Jack and Nick, now ten months in, have transformed this pub into what it is today: a Family friendly pub for hearty good food, good drink and most of all, good company.

The Berwick Inn offers a range of fantastic fresh meal options, including Sunday Roasts, Burgers, fish fishes and every changing specials. All served all day every day of the week.

This is not only an ideal location for the loyal local on a Friday night, but also a great place for those special occasions.

The Berwick Inn has the facilities to host many corporate events, private parties, wedding receptions. It has 3 inside dining areas as well as huge garden, kids play area, bouncy castle, camping field and adults side garden They are currently in the process of building a bed and breakfast above the pub and developing the upper bar into a coffee shop and function room ready for the new year.

The Berwick Inn hosts fantastic public transport links with a bus stop and train station within meters of the pub. As well as huge car and coach parking facilities.

Jack commented on his ten months as coowner of the Inn: “We wanted to rebuild local relationships, and reform a community hub of the village and surrounding areas. We wanted to make the pub family friendly with an offering to suit everyone whilst keeping the traditional pub values. Our friendly and personable team are very accommodating and love welcoming new visitors.

The festive season at the Berwick Inn brings with it a whole new Christmas menu: 2 courses for £19.95 or 3 courses £24.95 served from 1st November till 25th December. Jack and Nick say: “Our Chefs have worked hard to keep all your traditional favorites such as Roast Turkey served with all the trimmings whilst adding in some creative dishes with a twist like a Roast Cod Fillet served with Sweet Potato Chowder and Fresh Mussels for those craving something different!”

As well as hosting a range of Christmas party nights during the festive season, The Berwick Inn

also plays host to a range of themed evenings throughout the year, including music every Saturday, open mic nights every Wednesday and quiz nights every Thursday - you’ll never get bored with the Berwick Inn. Please call us on 01323 870 018 to find out more or book a table or event, or pop in to collect a Christmas menu. Remember; book your Christmas dinners early to avoid disappointment.

Call us now to book: 01323 870 018

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 33

Brewers Home

A Local Brew

Hepworth Brewery offers a range of local, high quality and delicious beers for all beer lovers across the South East and further afield Hepworth Brewery in Horsham, West Sussex manufactures Insight a wide range of award winning beers for customers all over Sussex and nationally. They brew and sell bottled and draft beers, as well as a variety of gluten free beers for coeliacs and those who want to avoid potential allergens.

The longstanding tradition of brewing in Horsham came to an abrupt halt in 2000, after which owner, Andy Hepworth was determined to rekindle the magic again. He was named the youngest Head Brewer in the country at the time. SBT had the pleasure of speaking to Andy Hepworth about the business: its history, its present and the future plans.

When was Hepworth Brewery founded?

In 2000 by four ex-employees of King and Barnes after the brewery was closed following acquisition by Hall & Woodhouse. We were redundant and decided to create our own work. Initially mainly working for other breweries, which

34 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

we still do, developing, brewing, and packaging beers for them. We saw a gap for high quality bottled ales, and unusually for a small brewery at that time, lagers.

Basically do the difficult stuff that other breweries could not produce.

Is Sussex a good place for a brewery?

Sussex is not just a lovely place to live it is also a great agricultural county, grows great barley, and hops. We buy our barley from the downs around Chichester, and hops from Bodiam in East Sussex, which has soil and weather conditions the same as the more famous hop growing county next door. Chris Daws of Kitchenham Farm grows our hops and wins prizes for them every year, so it is very nice to support local farmers and even better to get the best in the country, and possibly the world. It makes my life much easier as brewing

great beer is so much better using great ingredients. We show this with our many awards for our beers.

Where do you distribute or sell your beers?

We sell our beers in the south east of England, and are gradually increasing the area of our distribution to as far as North London (be careful ‘there be dragons’). We do have a beer that is distributed nationally that is a collaboration with Marks and Spencer, called ‘Sussex Golden Ale’ which you will find in their larger stores. Of course there are many beers either brewed here, or packed by us, on the shelves across the country with other brand names on them. We also recently sold some beer to Abu Dhabi. We have a wide market in Brighton also, e.g you’ll find our beers in The Dome and many smaller outlets.

www.hepworthbrewery.co.uk

Do you have a strong local affiliation?

We like to buy local and sell

Advertorial

local, so we have strong association and sponsor local activities, Horsham Rugby Club, Manor Theatre, Plumpton Races.

Some of those ties are closer still, we buy organic barley from The Goodwood Estate brew that into beer and it goes back as Goodwood beers. One of our beers goes into Higgidy’s ale pies. We are very proud to have our beer served in local restaurants, two of which have Michelin stars, and winners of Taste of Sussex like Jeremy’s at Borde Hill. In fact with the Goodwood Estate as ‘Taste of Sussex Farm of Year’, us a three times winner of Drink Producer of the year’ and Jeremy’s there is a direct chain of excellence which shows that those awards are not arbitrary. We recently started marketing our gluten free beers as such.

I see you’ve got a new brewery opening up on April 2016 – what difference will that make to the business?

The new brewery will be three times the size of current one, which is at full steam at present. It will be much easier to operate, much more energy and water efficient, and have a shop and visitor centre which we see as essential. We are continually asked to do brewery tours and the existing brewery is just too cramped to show groups around. It is a huge investment for a small company such as ourselves but will secure our future by enabling our continued growth.

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 35

* *

All the Trimmings at Gatton Manor Celebrate this Festive Season at Gatton Manor Hotel and Golf Club with a variety of party options

Christmas is a time to celebrate and where better to get together with colleagues, family and friends than at Gatton Manor Hotel and Golf Club.

Conveniently located on the West Sussex border, only 15 minutes from Horsham and Billingshurst, we have a calendar of events taking place this festive season.

If you are tasked with organising the annual staff Christmas party, whether it’s for 2 or 100 people, then let us help.

We have two perfect joiner parties; on Saturday 5th December, we welcome one of the UK’s leading Soul and Motown tribute acts ‘The Saviours of Soul’ – a band guaranteed to make any party night spectacular.

On Saturday 12th December, our

resident DJ will get you in the party mood with classic party tracks, Christmas favourites and the latest tunes to get everyone dancing.

Why not hire Gatton Manor exclusively for your company event?

If you’re looking for a private party, exclusive venue hire is available for groups of 40 people or more.

Not only will you benefit from private space for your employees to meet and socialise, you can enjoy full use of our 18 bedroom Manor House Hotel and on-site gym. You may choose to play a bracing round of golf on our championship 18 hole course the following day – all of which can be arranged by our dedicated events team, who will work with you to create your unique event.

For further details or to discuss your party plans please call 01306 627555 or visit www.gattonmanor.co.uk

GATTON MANOR

Celebrate This Festive Season Christmas is a time to celebrate and where better to get together with colleagues, family and friends than at Gatton Manor Hotel and Golf Club.

Conveniently located on the West Sussex border, only 15 minutes from Horsham and Billingshurst, we have a calendar of seasonal events taking place this December.

At Gatton Manor Hotel and Golf Club

* Soul Sensation Party Night - Saturday 5th December Exc * Classic Christmas Party - Saturday 12th December l Ven usive ue H * Festive Lunches & Dinners* For ire Gr * Christmas Cracker Golf Days* of 4 oups 0o * Boxing Day Brunch - Saturday 26th December mor r e * Exclusive Venue Hire for parties of 40 or more

For full details & to download our Christmas Brochure, please visit www.gattonmanor.co.uk/christmas 36 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk Gatton Manor Hotel and Golf Club, Standon Lane, Ockley, Nr Dorking, Surrey RH5 5PQ *Selected Package Dates only. Standard Terms & Conditions apply

Please contact

01306 627555

info@gattonmanor.co.uk | www.gattonmanor.co.uk

5

Top Venues in Sussex

Top Sussex Christmas Venues

Find the perfect venue for your corporate Christmas party this year, whether you want cosy and homely, or luxurious and grand Finding the perfect venue for your annual corporate Christmas party can be difficult. A Christmas party is always a wonderful way of bringing colleagues together to celebrate the year they’ve had working together, and look forward to the year ahead. You’ll want to get the atmosphere, the food, and most importantly the venue just right to provide your employees with great memories. SBT provides a list of the top five venues for you to consider this festive season:

Grand

Christmas Party

Luxury Christmas Party

To book your Christmas party, call 01403 891711

Brighton Hilton Metropole Set on the bustling Brighton seafront, The Hilton Brighton Metropole reflects style, grandeur and the individuality that Brighton itself encompasses. At The Hilton, there’s a variety of choices for your Christmas party needs. Enjoy the quintessentially British office party this festive season and benefit from exclusive hire of one of our flexible function rooms accommodating 40 to 800 guests. Packages cost from £39.95 per adult. There are also a range of themed evenings, dinner options and New Year’s celebrations for you to attend with your business associates, or for more of a personal evening with friends.

South Lodge Christmas party nights at South Lodge are always a big date in the calendar for friends, family, colleagues and clients, and where better to enjoy the festive season than in a luxurious country house property set in acres of beautiful Sussex parkland. If you’re looking for an impressive venue to hold your office Christmas party this year, South Lodge could be ideal with its spectacular decoration to suit their luxury Christmas Party Nights on either 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th December. From a private party of just 10 or 180 dancing revellers, South Lodge has an array of function rooms, superb dining and the finest selection of wines all from £65 per person.

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 37

Top Venues in Sussex

Cosy

Christmas Party

The Blacksmiths Pub The Blacksmiths pub in Donnington is the ideal place if you’re looking for more of a cosy, homely feel to your corporate Christmas party. Known for its fine food and impeccable service, the stylish country pub has just launched this year’s Christmas menu, which is full of traditional festive favourites, available as both a two or three course meal option - ideal for corporate Christmas lunches and team parties. The pub is also available for private functions and corporate meetings throughout the year. Whether your company is looking for a venue to hold a business breakfast or meeting, is looking to host a small dinner party in an intimate setting or a largerscale celebration; The Blacksmiths has the space, facilities and friendly staff to create the perfect event. For more information or to make a booking, please email info@the-blacksmiths.co.uk or call 01243 785578.

Stylish Christmas Party

The Grand Hotel, Eastbourne The Grand’s history, architecture, lavish interior, charm and character create an atmosphere of traditional welcoming luxury that can be enjoyed by a range of clients, colleagues and friends. Throughout December, both the Garden and Mirabelle Restaurants will be serving festive fayre – an ideal opportunity to celebrate the festive season. The Grand Christmas Party nights have all the ingredients you need for a great pre-Christmas get-together staged in the Compton Suite with an ‘Iced Palace’ theme. Whether it’s the office party or getting a group of friends together, the Grand Hotel Christmas party nights offer a night to remember! From £56.00 per person to include a glass of Holly Fizz to start the evening off, a delicious 4 course festive dinner and dancing until 12.30am.

Private

Christmas Party

The Goodwood Hotel

Christmas at The Goodwood Hotel is a jovial affair, set to make you feel at home with roaring log fires, cosy sitting rooms and menus created using delicious organic produce from Goodwood Home Farm and locally sourced producers, makes this a Christmas to remember. For intimate festive celebrations, bring friends and/or colleagues together over a delicious Christmas lunch or dinner of Estate-reared produce and local seasonal ingredients at The Richmond Arms. This is a great setting for private Christmas parties, with a sit-down meal in either the Oaks Suite or Lennox Suite, or in the Cedar Suite with a private entrance, lounge and bar. A meal in any of these suites is £30 per person. Our dedicated team of planners will help you to plan a memorable celebration. To discuss your requirements, please telephone 01243 520195 or email events@goodwood.com

38 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

Christmas at Michelham Priory This medieval venue could be the perfect setting for your corporate Christmas party

Michelham Priory boasts England’s longest medieval water filler moat encircles a site steeped in history dating back to 1229.

On this picturesque island you will find the magnificent Tudor mansion, impressive medieval Gatehouse, a working watermill and forge, Bronze Age roundhouse, Elizabethan Great Barn, Dovecote shop, café and playground.

This beautiful setting offers a guest room in the house, which is available to hire for meetings of up to 30 people and we can provided catering in the room, or our café.

functions: dinners, seminars and of course weddings with a projector plus optional catering. Tours are available of both the garden and house for a break in a day’s proceedings.

The fully licensed Elizabethan Great Barn and private moat terrace seats up to 130 people and is available to hire both in the daytime and for evening

Christmas lunches are available for small, medium or large groups, and there’s plenty of free parking for you and your guests.

See our website for more details and timings www.sussexpast.co.uk

Christmas lunch at Michelham Priory

3-courses with coffee, mints and crackers plus entry into the house & gardens We cater for parties of 2 to 130. Pre booking required.

Upper Dicker, Nr Hailsham, BN27 3QS. 01323 844224 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 39 www.sussexpast.co.uk

Christmas with Whiting and Hammond Whiting and Hammond is a multi-award winning pub company with 8 sites spread across Kent, Sussex and Surrey. The Sussex offerings are The Farm at Friday Street in Eastbourne, Stanmer House in Brighton and The Mark Cross near Crowborough. Whether you’re a regular or have never visited one of the W&H eateries, you’ll find there is something to please everyone. The company ethos of providing fresh food using seasonal produce, real ales and a great wine list is carried across all 8 sites.

Throughout December each pub will tantalize tastes buds with their festive menus. Be it an intimate dinner for two or a group party of friends or colleagues, all

40 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

are welcome. Menus start from £19.95 per person with options to party the night away on specific nights with bands and/or DJs lined up to entertain their guests.

At each of the sites you’ll find the welcoming sight of crackling log fires to warm next to or enjoy an after dinner brandy or two. Tasteful decorations throughout will get everyone in the festive spirit as well as a cracker or two.

Get the cozy pub feeling at The Farm, dine in grandeur at Stanmer House or venture into the beautiful countryside and visit The Mark Cross. Details of their individual menus can be downloaded from their websites, or feel free to give them a call when the friendly staff will happily help with your enquiry.

VISIT US The Farm at Friday Street, 15 Friday Street, Langney, Eastbourne, BN23 8AP Tel: 01323 766049 enquiries@farmfridaystreet.com www.farmfridaystreet.com The Mark Cross Inn, Mark Cross, Nr Crowborough, East Sussex TN6 3NP Tel: 01892 852423 enquiries@themarkcross.co.uk www.themarkcross.co.uk Stanmer House, Stanmer Park, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 9QA Tel: 01273 680400 Tel: 01273 680400 enquiries@stanmerhouse.co.uk www.stanmerhouse.co.uk

Lunch Review: Meat in the Middle

Ben Jacobs has opened Horsham’s eyes to its local delights, and created a restaurant to satisfy any lover of good food, in particular burger lovers

Meat in the Middle Horsham

Address: 10 Piries Place, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1EH Telephone: 01403 262271 Web: www.meatinthemiddle.net

Just off the main street in Horsham Town Centre, Meat in Review the Middle is a small, understated yet truly fantastic restaurant.

Known as a burger joint, it’s by no means just that, with perhaps one of the largest and most diverse range of burgers I’ve ever seen on just one menu, also serving salads, steak and wraps.

Owner, Ben Jacobs makes a huge impact on the atmosphere of this place, and it’s hard not to miss him. His enthusiasm for all things ‘foodie’ radiates throughout the small premises, and is truthfully represented by the generous servings.

Having travelled the world in his job as a bodyguard in the security industry, Ben has acquired an amalgamation of tastes from every country he has visited. He commented: “Everywhere I went, I tried a burger. I figured that if a restaurant can’t

make a good burger, it would represent the rest of the menu well.”

Meat in the Middle opened in August last year, and although it’s a business that’s clearly just getting on its feet, Ben seems to have perfected his USP almost completely, and has certainly created what he had hoped for. His aim, as he told me, was to create a business that not only complemented but supported other independent businesses in Sussex: “I felt it such a shame that Horsham was losing its independent feel, and I have always preferred a high quality, independent restaurant over the chains, so I decided to do it myself.”

He added: “I love meat. I love good cheese and good flavours, and I love nice bread. So a burger restaurant was born!”

As you step in to Meat in the Middle, you are met with a very relaxed set-up, with two long, wooden tables lined with stools either side of the door, and the kitchen visible straight ahead. It was clear from the beginning that this was a place

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 41

Tried and Tested in Sussex

for casual, relaxed and unfussy eating. I was welcomed with a smile and given a large menu to choose from. After drooling over most of the burgers on offer (I didn’t even contemplate a salad!) I went for the Porky Boar burger – a boar pattie with scrumpy Sussex cider infused cheese and garlic mushrooms. My partner chose the BCC, a minced beef pattie infused with chorizo and chilli (hence the name) with red pepper, caramelised onions and jalapeño cheddar.

Our burgers came very rapidly, set in the middle of a large tray, and they were sizeable to say the least. My boar was beautifully succulent, thick and flavoursome, and best of all, different to anything I had tasted before. The cheese and mushrooms complemented the meat perfectly, and my choice of a brioche bun was the right choice with the slight sweetness just offsetting the rich taste of the meat. The BCC went down a treat with my partner too and, having tasted a small forkful (that was all I was allowed) I can say that it was literally a flavour explosion. The spice was just the right amount, and the meat was beautiful.

Ben is proud to be unique in his ways and having grown up on a dairy farm, has been used to eating fresh, so endeavours for others to experience food at its best. All the food is locally sourced, and his chef cooks and serves

everything to order. He says: “We don’t own a microwave. Everything is fresh and everything is sourced from the closest independent manufacturer we can get.

It’s very important to me to support local businesses, manufacturers and farmers.”

The meat comes from Sussex farm, A.R.Bailey’s of Warnham, the bread comes from Jenger’s Craft Bakery in Billingshurst, the salad and vegetables come from Russell’s Fruitiers based near Brighton and the ice cream is delivered from Seriously Real in Pulborough. No additives or preservatives, colourings, e-numbers or frozen food is in sight at this restaurant, and you can really tell!

I was delighted to discover that even their ketchup and BBQ sauce was homemade! Even the beer comes from Horsham, offering a range of local ales for customers to taste.

After we had both decided how full we were, Ben offered us a taste of the local ice cream from Seriously Real. He bought out 4 tasting pots: banana flavour, vanilla, strawberry and Belgian chocolate chip. I have to say, I would never usually consider eating a banana or strawberry flavour ice cream, but these were utterly delicious. Once you’ve had these, you will wonder why anyone ever puts flavouring in ice cream over the rich, full and creamy natural flavours. In addition, we were treated to their signature Brownie Burger pudding.

“We don’t own a microwave.

Everything is fresh and everything is sourced from the closest independent manufacturer we can get”

42 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

They have very limited pudding at Meat in the Middle, mainly due to the lack of space that’s left in customers’ stomachs after their huge main meal. We managed to try enough of it to fall head over heels.

The brownie itself was gooey, rich in chocolate flavour and light, with a creamy filling and chocolate sauce covering it, as a burger relish would. This was served on a black slate, which I must say seemed to counter the feel of the rest of the presentation, but nonetheless, it looked and tasted fantastic!

This really is one of a kind, and a rare gem to be found in Sussex. If you love simple, but great tasting food, and want to try some of the best local produce at the same time, I implore you to try Meat in the Middle. As a closing statement, Ben told me he wished for people to ‘expand their taste buds’ and try what Sussex has to offer. I promise, this will not compare to just any old burger joint.

Lucky Voice Use your voice this festive season and sing along with colleagues and friends for a party to remember

Brighton’s Lucky Voice bar is the ideal venue for parties this festive season.

With pods that hold up to 15 people, we cater for small groups of friends or large office parties. Open from 3pm every day over the seasonal period, there will be a complementary festive cocktail for all bookings made before 6pm to get you into the party mood!

With a selection of canape food options and our iconic ‘Thirsty’ button in the booths, you’ll never have to leave the mic to stay well fed and watered. Which is lucky as there is over 8,000 songs to pick and get through including Italian, French, Spanish and Bollywood tunes too.

What’s more, we have a ready made

Christmas playlist to save any wasted time of picking the classics. So book now for an event night that will be one to remember!

Top 5 Christmas songs to show off your vocal chords to the boss ...

1. Baby It’s Cold Outside 2. Do You Want To Build A Snowman 3. Jingle Bell Rock 4. All I Want For Christmas 5. Santa Baby

The Ultimate Private Room Karaoke Experience Book your Christmas party at Lucky Voice Brighton!

8 Black Lion St, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1ND 01273 715770 brighton@luckyvoice.com www.luckyvoice.com www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 43

Goodwood

Eat, Drink & Be Merry At The Goodwood Hotel

For a festive celebration oozing traditional Christmas spirit with a touch of modern sparkle, The Goodwood Hotel has it all Christmas Dining is the perfect place to celebrate amongst Making the most of family friends and colleagues. its country Estate’s From 1st December come together Advertorial produce, Christmas over a delicious Christmas lunch or at Goodwood is all dinner of Estate-reared produce and local about the food; The seasonal ingredients at The Richmond Richmond Arms Arms from £26 per person, including restaurant in particular provides a cosy, festive background entertainment when intimate setting for you to treat friends dining on Friday evenings. Once an and colleagues to a mouth-watering 18th century coaching inn providing veritable feast of Estate-reared seasonal accommodation to guests of Goodwood produce fresh from Goodwood’s organic House, nowadays The Richmond Arms Home Farm. at The Goodwood Hotel offers a relaxed Their approach to yet stylish feel, abundance food reflects the ‘farm to of natural daylight for “The Goodwood fork’ philosophy, with the lunchtime dining and Hotel offers organic Goodwood Home cosy surroundings for a relaxed yet Farm providing awardevening dining. stylish feel, winning Estate-reared and abundance of rare breed meat, milk, Time for Tea natural daylight cheeses, ales and lagers Alternatively, if the for lunchtime and the 12,000 acres an occasion calls for a less dining and cosy inspiration for foraging wild formal dining experience, surroundings” produce.

The Goodwood Hotel’s At the helm of The usual decadent afternoon Goodwood Hotel’s food offering is tea will be Christmas themed to get you Executive Head Chef, Mark Forman, who, in the festive spirit. Available Monday along with his talented team, has created Saturday until 23rd December at £25 per a seasonal menu that showcases the very person you can enjoy finger sandwiches best of local ingredients executed with with fillings suitable for the season, careful precision resulting in dishes with home-made scones laden with cream, a true Sussex flavour. This, along with a selection of Christmas cakes and a roaring log fires and jovial atmosphere, it steaming pot of tea served in front of the

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roaring fireplace in The Richmond Arms’ Bar. Christmas Parties For larger teams or groups, The Goodwood Hotel is also the ideal setting for a private Christmas party. Treat your staff to a delicious sit-down meal in your choice of the bright and airy Oaks Suite, the cosy Lennox Suite with its adjoining bar or the contemporary Cedar Suite, with its very own private entrance, lounge and bar.

From as little as £30 per person, your guests will enjoy a superb meal in relaxed surroundings whilst you will benefit from the guidance of our expert planning team who can tailor a bespoke celebration around your specific tastes and preferences; from understated and simple to lavish and spectacular and everything in between. Our planning team have years of experience that will help to organise your festive celebration and make it one to remember.

To discuss your requirements, please telephone 01243 520195 or email events@goodwood.com.

The Goodwood Hotel, Goodwood, West Sussex PO18 0QB www.goodwood.com

c e l e b r at e christmas at Goodwood

Whatever you would like for your Christmas celebration, whether a cosy Christmas lunch or a grand soiree, you will find it at Goodwood‌ Goodwood, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0PX Telephone 01243 520195 Email: events@goodwood.com

www.goodwood.com

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Hilton

Christmas at The Hilton Brighton Metropole The Hilton Brighton Metropole offers a range of festive evenings, themed dinners and special events over the Christmas period to fulfil your personal or business needs The Hilton Brighton Metropole offers an ideal setting, Advertorial ambience and location for any special event or just a festive meal with friends, business associates or family. Set on Brighton’s vibrant and beautiful seafront, you won’t be short of a good view or two, and you certainly won’t be limited with choice with the festive menus, events and extras.

Festive Afternoon Tea by the Sea Treat a friend, a business associate or a loved one to a Festive Afternoon Tea by the Sea this Christmas in Restaurant 1890 at the Hilton. Perfect for a little pre-Christmas pleasure or after a hard day of Christmas shopping. Dates run throughout December and are bookable in advance.

Cost: £19.95 per person Themed Christmas Party Nights (Fridays 4, 11 & 18 December Saturdays 5, 12 & 19 December) Enjoy the party atmosphere at the fun and vibrant Abba and Legends Reloaded themed Christmas Party Nights at the Hilton. Why not meet for drinks in the dedicated bar, and then take your seats for a delicious three-course dinner accompanied by a half bottle of wine per person. Be entertained by live singers, The Sundaes, or party the night away to a DJ. Featuring Abba Reloaded on Friday evenings and Legends Reloaded on Saturday evenings.

Cost: £39.95 per person £42.95 per person Christmas Day Lunch in Restaurant 1890 (Friday 25 December)

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Dine in the grandeur of Restaurant 1890 featuring live entertainment and large picture windows providing stunning sea views. A glass of sparkling wine will be waiting for you on arrival to really tip the special feel. Lunch is a carvery and bookings can be made for either 12:45pm or 1:15pm seatings.

Cost: £89.95 per adult £45.00 per child aged 5-12 £30.00 per child 4 and under

Boxing Day Lunch in Restaurant 1890 (Saturday 26 December) Our Executive Head Chef invites you to indulge in this fantastic lunch. Enjoy our specially designed buffet and live entertainment, a perfect way to finish off Christmas in style.

Lunch is served from 1:00pm.

Cost: £39.95 per adult £20.00 per child aged 5-12 Children 4 and under eat free

Christmas Day Dinner in Restaurant 1890 (Friday 25 December) If Christmas feels a little rushed, why not relax and experience a festive dinner whilst being entertained with live music.

Enjoy a glass of sparkling wine, which will be waiting upon arrival, before being shown to your table. All that is left to do is to enjoy your evening. Dinner is a carvery served from 7:00pm.

Cost: £59.95 per adult £29.95 per child aged 5-12 £15.00 per child 4 and under

Sunday Jazz Lunch in Restaurant 1890 (Every Sunday throughout December) Join us for a delicious seasonal Sunday Lunch with fabulous live jazz. Enjoy a drink on arrival before being seated for a relaxing dining experience with spectacular winter views from our large picture windows.

Cost: £24.95 per adult £12.49 per child aged 6-12 Children 5 and under eat free hilton.com/brightonmet

Enjoy all the fun of the fair at our New Year’s Eve Brighton Rocks Party 3 Course dinner Half bottle of wine per person DJ & Disco Enjoy live music from

Try your hand at one of our seaside themed stalls or go for a spin in our full size indoor dodgems Thursday 31st December £79.00 per adult

To book or for more information contact us on

01273 720710 | hilton.com/brightonmet enquiries.brightonmet@hilton.com www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 47

HILTON BRIGHTON METROPOLE, KINGS ROAD, BRIGHTON, BN1 2FU

Stone in Love

With SteakStones hot stone products, preparing and enjoying meats (and other treats) can be something quite different, really exciting and equally impressive. Editor Jenny Ardagh and the team from SBT jumped at the chance to try this unique lava stone experience As I’m sure most would agree, one of the most simple, Review yet luxurious meals out there is a good steak and chips.

The key to this is in its simplicity. A good quality cut of steak, which is cooked well and to your liking, served with some crunchy chips and dips. What could possibly improve upon this tried & tested format? What if you could be fully in control of how your steak was cooking and enjoy it as it sizzled away? Well, that’s where SteakStones hot stones come in.

We at Sussex Business Times took the call from the team at SteakStones, offering us the opportunity to try this revolutionary method of serving such delights. SteakStones hot stones are innovative products to say the least and in the spirit of exploring innovation and the opportunity it presents to

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businesses to offer something different, we gave them a try.

The newest hot stone product, (the one that we tried) was the 20x18cm Steak Plate & Sauces Set. On first glance, it is a very elegant with a pleasingly minimal setup: the hot stone ready to be heated on one side of the serving block, a space for a side plate and two ramekins for sauces on the other. I was looking forward to my fillet steak, however most looking forward to see what a difference using a hot stone would make.

The presentation certainly looked very impressive, and when surrounded by colleagues, it really felt like we were all

experiencing something quite different and special.

The SteakStones product itself is made of Lava Stone, a material that must be heated between 280-350 degrees (Celsuis) for optimal use, which will stay hot for the duration of the meal.

Hot stone cooking is actually one of the oldest methods of cooking, yet as a society, we seem to have favoured other methods over and above it. Lava stone is sourced directly from volcanic slopes, and can stay hot for almost an hour due to its natural thermal properties. The super tight bonding of the minerals in lava stone creates an extremely strong

“A really neat choice for any restaurant looking for a new USP and something to add a little theatre to their menu”

Tried and Tested

and dense product, and one that allows SteakStones to guarantee that their products will never crack under normal use.

For the purposes of this review, my colleagues and I headed over to an independent Bar & Bistro that has recently added the option to their menu of the stones experience. Our combined and equal interest in how the SteakStones delivered made for a fantastic experience with all of us trying the method for the first time.

After a host of carnivorous starters were presented with the main event: a whole beef tenderloin, which was prepared and cut into thick Fillet steaks on the table next to us, was prepared and ready for the hot stones. The stones were brought to the table in their wooden blocks at the last minute, having been heated for 30-40 minutes in the oven.

Immediately as the steaks were placed on the stones, drizzled with a small amount of oil, we all heard the magnificent sizzling noise as the white-hot stones transformed the meat into a delicious and attractive meal. The staff gave us a choice of either sautéed potatoes or regular chips, and placed them next to the steak on the side plate among two rich and tasty sauces: one tomato based and the other, a creamy sauce flavoured with pesto.

Although a rare occasion to all be using the hot stones at once, it was lovely to see so many stones lined up,

and everybody eagerly looking at their steak. All eight of us tucked in at our own leisure, some waiting till the steak was more cooked to their liking, and others diving straight in at the raw end.

Around the table came satisfied noises and comments about how good it was to be able to cook your own meat in such a way.

What was most surprising to our group, was the fact that the meat didn’t cook completely through without allowing complete choice on the level of cooking.

A stone that’s served at temperatures touching 350 degrees – surely the meat will be cooked within an inch of its leathery life within minutes? What about those who prefer their steak rare?

The fact is that the meat sears quickly, leaving the diner to cut pieces to cook through to the desired level on the spacious stone, whilst the rest of the steak sits waiting. A revelation no less.

You really can watch your steak cook in front of your eyes, and better yet, be in complete control of how it cooks, whether that’s medium-rare, rare or indeed well done.

Overall, our first time using the SteakStones proved to be an unusual, exciting and impressive experience.

The hot stones are something I would certainly recommend anyone to try, particularly steak-lovers, although they also work well with fish dishes (as tested by one of our crew) among a range of other meats: essentially, whatever you

wish to cook except chicken. This is a product that certainly enhances the culinary experience, and would be ideal for group meals, parties or perhaps a client meeting where you wish to impress.

Likewise, a really neat choice for any restaurant looking for a new USP and something to add a little theatre to their menu.

www.steakstones.com Phone: 0800 1777 577 Email: dine@steakstones.com

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 49

The Alliance of Chambers in East Sussex Vice Chair Celebrates Trade Association Award

ACES member and Parker Building Supplies’ Financial and Commercial Director Stewart Pierce is celebrating winning two awards in his role as the Builders Merchants Federation’s vice chairman.

Winning two accolades at the Trade Association Forum Best Practice Awards 2015, Stewart said: “This is the first time that the BMF has won an award of any kind, and it is a tribute to the professionalism of the whole team. I am delighted their hard

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work has been recognised.” More than 250 guests attended the ceremony at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London where The Builders Merchants Federation received the Membership Success of the Year Award and a Skills Development Award.

Parker Building Supplies is an independent timber and builders’ merchant which employs around 250 people across the South East region and annual turnover is now in excess of £50million.

East Sussex Firm Shortlisted For Alex Ferguson Award

ACES member Rachel Stone of Bespoke Training was invited recently to write an article entitled “What is a leader?” by LinkedIn and to feature an inspirational leader with whom she had worked. LinkedIn were seeking entries for the Sir Alex Ferguson Leadership Award and as a specialist leadership coach with the Growth Accelerator, Rachel works with some great leaders and had plenty to choose from. But one stood out from the rest.

Dr Andrew Robertson of R&B Star Limited has grown his family firm by 44% in just three years to a turnover of £15million, despite being diagnosed

Chamber News

with Muscular Dystrophy and confined to a wheelchair. So Rachel submitted her article and was delighted to hear they had been shortlisted for this coveted award!

On Monday 21st September Rachel and Dr Robertson, her featured leader, were invited to meet Sir Alex at the Royal Festival hall in London to hear who the winners are. Both the article author and the leader win a prize.

“I’m so excited,” said Rachel, “it is great timing as I am currently promoting my “Leadership That Gets Results Conference” (October 20th and 21st at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne).

“Meeting Sir Alex Ferguson beforehand is a great opportunity to learn more about truly effective leadership.”

Just How Important Are The Three Rs?

“My job was to make everyone understand that the impossible was possible. That’s the difference between leadership and management.” Sir Alex Ferguson

Reformed Eastbourne

By the age of 15 Charmaine was homeless, alcoholic, bulimic, suicidal and took any drugs on offer. After losing her dad to heroin and being thrown out by her alcoholic mother she was unsurprisingly in and out of prisons for the next 10 years. Not a great start in life you might think.

Fortunately, at her lowest point, Charmaine met someone like she is now. A man called Jay who had also been through it all and come out the other side. He talked her through some options and showed her that life could

“i went past a grammer school in a much sort after area which advertised meals for family’s for charity.”

All the spelling and grammatical mistakes in this sentence were taken from real life and can really confuse the meaning to the reader. It should have read; “I went passed a grammar school raising money for charity by advertising meals for families. It was situated in a much sought after area.”

And what is 2 + 3 x 4? 20?

Oops, another one. Yes – it should be 14 as the multiplication takes priority in any formula.

You and your staff can make elementary improvements to basic literacy and numeracy via a new website www.ba-ed.com set up

by East Sussex school teacher, Jonathan Pettman. It provides the

be different and after a while Charmaine started to volunteer to help others in trouble. Within six month she was employed full time and started studying to gain professional qualifications as a support officer.

Charmaine has now decided she can help people in Eastbourne to reform by starting a Community Interest Company called Reformed Eastbourne CIC.

material to learn, with a test at the end and is ideal for anyone aged from 10 years old upwards.

Parents will love it for their children because they can earn a certificate, and if they don’t get good marks first time, they can take it again … and again … as each test takes a maximum of 15 minutes and costs only £3.

If you want it formally authenticated, an examiner can come round and supervise.

If you’re a businessman, members of your team can take these tests so you can be confident that they have a good level of numeracy and literacy.

The tests are suitable for any member of staff who has left school with limited qualifications, or for employees with English as a second language.

Alternatively, we could all do with a quick checkup now and then, so give it a go yourself!

“I hope to help change lives and set people up for the world of employment, especially when they come out of prison or are recovering from drug or alcohol dependency” said Chief Executive Charmaine Sewell “most of the people I see want to change their lives, they just need the right support and with my background I can help.”

www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk 51

Advert Nov_Layout 1 14/10/2014 12:38 Page 2

Chamber News

in East Sussex

Eastbourne Sisters TR Fastenings - Best Profits for 10 Years Mentoring Program (A Trifast Company)

F

The proportion of women Reduction Initiatives However, the DotCom (CRI) crash inand 2001Job ounded in a on smallthe rented office at devastated top ofSussex Uckfield High Street in streets is higher the in East than Centre Plus. sales and profits in just a few short months, and the two Midlands factories Mike Timms and Mike Roberts the UK average 1973, so Eastbourne Sisters Reformed Eastbourne CIC had to be closed as the focus waswill intensified established their business after was formed to help disadvantaged Asia. programmes from Café running becoming disenchanted working for be into a large industrialthrough group in women reach their potential North in North Street Eastbourne A change of senior management in 2007 Birmingham that restricted their creativity and the 2008 recession the near professionally supported, one-to-one from October which isresulted a newin Social and individualism. collapse of the Company, with 2008 revenues relationships with volunteer mentors Enterprise run by East Sussex CRI. down to £84m with substantial losses, and in They focused on sourcing and selling and groupindustrial support.

This to program Charmaine enthusiasm is March 2009Sewell’s the two previous retired CEOs fastenings light assembly (Malcolm“I’m Diamond and Jim Barker) industries in the South at a time when ex catching; is exclusive to women and East provides so excited about were starting invited back by the shareholders to rescue deliveries could take as long as three invaluablestock support to homeless women these programmes in Café North and the business. weeks from the larger industry market by linking leaders. them to a core supportive peer canByhardly wait for the opening. It will Their values were “look 2010 profitability started to recover, as did mentor. professional, be professional, provide make suchprice. a difference to people’s the share outstanding service, sell on value rather than Reformed has been very successful lives.”

In 2011 a major automotive bolt the cheapest price, maintain dynamic cash in securingmanagement funding from inand Sussex manufacturer in Malaysia, and Because of was her acquired earlier life, and Safer motivate take care in May 2014 a leading domestic appliance of your Commissioner staff”.

Police & Crime and East Charmaine knows she can lead by Sussex County Council. Reformed example and help others to turn their Eastbourne is establishing really well lives around and show them that they and working in partnership with other can do the same as her with the right local organisations such as Crime support.

ACES Battle Chamber of Commerce www.battlechamber.org.uk Bexhill Chamber of Commerce 01424 842892 www.bexhillchamber.co.uk Crowborough Chamber of Commerce www.crowboroughchamber.co.uk Eastbourne UnLtd Chamber of Commerce 01323 641144 www.eastbournechamber.co.uk East Sussex County Council 01273 481570 www.eastsussex.gov.uk Federation of Small Businesses 01424 754686 and Regional Office 01323 482018 www.fsb.org.uk/eastsussex Hailsham Chamber of Commerce 01323 310531 www.hailshamchamberofcommerce.co.uk

Hastings Chamber of Commerce

Christmas Is Only Weeks Away! handsomely launched on September 30th in the presence of sponsors and is available to buy now.

Individual orders can be placed on-line at www.avespress.com/ Malcolm Diamond MBE and Jim Barker books/d-g-and-p/ where an impressive 20 page preview can be seen.

In 1978, manufacturing of specialist fasteners ACES screw business in Italy wasto brought urges members look into at the was started in Uckfield, with subsequent the Group. stunning preview and when ordering factories established in Northampton and TR’s major customer include a copy make use ofsectors the promotional Telford in the 80’s.

Automotive, Domestic Appliances, TR2015A to donate £2of per In the late 80’s, IBM selected TR as their most code Electronics and Distributors – all which are eligible component supplier to be trained in copy enjoying organic growth. to TechResort, an East Sussex zero defect/on time deliveries to a new Community Interest Company In June 2014, TR announced the besthelping sales, assembly facility that relied on “Just In Time” profitspeople and share price fortheir a decade, now young develop digital skills. deliveries straight to their production line.

with 1,150 staff spread across 17 countries.

Successful compliance led to TR being a Trifast Plc is based in Uckfield and along with single source supplier with IBM, which then If you would like to know more TR’s sales, distribution and manufacturing attracted other major telecoms As the facilities employs over 150 staff on site.

Eastbourne in Detail call manufacturers to TR. The massive 1990’s surge about largest local employer, the Company in the electronics sector carried it to a full LSE 01323 731823 or visit www. maintains close links with both the Uckfield listing as a PLC in 1994 named Trifast.

And what can you buy your family and avespress.com/books/d-g-and-p Chamber of Commerce a founder member By is 2000, sales turnover peaked at £120m of the Alliance of Chambers in East Sussex friends that different? sales, and by 2001 three component (ACES) and the local Community College.

Eastbourne in Detail is the first full factories had been established in Singapore, The College is the main annual provider of ‘A’ Malaysia and Taiwan, with sales and colour book that shows and explains Level candidates for TR’s 2 year NVQ Business facilities in Southern Ireland, Studies Apprenticeship scheme. the gems distribution of architectural detail found in Norway, Sweden, USA, Holland, Hungary and Despite global uncertainty there is clearly and around this elegant seaside town.

China, plus eight around the UK. a feeling amongst TR management and Exquisite photography shows the many The Company had become global by staff that there are grounds for cautious different features you canUKsee around you based multinational following its former optimism for the future continuing growth key customers toof lower cost economies of their business as sales for year ended with brief explanations their history.

March 2015 are forecast to reach overseas – mainly Asia and Central/ 208 pages of beautiful pictures is a £150 million.

Eastern Europe.

bargain at £20, a price made possible by generous sponsorship from within the local business community including several Chamber members. It was

www.acesalliance.org

52 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

01424 205500 www.hastingschamber.co.uk Heathfield Chamber of Commerce 01435 865858 www.heathfieldchamber.co.uk The Institute of Directors 020 7766 8866 www.iod.com Lewes Chamber of Commerce 07917 382316 www.leweschamber.org.uk Locate East Sussex 0844 4159255 www.locateeastsussex.org.uk Newhaven Chamber of Commerce 0800 107 0709 www.newhavenchamber.co.uk Peacehaven Chamber of Commerce 01273 586222 www.peacehavenchamber.co.uk Seaford Chamber of Commerce 0800 881 5331 www.seafordchamber.co.uk South East Local Enterprise Partnership 01245 431469 www.southeastlep.com Uckfield Chamber of Commerce 01825 722607 www.uckfieldchamber.co.uk Wealden District Council 01323 443322 www.wealden.gov.uk

Clive Emson

Going, Going, Gone!

Clive Emson, the leading Property Auctioneers in Southern England has sold more lots, both in value and volume, than any other auctioneer within our region Founded in 1989, Clive Emson is in the Top 5 Auctioneers in Success the whole country, supplying a high profile auctioneering facility to corporate and independent estate agents, private clients and statutory bodies.

So far this year the independent firm has catalogued 721 lots across southern England and sold just under £90m worth of property, with a success rate of more than 85%.

The residential rental market is growing, as auctioneer Richard Payne comments: “Buy-to-let continues to appeal to investors in Britain’s record-low interest rate environment, as does competitivelypriced family homes and commercial property.

“According to figures from the HomeLet Rental Index, the average rent in the South-East in the three months up to May 2015 was £940, with average rental values up 9.4%.”

Additionally, according to the latest report from the HomeLet Rental Index, in the three months up to August this year, average rental values for new tenancies in the UK were 10.5% higher than the same period last year.

Commercial property is also a hot topic in the auctioneers world. Most recently, an office suite near Tunbridge Wells has gone under the auctioneer’s hammer in Brighton for £60,000.

The suite, at Unit E, The Brewery, Bells Yew Green Road, Bells Yew, Frant, as part of The Brewery Business Centre, was among 25 lots across Sussex being sold by regional land and property auctioneers, Clive Emson in the independent firm’s sixth of eight auctions this year.

Sam Kinloch, Director and Senior Auction Valuer, commented on the

commercial rental market: “There was keen interest, given the income potential, with the current rent generating £6,500 per annum.

He added: “The hammer came down on a bid of £60,000, giving the new owner a healthy gross yield of 10.8% compared to Britain’s record low interest of 0.5%.”

Postponed is the sale of an office building over three floors, guided at £120130,000 freehold. The vacant property is at Sussex House, Farningham Road, Crowborough.

Other properties that were sold off the hammer included: 1. A former builder’s yard at 28a Athelstan Road, Hastings, with planning permission for residential conversion, fetched £60,000.

2. Two detached Bexhill houses went for £500,000. With planning

permission for ten flats following demolition, the neighbouring properties are at 45 and 47 Barnhorn Road, on the A259.

3. Generating £12,504 per annum in rent, office premises at 10 Buckhurst Road, Bexhill, sold for £220,000 freehold, equivalent to a gross yield of 5.7%. The threestorey block has 10 offices.

4. In Clive Emson’s fifth auction, in July, an Eastbourne property with 10 bedrooms went for £422,000 in a bidding war. The house of multiple occupation at 19 Enys Road fetched £77,000 more than the guide price.

Starting at 11am, the next Clive Emson auction takes place at the same venue as always, the Hilton Brighton Metropole, on Friday, November 6.

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 53

Test Drive SBT previews two new cars for 2016: Rolls Royce Dawn, and the Jaguar F-Pace

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Motoring

Rolls Royce Dawn for 2016 Rolls Royce have ‘rolled’ out another beautiful, luxurious and impressive car with the Rolls Royce Dawn The new Rolls Royce Dawn made its World Premiere at the Luxury Frankfurt International Motor Show in mid September, named by the Company itself as the most social and seductive of motor cars. The Dawn has the same 6.6-litre twin-turbocharged V12 that already features in the Ghost and it produces 563bhp and 575lb ft, with power sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission. The Dawn can reach 62mph from a standing start in 4.9 seconds, and has a limited top speed of 155mph. The Dawn is broadly similar to the Wraith in terms of dimensions, but weighs 200kg more, at 2560kg, making it feel noticeably heavier, but more sturdy on the road. Fuel consumption is rated at 19.9mpg, with CO2 emissions of 330g/ km.

Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, Chief Executive Officer at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars commented: “Our new Rolls-Royce Dawn promises a striking, seductive encounter like no other Rolls-Royce to date, and begins a new age of opentop, super-luxury motoring. Dawn is a beautiful new motor car that offers the most uncompromised open-top motoring experience in the world. It will be the most social of super-luxury drophead motor cars for those who wish to bathe in the sunlight of the world’s most exclusive social hotspots. Quite simply, it is the sexiest Rolls-Royce ever built.”

The new Dawn promised nothing short of perfection; Sir Henry Royce would be proud. Rolls Royce have famously not understood anything less than perfection - ‘Accept nothing nearly right or good enough’ as an ethos has guided the Rolls-Royce design and engineering teams as they have worked to initiate

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Motoring

A New Dawn for Rolls Royce 2016 Continued...

a new age for open-top, super-luxury motoring.

Certainly nothing on this car was a compromise. It screams, ‘Strive for perfection in everything you do’ with its modern design, and super-luxury feel, featuring 80% unique body panels. Indeed ample attention has been paid to ensuring this amazing new ‘dawn’ for super-luxury motoring delivers on its promise; even the tyres that connect the Rolls-Royce Dawn to the road are new. You aren’t bothered

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with any noises that shouldn’t be there in this car either, with even the roof manufactured with silence in mind. (The roof converts fully in over 20 seconds at a cruising speed of up to 50kph.)

Specific engineering and manufacturing attention has been paid to the creation of the Dawn’s roof. The fabric, the movement and the look is sleek and graceful, as is the entire car itself, despite it being the second largest fabric roof applied to a current production car, second only to that of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe. No wonder Rolls Royce engineers call this The Silent Ballet.

When reading Giles Taylor, Director of Design at Roll Royce Motor Cars’ comment that ‘2 x 2 doesn’t equal 4’, some would be left confused – including me. However, when sliding into a luxurious seat in this new Rolls Royce Dawn, you understand what that statement means. This car isn’t a 2 seater with 2 more seats crammed behind it for optional use, this is a real 4 seater car. “At Rolls-Royce, we pride ourselves as creators of fine motor cars that also serve as social spaces,” comments Taylor. “The idea of creating a car like Dawn that can

be used in comfort by only two adults on a day-to-day basis is anathema.

In creating Dawn we have accepted no compromise to the comfort and luxury of four adults who want to travel together in the pinnacle of style.”

This car doesn’t favour the two front seat passengers, but positions them in harmony with the two other seats available in the car. More than available: desirable. A new suspension system features on the Dawn also, and RollsRoyce claims it is the most rigid fourseat convertible on sale.

This car looks just as beautiful with its roof up as with it down, which is something that’s difficult to achieve in motor car engineering and design. One could almost say that the result of the design team’s restless endeavours has been to make the new Rolls-Royce Dawn two cars in one.

Roof down, the sexiness of the RollsRoyce Dawn is even more apparent.

From the side the steep rake of the windscreen, the swage line that flows over the rear haunches plus the high beltline that rises along the profile give the impression of effortless swiftness.

The very same rising beltline wraps around the rear passenger cabin akin to the collar of a jacket pulled up to protect the neck. The deck itself is an amazing work of modern craftsmanship. Clothed in open-pore Canadel panelling that traces the horse-shoe shape of the rear cabin, it demonstrates the great advances that the craftspeople in the Woodshop at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood have made in wood crafting technology and techniques.

The wood on the deck, chosen by the customer to suit their individual taste, flows down the ‘Waterfall’ between the rear seats, and around the cabin clothing the interior door panels and enticing the owner to enter Dawn.

The Rolls-Royce Dawn will cost around £250,000 when it goes on sale early next year and deliveries commence in the second quarter of 2016.

Motoring

Keeping Up With The Pace

The all-new Jaguar F-PACE: a performance crossover from Jaguar for those who love driving

This F-TYPE inspired car, influenced by a Sporty C-X17 concept, delivers unrivalled dynamics as well as the everyday comforts that you want out of a car of your choosing. An ideal combination.

The all-new Jaguar F-PACE was majestically revealed to the world with a spectacular gravity-defying performance on the eve of the Frankfurt Motor Show. To get the technical information out of the way: the rear-wheel drive 180PS diesel manual transmission model weighs as little as 1,665kg and achieves CO2 emissions of just 129g/km. With the 380PS supercharged V6 petrol engine from the F-TYPE under its sculpted aluminium bonnet, the all-new F-PACE can accelerate from 0-60mph in just 5.1 seconds before reaching an electronically-limited top speed of 155mph.

With a spacious handcrafted cabin and large 650-litre luggage compartment, the strong, yet lightweight Aluminium Architecture delivers an agile, refined and efficient car that provides an easy journey for the driver. The all-wheel drive delivers reassuring levels of grip for all-weather, giving confidence for the driver in any condition, further enhanced with segment-leading traction technologies including Adaptive Surface Response.

The car also comes with a full suite of cutting-edge driver assistance, occupant and pedestrian safety systems – the height of technology in its time. To help the driver to park in even the tightest spaces, the all-new F-PACE offers semi-automated park assist functions for parallel and bay parking manoeuvres. The vehicle’s ultrasonic sensors first measure the space, and, if the system decides that it’s suitable, will enable the vehicle to steer itself in - the driver just has to control the accelerator and the brakes.

The system can also steer the vehicle

out of parallel spaces.

By monitoring the area behind the vehicle, radar can assist the driver in other scenarios too. Medium-range sensors can make overtaking safer by warning the driver of other vehicles approaching fast from behind. As they approach the blind spot, a flashing icon appears in the door mirror to alert the driver of the potential danger. As the vehicle enters the blind spot, the icon becomes solid. Additionally, the same medium-radar sensors can help to improve safety at slower speeds. When reversing out of parking spaces, other vehicles approaching from either side - which may not be visible to the driver - are detected by the radar. If they present a potential hazard, the driver is given audible and visual warnings.

The F-Pace has InControl Touch Pro, the world’s most advanced

infotainment system, to make every journey more connected, with a 10.2inch tablet-style touchscreen is intuitive to use and features superb quality graphics. With a powerful quad-core processor and solid-state drive, running on ultra-fast Ethernet, the result is

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a user interface which is instinctive and extremely quick with sharp and incredibly responsive touchscreen. Up to eight devices can be connected to the vehicle’s super-fast WiFi hotspot at one time. The navigation system can save you time by learning your commute, offers true door-to-door guidance and can even advise others of your arrival time. Navigation can also be shown full-screen - in 3D - in the 12.3-inch HD virtual instrument cluster.

The two turbochargers in the parallel-sequential system are now more aerodynamically-efficient and the primary turbo features ceramic ball bearing technology to reduce friction, especially from cold. The result is an extremely rapid build-up of torque, delivering a surge in acceleration whenever the driver demands it.

The wheelbase and track are not shared with any other Jaguar. At 4,731mm long and with a 2,874mm wheelbase, the all-new F-PACE offers the sleek profile and short front overhang characteristic of Jaguar design together with an exceptionally spacious interior. The F-PACE seats five adult occupants in absolute comfort

58 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

with generous head and knee room and the luggage compartment volume is an astonishing 650-litres.

Ian Callum, Director of Design, Jaguar comments: “By remaining absolutely true to our design principles the all-new F-PACE is immediately recognisable as a Jaguar. It offers all of the interior space you would expect - and more - but because of our disciplined approach to surfaces, proportions, and purity of line, we have designed what I consider to be the most balanced, most attractive vehicle in its class. The Jaguar F-PACE is the ultimate practical sports car” The F-PACE’s torque on-demand allwheel drive (AWD) system is Jaguar’s most sophisticated yet, and has the highest torque capacity. It features the advanced, in-house control system first developed for F-TYPE AWD: Intelligent Driveline Dynamics (IDD). IDD preserves rear-wheel drive agility and handling character but can seamlessly transfer torque to the front wheels to exploit the performance benefits of extra traction, on all surfaces and in all weathers. This is a very handy feature with the British weather!

The Lightweight Aluminium Architecture gave the Jaguar design and engineering teams - now recognised globally as leaders in aluminium technology and design - the ideal starting point. It was created from the outset as a modular structure, so the wheels can be positioned exactly where they are needed to deliver the proportions, dynamics, and practicality essential for a performance crossover.

SBTMotoring News Rolls-Royce at Goodwood

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, manufacturer of super-luxury cars, hosted customers, prospects and VIPs at this year’s Goodwood Revival, also entertaining the tens of thousands of visitors to this historic motor race.

A new Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud was displayed in the ‘Finishing Shop’, fitted out with all the embellishments of the ‘Countryman’. A handsome 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn Drophead Coupé by Park Ward, finished in Brewster Green was also featured.

This model was one of only eight to feature ‘high line’ wing styling. The car was very kindly loaned for the occasion by a customer of RollsRoyce Motor Cars.

Aston Martin at Goodwood Revival

Aston Martin returned to the Goodwood Revival with a selection of superb sports cars that celebrate the 102-year-old brand’s rich and exciting heritage.

The luxury British sports car maker was once again an automotive partner of this year’s meeting at the famous old English race circuit where examples of some of Aston Martin’s most exclusive and highly-prized sports cars of the revival period – 1948-1966 – was on show, and in action.

Aside from the numerous iconic Aston Martin racing cars in action on the Goodwood track, the 1950s-inspired

Earls Court motorshow will play host to a broad selection of Aston Martin models from across the years.

Seminal examples on display included the iconic DB5 Coupe, the latest DBS and the first public showing of the recently announced DB9 GT Bond Edition.

Speaking about Aston Martin’s presence at this year’s Revival, CEO Dr Palmer said: “The Goodwood Revival is always a great occasion and, like the Festival of Speed at the same venue, it has become a genuine highlight of the UK motoring calendar.”

Goodwood Revival Attracts Record Crowd A record sell-out crowd of 149,000 enjoyed a sensational 18th Goodwood Revival Meeting this year at the iconic Goodwood Motor Circuit.

Race highlights included the annual RAC TT Celebration race for early1960s GT cars, which was won by the JD Classics-prepared Jaguar E-type of former British Touring Car Champion Gordon Shedden and Chris Ward, and a back-to-front victory in the St Mary’s Trophy for 1960s saloons for the mighty Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt of ‘Mr Le

Mans’ Tom Kristensen and Henry Mann.

Lord March commented on this year’s success: “The 18th Goodwood Revival drew a record sell-out crowd, who not only witnessed some of the most iconic

racing cars ever built dicing wheel-towheel, but also celebrated the career of motor racing legend Bruce McLaren, saw - for the first time in history - all six original Shelby Daytona Coupes together on track and joined an incredibly poignant and fitting tribute to the bravery of all those who fought in the Battle of Britain.

My sincere thanks to everyone who came for their support and enthusiasm for the event, which continues to be cherished by enthusiasts of motor racing and vintage culture across the world.”

Shelby Daytona Coupes Highlight Opening Day at Goodwood Revival An evocative line up of Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupes headlined an outstanding opening day at the 2015 Goodwood Revival. It is believed to be the first time that all six original examples of Carroll Shelby’s creation have been brought together, including the prototype, plus veterans of races at Le Mans and Goodwood. The six, aggressive Kammtailed GTs powered round the Goodwood

Motor Circuit track in a display reminiscent of the car’s World Sports Car Championship winning year, 1965.

The on-track activity began with a display of pre-1966 Land Rovers before a host of ‘Gassers’ lined up in front of the grandstands. These 1940s and 1950s drag-racing street rods, so called because they ran on ‘gasoline’ rather than nitromethane, put on a crowd-

pleasing display of standing starts, provoking great plumes of tyre smoke.

www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk 59

Printing Essentials

A Berforts Case Study:

Matt Bode

SBT spoke to Matt Bode about his Sussex based photography business and his relationship with Berforts Matt Bode is a full time professional photographer based Advertorial in Seaford, East Sussex but works all over Sussex and the UK. His business is a perfect example of how versatile Berforts is with customers: it doesn’t matter what the business is, how large or small the project or what is to be printed, Berforts is a dedicated, high quality and efficiently run printing company that will adapt to your business, or personal needs.

Tell me a bit about how your business started and where it’s come since After working part time for a number of years, around 5 years ago I finally made the transition to full time. We cover a wide range of photography, ranging from weddings and portrait photography (including schools and nurseries) through to commercial and event photography and we also have a photobooth.

How do you work with Berforts?

I use Berforts for pretty much all my printing, from flyers, price lists and business cards through to my full colour wedding brochures. Over the 6 years that we have worked together, we have refined all my key printed items to where they are today, taking advantage of changing printing technology and all that Berforts can offer. It’s great that I can go to them with an idea of what I’d like and they can help progress that into an end product for me to help promote my business.

As a relatively small business, how has Berforts adapted to your needs

60 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

and why does their service suit your business?

The fact that they are able to offer smaller print runs via their digital press is hugely beneficial to me as it gives me the flexibility to update my marketing material on a regular basis and enables me to do smaller print runs for seasonal promotions. Having this flexibility in today’s market is a real benefit to me and really helps.

that to the quality of their products and the fact they understand my business, it’s a win-win situation. They understand that, as a photographer colour rendition is of paramount importance to me and over the years they have worked closely with me to make sure everything is right.

I know that I can trust them to produce everything efficiently and to a very high standard.

How has it been working with Berforts over the 6 years?

Working with Berforts always seems effortless to me – they’re responsive and flexible, always willing to help and go that extra mile which seems to be a rare thing these days. When you add

Matt Bode Photography Seaford, East Sussex Telephone: 01323 898749

www.berforts.co.uk

Berforts 17 Burgess Rd, Hastings TN35 4NR 01424 722733.

Berforts Ltd if you’re buying print, please make sure you talk to us

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Brewers Home

Relax, Chat And Plan At Brewers Home Café

Brewers Home gives you the opportunity to create a space that’s your own, and the café provides the ideal space for you to contemplate exactly how

Choosing colour schemes, fabrics and furniture to create your Growth perfect interior should be a relaxed and enjoyable experience.

At Brewers Home, you can take the time to reflect on your chosen pieces over a range of speciality teas and coffees and sweet and savoury treats.

Brewers Home is an inspirational space bringing together a collection of furniture, soft furnishings and lighting plus designer fabrics, paint and wallpapers.

You can pick your perfect fabric, have the freedom to design your own accessories and home furnishings, and select the ideal paint colour to suit each and every room in your home – or just that one special room. To help you create your space, there are experienced and friendly advisors on hand to guide you through the combinations available. The Brewers Home unique team combine every expertise in home decoration and design.

At Brewers Home, the wallpaper and paint collections build a beautiful backdrop not just to the store itself, but to what you imagine your ideal home to look like. The Brewers Home bedding,

62 www.sussexbusinesstimes.co.uk

cushions, curtains, rugs and lighting let you unify your look or punctuate it with colour and texture.

Whilst browsing through the beautiful collections, join Café Manager, Garita Dyer in the Brewers Home Café, where you can relax, chat with friends and family and plan your interior space, either with the help of our experts or on your own. Either way, take your time. With an extensive range of fabric and wallpaper pattern books and paint colour cards to peruse, where better to discover your furnishing and decorative options, and enjoy a nice hot drink whilst making those all important decisions. The range of tempting cakes and bakes are all handmade locally along with a selection of freshly prepared sandwiches and wraps. What’s more, all profits from the Brewers Home Café go towards charitable causes in both the UK and abroad.

All of the furniture and crockery used in the café is available to buy at Brewers Home including the fun and quirky Mr Fox collection from Scion – so if you like the mug you are drinking from, the chair you’re sat on or the table you are leaning on, you can buy them too!

The café is open seven days a week from 7.30am – 4.00pm Monday to Friday, 8.00am – 4.00pm Saturday and 10am – 3pm Sunday. Brewers Home is located in Brewers, Birch Road, Eastbourne, BN23 6PL, off Lottbridge Drove, opposite Tesco.

FREE HOT BEVERAGE Enjoy a complimentary Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate at Brewers Home Café, Brewers, Birch Road, Eastbourne.

Hand this to the cashier to claim your free beverage Terms & Conditions This voucher is valid until 30th December 2015 at Brewers Home, Birch Rd, Eastbourne only and is subject to availability. This voucher cannot be exchanged for cash (cash equivalent value £0.001). Only one voucher can be used per customer per visit. The voucher can only be used once. Copied, defaced, damaged or multiple copies will not be accepted. The voucher cannot be used with any other offer or staff discount. Product code YA55.

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SBT

ASK THE

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Dynamic scanning, on the other hand, gives businesses the opportunity to have close to a paperless office.

Documentation is sent to us for scanning on a daily or weekly basis, and in some instances we offer a PO Box for our larger customers. i.e. invoices are sent straight to us for processing direct from the customer. In turn, each record is scanned and uploaded to our cloud based system or returned via a digital link. This gives businesses and auditors instant access to records, saving both time/space and associated management costs. The digital documents can be retrieved much faster than traditional paper files. This solution is ideal for businesses who need to retrieve paperwork regularly.

Do I need to correctly file my paperwork by law?

Yes. If you’ve taken the time to invest in your business, you need to ensure

F A E

M M F

Mike Chapman, Senior Manager at Knill James Chartered Accountants Are Sussex businesses missing out on Creative Industry Tax Reliefs?

Sussex is often seen as a hub for the creative industry with a strong tradition of supporting start-ups. But are all those businesses aware of the range of corporation tax reliefs available to them?

A recent report suggests Brighton, in particular, is one of the country’s most vibrant tech business clusters, with a particular focus on creative digital and gaming.

Two universities in the region churn out creative talent – and the city’s Brighton

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it remains safe, secure and viable.

For professional service consultants (especially in the medical sector), it is an obligatory requirement to legally store documents in a secure environment.

However, any business needs to comply with data protection laws if they are to store or use any personal information; this includes employee records, contracts, and medical records.

Always expect the unexpected.

We have found that a number of professionals store their documentation at a residential address. However, in the unfortunate event of loss or damage, without the correct business insurance and measures to protect your documentation, you could be liable.

Even self-employed or sole traders have to keep records for around 7 years after the submission deadline of the relevant tax year. However, times are changing and you no longer need to keep hard copies by law. Our Imageson-Line cloud-based document storage solutions are perfect for anyone needing to free up space and securely store documentation for a long period of time.

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Festival, Brighton Fringe, Brighton Digital Festival and CineCity the (Brighton Film Festival) prove the arts are valued here.

Making a success of a creative business is never easy - not least because of high production costs and a hugely competitive market. However, there is Government help available for some.

Though similar in form to the wellknown and often-applied R&D tax credit regime, surprisingly little coverage has been afforded to the raft of corporation tax reliefs that are available to companies involved in the creative sector.

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CONFERENCES FOR CONFERENCES EXPERT CORPORATE AND CORPORATE EVENTS...

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Mike Chapman, Senior Manager at Knill James Chartered Accountants

Given the large number of creative industry companies in the region, this apparent lack of publicity could mean that many local businesses are missing out on valuable, state-assisted support.

The scope of the Creative Industry Tax Relief (CITR) regime is wide and available to companies (but not unincorporated businesses) in the following categories:

If the company incurs a loss then the enhanced expenditure can be surrendered to obtain a credit refund of 25% of the loss up to the amount of the enhanceable expenditure.

To ensure that companies maximise the reliefs, publicised by the Government as ‘amongst the most generous in the world’, production companies in the sector should take advice at a very early stage to confirm that both the method of production as well as content are of a nature to allow the project to qualify.

For all strands of the CITR regime, relief is granted via an additional corporation tax deduction on ‘qualifying expenditure’ - though the method of calculation of the deduction differs according to the specific relief. The additional deduction can be up to 100% of the qualifying spend.

So, for example, a production company incurring £100,000 of qualifying UK expenditure to produce a ‘British film’ (as defined by the British Film Institute) - intended for theatrical release and where at least 10% of the production costs relate to activities in the UK - could claim an additional tax deduction of up to £100,000. At current corporation tax rates this would result in a tax saving of || £20,000.

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Made In Sussex

Made In Sussex:

Grafton Banks Finance Recruitment

Grafton Banks tell SBT about their specialist service in the provision of Accountancy and Finance staff to businesses and practices in Sussex and Surrey

What puts Grafton Banks ahead of the Brand rest?

At Grafton Banks, Focus we really get to know our clients and candidates properly – understanding them as individuals and looking beyond a CV and a job spec to the real person is really important to us.

Investment in our own employees is key also – we employ experienced consultants and treat them well, and we have a 100% staff retention level. This means that clients and candidates are able to have continuity in their dealings with GB. What’s the Grafton Banks start-up story?

Alex and Nigel had both worked in big recruitment agencies where the focus was on profit, not people. They believed that there was a gap in the market for a truly consultative recruitment consultancy, offering a knowledgeable, honest, responsive and ‘human’ service.

They started with a handful of clients willing to give the ‘new guys’ a chance and within the year were operating as the go to consultancy in Sussex. Now they are on the preferred supplier list for many household name businesses as well as SMEs across Sussex and Surrey.

What does the market look like in Sussex compared to the rest of the country?

Buoyant and optimistic. Even during the worst of the recession the Sussex business area held fast. A combination of support for other Sussex businesses, hard work and optimism was the key to pulling through. There are quite a few big businesses down here, plus a healthy smattering of entrepreneurial start-ups.

66 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

As the economy has recovered, the Sussex market has really hit its stride and we have seen this with a big increase in the amount of instructions we receive.

Is it important for Grafton Banks, as a company to keep it ‘local’?

It is. We feel that we know how the Sussex business world works, from the smaller things like how to get from A to B and which areas are commutable, to knowing many FDs in local businesses because we placed them there. Lots of our candidates are now our clients and will use us for their own recruitment.

Clients like to know that we are experts in our local area, and ‘local’ really comes across when clients can hear the seagulls in the background in our phone calls!

How has financial recruitment changed over the years?

In 2008 the world economy was in free fall and the financial recruitment market was pretty tight. There were lots of very good candidates on the market and

immediately available through no fault of their experience. The interim market was buoyant at this time and often clients were very cautious about recruitment and could take their time recruiting because offers were rare. In more recent years, employment levels are higher and candidates are more in demand. Clients have a very positive and responsive approach to recruitment, they know the market is competitive and if they like a candidate they need to keep the process moving to enable them to gain their candidate of choice. The interim market is still busy, and in general recruitment levels are increasing. Recruitment is often seen as a bellwether of the economy and we have seen growth in income of around 25% year on year for the last couple of years.

www.graftonbanksfinance.co.uk

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