Author: Rhys Gregory

FSB Wales has published new research today on the future of business support. Building Businesses: Building Communities Through Business Support in Wales provides an overview of the changing landscape of support for small businesses in Wales and points to the importance of business support architecture in recovering from the pandemic and growing the Welsh economy. The current support available from both Welsh and UK governments has played an essential role throughout the pandemic, helping many small businesses navigate through the challenges presented by Covid. Numbers of small businesses accessing funding after March 2020 rose to 78%, as Welsh firms battled…

The mother of a young soldier killed while serving in Afghanistan has told of her pride after ex-forces veterans paid tribute to him during a stamina-sapping fund-raising run. Truck driving instructor Kevin Dandy, who works for McCarthy Distribution in Wrexham, raised more than £1,000 for the Royal British Legion and a further £250 for the Curtis Palmer Programme run by the charity Pilgrim Bandits. A former reserves fitness instructor with the Royal Signals, Kevin summoned up phenomenal determination to complete a series of 5K runs, each one with a rucksack strapped to his back containing 25 kilos. Prior to the…

Luxurious holiday resort brand Luxury Lodges has partnered with leading managed holiday rental company Landal GreenParks to help manage its portfolio of UK-wide destinations following a surge in the demand for staycations. Luxury Lodges owns four exclusive hotel-quality resorts across the country including Dylan Coastal Resort in west Wales, Whitbarrow in the Lake District, and Burn Coastal Retreat and Clowance both in Cornwall, all of which have benefited from recent multimillion pound investment and improvements. The new partnership will see Landal GreenParks showcase the sites on its platforms and support the management of the rental side of the business. The…

A fast-growing bakery has hired an industry high flyer to turbo charge its ambitious expansion plans. Passionate foodie Lesley Arnot has been appointed as commercial director at the Jones Village Bakery in Wrexham after moving from the world’s biggest bakery company, Grupo Bimbo. Her meteoric rise to the top tier of the UK’s food industry began when she was among the first intake on the pioneering graduate scheme at Asda after gaining a classics degree at Newcastle University. From there she moved to Tesco where she worked for nine years in a number of buying roles and was promoted to…

With yellow weather warnings in place across many parts of the country this weekend, one of Wales’ leading insurance brokers is urging at risk businesses to ensure they are protected. The Met Office has issued a weather warning for Storm Eunice, which is likely to affect the UK on Friday bringing a period of very strong winds that could cause significant disruption. The impact of flooding can be devastating for businesses, and as sea levels are rising across the globe, severe flooding seems less of a risk and more of a certainty. Business owners in high-risk flood zones are concerned that…

A multi-million-pound investment has been announced at Swansea’s Singleton Hospital to tackle long waits for eye surgery. A new operating theatre dedicated to ophthalmology procedures is set to open in the summer of this year – allowing the health board to carry out around 200 additional operations a month. It’s hoped that figure will increase over time, with the possibility of weekend and evening sessions being introduced. The new modular theatre will be attached to the Day Surgery Unit on the opposite side of Sketty Lane from the main Singleton site. It is costing £3.3 million, with a further £700,000…

The Royal Mint Experience in Llantrisant, South Wales, has unveiled a brand-new exhibition to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee through coins, medals, and sketches from her reign as the first British monarch to ever reach this milestone. To celebrate this once in a lifetime moment, The Royal Mint Experience will display a number of unique artefacts to the public for the first time including the 1935 Silver Jubilee crown issued during the reign of King George VI. This was the first modern commemorative coin issued by The Royal Mint and features the intricate ‘George and the Dragon’ design.…

The Farmers’ Union of Wales and FUW Insurance Services Ltd. are looking forward to welcoming members and customers back to Carmarthen Mart in March 2022. The partners of Nock Deighton Agricultural Ltd have announced that the mart will officially reopen on Wednesday 2 March following a significant refurbishment by Carmarthenshire Council. The opening sale day will include a sale of calves and weanlings and dairy cattle followed by a sale on Friday 4 March of barren cattle, store cattle and sheep of all classes. These sales will be repeated weekly and will be augmented by sales of suckled calves and…

Almost 100,000 Self Assessment customers have used online payment plans to spread the cost of their tax bill into manageable monthly instalments since April 2021, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has revealed. Once a customer has filed their 2020/21 Self Assessment tax return, they can set up a Time to Pay arrangement for up to 12 months on debts up to £30,000, that they’re unable to pay in full. This can be done online at GOV.UK without speaking to HMRC. Since April 2021, Self Assessment customers have used the online Time to Pay service to pay more than £310 million…

More than 1,000 additional homes have been created or brought back into use in the past five years in Denbighshire. Denbighshire County Council has helped deliver 394 affordable homes, worked in partnership to develop two extra care facilities providing more than 100 homes, delivered 34 additional council homes while 695 empty homes in the private sector have been brought back into use. Additional properties have been provided in communities right across Denbighshire – including Rhyl, Prestatyn, Dyserth, Rhuddlan, Cefn Meiriadog, Trefnant, Meliden, Denbigh, Ruthin, Gellifor, Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, Llangollen, Corwen and Llandrillo – including the first brand new council homes…