Author: Rhys Gregory

Europe’s largest supplier of historical arms and armour says the boom in staycations is helping tourism in Conwy to battle back from the coronavirus crisis. According to Toby Tunstall, who manages The Knight Shop, in Conwy, the collapse of the so-called air bridges has led to an increase in the number of families looking for a break closer to home. With a quarter of the UK’s population living two hours away or less, he said North Wales was the ideal destination for them. It was hailed as good news by retired science teacher Toby, who manages the shop of behalf…

An Openreach pledge back in January to make ultrafast, ultra-reliable and future-proof broadband available to a number of market towns and rural locations across Wales is starting to become a reality in Merthyr Tydfil. More than 1200 Merthyr homes and businesses can now access ‘full fibre’ broadband speeds of up to one gigabit per second (1000Mbps) – that’s among the fastest speeds in Europe and more than 15 times faster than today’s UK average broadband speed. As designated key workers, Openreach engineers have been hard at work throughout the Covid-19 lockdown, building the new digital network of the future that…

Pontypool-based select comparison specialist Quote the Market is the IT power behind Honcho, the UK’s first reverse auction marketplace for financial services, who boast 14 insurers and 10,000 customers – offering them a better way to search for and buy motor insurance. Quote the Market (QtM), part of insuretech industry leaders pH Innovate group, is helping Honcho offer the broadest range of insurers as an alternative to price comparison websites. Honcho aims to drive increased competition and pricing transparency through an auction, where insurers bid against each other in real time, with decreasing prices, to win people’s business. Every insurer…

FSB Wales’ new paper An Enterprising Tax Policy for Wales looks at how the next Welsh Government should develop a tax policy that supports Wales’ business community and stimulates the Welsh economy. As Wales approaches the 2021 elections to the Senedd, we do so in the context of nearly £5bn in ‘Welsh’ taxes including taxes on income, land transaction as well as properties accounting for nearly 30% of Welsh Government’s revenue on an annual basis. Tax plays a significant role for smaller businesses. In FSB’s UK-wide report Taxing Times FSB highlighted that on average a small business loses 3 working…

An award winning underground attraction in Mid Wales has reopened to visitors following COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Corris Mine Explorers, based at Corris Craft Centre, near Machynlleth, was named the Best Activity / Experience in Mid Wales in 2019-2020. The attraction, which reopened its doors on August 11 after approval from the HMS Mine Inspectorate, is running trips on most days for the rest of the summer. A Mini Mine Explorer – one hour trip – runs at 11am and a Maxi Mine Explorer trip – two hours – runs at 2pm. The number of explorers is reduced to give everyone…

A new pop-up farm shop, deli and eatery stocking goods from 12 local producers has opened in the historic Welsh border market town of Montgomery. The new ‘Taste’ shop is situated in what was the Little Gallery, Broad Street, whose owner has kindly let members of Taste Montgomery use it for the next three months as a base to sell their wares. Councillor Jill Kibble, Montgomery’s Deputy Mayor, officially opened the new venture Taste Montgomery has more than 30 members, comprising producers and hospitality providers whose purpose is to co-ordinate, enhance and promote what Montgomery and the locality has to…

The future is looking much brighter for the Andrew Logan Museum of Sculpture in Mid Wales following Covid-19 resilience revenue funding from both the Arts Council Wales and The Federation of Museum and Art Galleries of Wales. The Arts Council Wales has also provided support for online resilience projects at the museum, which is based in the village of Berriew, near Welshpool. “We are immensely grateful to both organisations for this support, which ultimately means the survival of the museum,” said museum manager Anne-Marie Pope. “Thanks to the Arts Council Wales and The Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of…

A Welsh charity providing invaluable support to young people in Wales has received a £4,000 boost thanks to Loteri Cymru, the all-Wales lottery which creates winners across Wales and raises vital funds for Welsh charities. Loteri Cymru has made the donation to Youth Cymru to enable the charity, which supports young people, youth workers, and youth facing organisations in Wales, to widen access to its Youth Achievement Awards (YAA) amongst the deaf community in Wales. The YAA is a national personal development qualification, accredited by Agored Cymru, which stimulates and recognises young people’s learning. The money will be used to…

NatWest Cymru will later this month host its first Welsh-language entrepreneurship workshop for 16 to 18-year-olds. Anelu’n Uwch, which means Dream Bigger in Welsh, is part of the bank’s Dream Bigger programme, an initiative NatWest launched to empower females aged between 16 and 18 with transferrable entrepreneurial skills. Anelu’n Uwch will be run as a digital workshop over three days and will be open to all genders aged between 16 and 18-years-old to attend. It is fully funded by NatWest and each day will feature an individually themed one-hour workshop over Zoom led by Siwan Rees, NatWest Entrepreneurship Development Manager…

The drastic impact of COVID-19 has caused severe disruption to the employment industry across the UK, but Sphere Solutions, a prominent recruitment business specialising in the construction industry, have reported some encouraging signs of recovery in the market. Sphere, who operate from an office network throughout Wales and the South West of England, are a key supply chain partner to many regional and national civil engineering firms, building contractors and residential developers.   The business had started the year with confidence and were on course to confidently deliver a record year.  However, as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, James Hughes, Managing…