It’s taken me a while to get to this – I’ve a long list. But at last, here I am with a few lines about Bert’s books Swindon. Bert’s Books, has morphed from an online bookstore – and that still exists here – to a physical store in Swindon’s Old Town.
I’ve had to neglect Swindon in 50 more buildings to make room for other projects. But a visit to STEAM and therefore a walk right past Heelis, prompted me to do a post about it.
I’m late to the Sarah Harris party with this Murals by Sarah blog. I’ve had a difficult winter with my health and it kinda got in the way. Anyway – here we are. You Pay – She Sprays is a riff on the name of her website which is in fact You Pay, I Spray and you can find it here.
Enterprise Nation, the national small business organisation has spoken. And what they’ve said is that Swindon journalist and media consultant, Fiona Scott, is the UK’s PR adviser of the year!
In 2021, the Federation of Small Businesses used Wiltshire Day on the 5th June, to celebrate some of the small businesses that are part of the FSB family. They ran a social media campaign using the hashtag #WiltshireDay with a relevant image and a few words of why each participating business loved Wiltshire. The campaign gave the FSB’s small business community a much-needed boost and showcased the range of businesses across the county. The feedback from the businesses involved was nothing less than positive.
Imagine if you will, that you want to launch a book but you’re in the middle of pandemic. So you can’t have an event in the usual way, at a venue with hordes (you hope) of people rocking up to buy copies of the book in question.
A Commercial Rd Photo Essay
There’s no denying that something bad ails the high street. Not only in Swindon but in general. From January 2021, this Guardian article, Retail is at death’s door – and tinkering with business rates won’t save it, tackles at least part of the problem. The pandemic hasn’t helped of course, but problems have been apparent for a while.
Supporting independent businesses and shopping local is not a new topic to this blog. Indeed, in 7 reasons to shop locally & 5 places to do it I gave it good mention. Now here’s a guest post from Dona Bradley, architectural illustrator on the topic.
Blaylock’s Shoe Shop Old Town
It’s a mildly curious thing that Swindon’s Old Town has, within a few yards of one another, three long-established family businesses. On Wood Street there’s Deacon’s Jewellers, founded in 1848 and now in its sixth generation as a family business. Then there’s Gilbert’s furniture store on Newport Street. This business was established in 1886, becoming a fixture on its present location from the early 1870s.
Then there’s the subject of this blog post: Blaylock’s shoe shop Old Town on the corner of Bath Road.
Simon Webb, is well-known as a maker of beautiful hand-turned writing implements that tell stories. He’s crafted pens from woods that include church pews, Isaac Newton’s apple tree, the Richard Jefferies’ mulberry tree, HMS Victory and more. But it’s arguable that his drumstick pens beat it all.
DMJ Computer Services is 35! A Swindon based web development company, created right at the start of the computing boom, is a phenomenal 35 years old!
Responding to a nationwide call for help from people with 3D printers, Swindon-based small business, SED Developments is using some of its printing capacity to make face shields.
They’re part of the 3D Crowd UK group who are delivering 39,000+ Face Shields to 90 NHS Trusts this Easter weekend from their Sheffield distribution centre.
