Launching Swindon Day

Launching Swindon Day

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. 

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Graham Seaman Media

Graham Seaman Media

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.

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A Commercial Rd Photo Essay

A Commercial Rd Photo Essay

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.

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Shop Small and Shop Local

Shop Small and Shop Local

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.

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Blaylock’s Shoe Shop Old Town

Blaylock’s Shoe Shop Old Town

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.

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Drumstick Pens Beat It

Drumstick Pens Beat It

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.

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SED Developments Shielding NHS Staff

SED Developments Shielding NHS Staff

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.

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Do Online Shop Spring Clean Now

Do Online Shop Spring Clean Now

Now is the time to do an online shop spring clean, says Martin Jarvis, MD of DMJ computer Services.

NB: DMJ computer Services is a Swindon-based web design and hosting company.

With premises closing due to Cornavirus and organisations relying more than ever on having an effective online presence now is the time to brush the virtual cobwebs away.

As Martin says, now is the moment for businesses to carry out simple maintenance on their websites to make them more visible. And to enhance their effectiveness.

“With the best will in the world, it’s rare we have the thought, time, or inclination to make little tweaks, tidy-ups and other incremental updates to our websites,” said Martin. And he should know – he specialises in creating and hosting Wordpress websites.

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