New home for Marches Growth Hub Herefordshire

The Marches Growth Hub Herefordshire is moving to new premises at Hereford’s newly-renovated Shell Store – placing it at the heart of the county’s business community.

The move comes as Herefordshire Council gets set to stage a major economic summit at the Shell Store on September 10 to help shape the county’s recovery from the pandemic and national lockdowns.

Dave Courteen, the chair of the Marches Business Support Steering Group and Marches LEP small business champion, said the new home in the Shell Store – the county’s flagship business incubation and innovation centre which has undergone a £7.3million refurbishment – would bring major benefits for the service, which is overseen by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership and delivered by Herefordshire Council.

“The opportunity to be co-located alongside both businesses and support organisations within this fabulous new business space is really exciting for the Growth Hub.

“We will have the opportunity to engage our business support partners and offer space to be able to run clinics and drop-in sessions and our business advisors are already talking about how they can use the facilities to deliver their support.  

“A number of the partner organisations who help us deliver business support have also been offered opportunities to use the space and Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce are almost next door so we will have more opportunity to work together.  

“As the space starts to fill up businesses will benefit from having business support organisations right on their doorstep and it will offer superb networking opportunities.  I see our new role as being very much at the heart of the Shell Store Community.
 
“Our priorities for the next 12 months include helping businesses recover and rebuild in the wake of the pandemic, supporting entrepreneurs wishing to start their own new businesses, ensuring businesses have access to a range of finance opportunities and building engagement across the county’s market towns and rural areas.

“The next year will undoubtedly be challenging for very many businesses, but the Marches Growth Hub is here to provide all the advice and support they need.”