Category: Business News

JOE Bastan and Hannah Leah Jones have this evening been celebrating the first anniversary of their popular store, Delhi @ No. 5, in Buttermarket, Thame.

The couple, who were inspired to start this, their first business venture after a visit to Thame Food Festival and the strong community vibe they felt in the town, shared glasses of bubbly, wine and specialist beers and canapes made with their own all-British products, with their guests, invited customers and suppliers.

Deli @ No.5’s ethos is celebrating Great British produce with a Great British lifestyle, which they achieve by offering the finest cheeses, cured meats, chutneys and homeware chopping boards and textiles etc made by the best small producers they can find.

But Joe and Hannah, who have recently become engaged, are not resting on their laurels but have exciting plans for the future including offering Cheese wedding cakes (yes, apparently it’s the latest thing!) and investigating making their own gin.

We wish Deli @ No.5 the best of luck for next year and hopefully for many more, contributing to the growing food and drink offer in Thame’s high street.

FOLLOWING feedback to the Business Survey earlier in the year, Thame Town Council is inviting all local businesses to its first Town Centre Business Forum on November 2, 2017, between 5.30pm – 6.45pm.

An Eventbrite meeting has been set up to track numbers of attendees so there are two ways of booking a place, either by emailing Becky Reid, Thame’s Market Town Co-Ordinator, Becky.Reid@thametowncouncil.gov.uk or via the following link. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/town-centre-business-forum-tickets-38621960323

The Forum has been set up to support and improve the economic vitality of the town centre and will provide an opportunity for regular communication between public and private sector stakeholders in the town.

Becky explained: “The first meeting is particularly important as it will allow those attending to shape the direction of the forum going forward, to ensure that the meetings benefits your business. You will also have the opportunity to:

* share your concerns about doing business in Thame town centre with Thame Town Council (TTC) and South Oxfordshire Dirstrict council (SODC)

* get an update from TTC and SODC about working currently being undertaken to support businesses in Thame

*hear about current opportunities there are for businesses within the town

* meet other town centre business owners

SINCE 1974, parishes haven’t had a share of the business rates to spend – most of their income comes from the residents in a town via the precept. But larger parishes in particular still do a lot to support businesses, as they understand how much it helps the vitality and vibrancy of the community.

Thame Town Council certainly believes this and in late 2016, in addition to what they already do, they decided to employ a Market Town Coordinator to enable even more to be achieved.

Becky Reid will be attending the next Late Breakfast meeting in Thame to talk about her role, some new opportunities about to be launched for businesses in Thame, and how businesses can get involved to shape the future of Thame’s economic                                                development.

For more information and to register: Visit – The Late Breakfast website HERE

THE first LWS (Lord Williams’s School) Business Breakfast meeting of the new academic year takes place on Monday, November 6, at 8am and will focus on the digital skills gap among small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

This will be an open meeting for employers to hear about current training and education provision in IT and digital skills, share their experience and help identify ways forward.

MIKE Jennings, of Jennings Business Mentors, is the guest speaker at this month’s Late Breakfast business networking event, at The Spread Eagle, Thame, on Thursday, September 14.

Mike will be asking the question: Is Mentoring for Me and/or my Business? He says that  people often confuse mentoring with advice giving, coaching or even counselling but its none of these things. In Thursday’s presentation, Mike will explain how mentoring works and how it is different to many of the other support tools generally available. He will go on to cover the benefits of mentoring both for a business and for an individual. And finally he will describe the unique approach Jennings Business Mentors takes and some of the success stories from their mentees.

This will be an interactive presentation with lots of opportunities to ask questions.

Booking LINK

THE well known travel review organisation, TripAdvisor, has given one of Thame.Net’s popular Accommodation listings, one of its exclusive Certificate of Excellence accolades.

The TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence is only presented to the best of TripAdvisor Rentals’ out hundreds of thousands of homes.

The Certificate of Excellence is given annually to those properties that provide consistently outstanding experiences and whose owners offer first-class customer service to their guests.

The owner of the holiday cabin, known as Lakeside Town Farm, at Kingston Blount, awarded the accolade, Theresa Clark said that she was ‘thrilled’ with the recognition.

“We are very pleased to earn a Certificate of Excellence for our property, Lakeside Town Farm,” she said. “We have listed with TripAdvisor Rentals for 12 years and we always strive to provide great customer service. It’s great to be rewarded by TripAdvisor Rentals after all of our hard work and it’s wonderful to know that our many guests over the last year have really valued their stay.”

Laurel Greatrix, Communications Director, TripAdvisor Rentals, said: “We’re excited to recognise and honour the top homes and homeowners on our site. This is a hard-earned accolade, and we’d like to thank these property owners for their dedication to providing travellers with consistently outstanding experiences.”

www.townfarmcottage.co.uk is available to book on TripAdvisor Rentals, where travellers can search, compare and book hundreds of thousands of properties worldwide. Or find Lakeside Town Farm’s details and those of many more local places to stay, in Thame.Net’s Accommodation section HERE

THIS month’s The Late Breakfast meeting, at The Spread Eagle, Thame, will feature Sara Hammond, with her presentation, Be More.

Working for yourself has a number of really good advantages. However, working in a small business means that things can often be hectic. With targets to achieve, deadlines to meet and clients to please, you can often feel overwhelmed and unfocused. Many businesses and leaders are turning to Mindfulness to train themselves to be able to cope with the challenges, complexities and ambiguity of our times.

Benefits of mindfulness can include increased resilience, a greater ability to focus, improved decision-making and strategic-thinking abilities, heightened emotional intelligence, and enhanced creativity. Sara will guide you through some mindfulness practices and explain the benefits and myths of mindfulness.

Booking LINK HERE

Advertorial – THE first speculative development for some considerable time has just been completed at Crendon Industrial Park, Long Crendon. It comprises a detached 29,000 sq ft Industrial/Warehouse building in the centre of this very popular estate.

Reflecting the latest Building Regulations to provide improved energy performance, this includes motor-sensor lighting, gas heating and improved thermal insulation. The eaves height is 8m; there are three electric loading doors and a 50kn/m² floor loading.

The unit includes a first floor, fully-finished Office content of approximately 2,000 sq ft, a fenced and secure rear Yard, and the benefit of a new electrical sub-station for increased power up to 1000 KVA, if required.

The well-established estate is ideally-located for access to the M40, and one of the more important facilities that benefits the occupiers is the provision of evening and weekend security.

More details and information can be obtained via Fields, 7 Buttermarket, Thame, 01844 261121 or www.fieldscommercial.com.

A Thame digital marketing company has been selected by Google to take part in its elite business coaching programme.

Website DNA is one of just 30 agencies from more than 30,000 marketing agencies throughout the UK to be chosen for the Google Elevator Program.

The initiative runs over six months and is aimed at helping agencies grow at an accelerated rate in all areas and disciplines through expert business coaching from the renowned business coach, Robert Craven.

Director Greg Smith for Website DNA, told Thame.Net: “Website DNA, as a qualified Google Partner, was selected for the programme based on its size, delivering highly successful services to its clients and the company’s growth trajectory. This follows on from a successful 2016 with Google commenting – ‘Congratulations for being one of Google 2016’s top-performing agencies’.

“We were proud to be invited onto the programme as it recognises the leading digital marketing companies in the UK. It’s a great opportunity and are very grateful to Google for being selected.” He added: “Having delivered a high level of service and value to our existing clients, the Google Elevator Program will enable us to integrate the expertise developed from the course and provide the very latest digital marketing services and techniques to both our existing and new clients throughout the UK.”

For more information on Website DNA’s services contact Greg Smith on 07969 892972 or at greg@websitedna.co.uk