Businesses and entrepreneurs across West London gathered at the George & Dragon pub in Acton High Street today (28 April 2023) for early morning networking and updating of opportunities coming up to help and support their business.
The latest Your Acton BID business breakfast supported by West London Chambers of Commerce, also saw regeneration officers from Ealing Council provide updates on the work they are doing in Acton and Park Royal.
Tony Mulvahil from Planning for the Best introduced the event which also saw Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq along with Ealing Conservatives leader Councillor Julian Gallant attending.
Your Acton BID is a not-for-profit company funded and run by local businesses in Acton and since 2018 has been working to make the area cleaner and safer as well as better for visitors and businesses to trade.
Catherine Howe, the principal regeneration officer at Ealing Council for Acton and Park Royal provided information on the Acton Framework and how the council wishes to hear from local businesses. She spoke of the importance of getting visitors to the areas and how the council is open to ideas on how it can be achieved.
Ms Howe said: “We want to work with BID, with Chambers, with all of you. How we can help generate business and how we can generate footfall.”
The council said it wants to hear from local businesses and the regeneration team can be directly emailed via regeneration@ealing.gov.uk
Sally Smith from West London Chambers explained how they can help small businesses and start-ups. Membership to West London Chambers starts from £80 a year depending on size of business.
Ms Smith said: “If you want to meet somebody, we can we can do that for you. We are very linked with Hounslow Council but I’m really enjoying building things with Ealing Council as well. So if you if you’ve got a question come to us and we can put in the right direction.”
Ms Smith added: “We do a lot of international trade events. Last week. it was trading with Morocco and trading with India. We have quarterly flagship events. We’ve got a regen event on the 11th of May and Ealing Council will be at that regeneration event. So if you want to come along from two o’clock, to meet your counsellor and talk to them face to face, please do.
“We’re in this for the long haul. We’re here for people and we’ve been around since 1908. We’re not going anywhere. We are not financed by the council. So we’re like you, we need to have income streams so if you’re not a member, please join us.”
Local MP for Ealing Central and Acton, Dr Rupa Huq gave an update to those attending about the Banking Hub that is set to go live at Acton’s The Oaks shopping centre in June. The Hub will provide a shared banking space and offer everyday banking for customers of most of the major banks and building societies.
Concluding the presentations at the breakfast was Nicky McKenna from WSI Digital Advisors who provided an update on the new Google Analytics 4 which is replacing Google’s current Universal Analytics. Ms McKenna also provided insights into Chat GPT and the pros and cons on using it and how it works.
