High Street campaign supports hospitality reopening

As many of our town centre businesses offer indoor hospitality again, we’re doing our bit to encourage visitors to safely return to our high streets.

Since 10 May, we’ve been promoting our fantastic businesses online and through the more traditional forms of media.

We’ve been out and about in the District filming traders doing what they do best – offering outstanding services in a safe environment. The videos are currently airing on our social media channels and on YouTube.

We’re also running adverts on KMFM to promote Edenbridge, Sevenoaks, Swanley and Westerham town centres and two full page adverts in the Sevenoaks Chronicle.

You can help get the word out about our brilliant town centre businesses by sharing our posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Great news

If you haven’t applied for a Restart grant, it’s not too late. You can apply for funding at www.sevenoaks.gov.uk/restart 

To view all of the financial support available to businesses in just one please, visit the GOV support finder.

Simply the best bookshop!

Congratulations to Sevenoaks Bookshop for scooping ‘Independent Bookshop of the Year’ at last Thursday’s (13 May) The British Book Awards 2021.

The High Street shop was praised for the way it responded to the challenges of lockdowns, moving to web, phone and e-mail orders during months of closure and dispatching thousands of books to loyal customers—many of them personally delivered by foot and bike! Click & Collect and Bookshop.org added more sales. Events moved online too, including book clubs on Facebook and author events on Zoom.

View details of the award

Sevenoaks business takes the Brisket

The French Smokehouse and deli, Brisket and Barrel, has also picked up a gong, this time at the Taste of Kent Awards 2021.

On 12 May, the St Johns-based business took the prestigious ‘Kent Ambient Product of the Year’ award for its Ketchup Smoké.

The sauce was voted for by the public, then judged by experts, mystery diners and shoppers.
Find out more about the award.

 To share your successes with us, please drop us a line at business@sevenoaks.gov.uk

More Support For Business 

We are getting ready to roll out an exciting online platform to help you promote your business for free.
What makes this platform stand out is the free online training and support for any small business and the free social media tools to help you increase customer engagement, footfall and crucially sales.

We will be speaking with businesses about the free offer and how to sign up in the coming weeks.

‘We Offer Testing to our Staff’ Scheme Launched 

A new scheme has been launched for businesses offering workplace testing for staff through NHS Test and Trace.

If you offer rapid workplace testing to staff, either through on-site testing or workplace test collection, you can now download posters and stickers to demonstrate your offer for free, regular testing to your employees.

View details of the scheme

What do you think of this newsletter?

Get in touch at business@sevenoaks.gov.uk