Month: December 2025
South East firms to invest in staff training in 2026
South East businesses will be focusing on investments in staff training in 2026 (36%), according to new research from Lloyds’ Business Barometer.
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27-Year-old tech entrepreneur named on the King’s New Year Honours list
27-year-old Ben Towers from Gillingham, Kent has been awarded an MBE for services to the startup business community, excellence in innovation and enterprise. Ben, who has always been motivated by creating things that help people, started his first business at the age of 11. By 17, he was named by The Times as one of […]
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Proposed housing transfer set to strengthen services for residents in Brighton & Hove
Plans that would see two long-established local housing providers in Brighton & Hove join Stonewater are moving forward.
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South East business confidence rises in December
Business confidence in the South East rose three points during December to 34%, according to the latest Business Barometer from Lloyds.
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Bellway Thames Gateway staff raise and donate more than £60k for charities
Staff at Dartford-based housebuilder Bellway Thames Gateway have supported local and national charities with donations totalling more than £60,000 this year.
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Ground broken at Herstmonceux under new partnership
Work is underway at Herstmonceux in East Sussex as part of a new partnership between housebuilder Persimmon Homes and Clarion Housing Group, the largest provider of affordable housing in the UK.
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Knights advises on Agon Systems’ transition to Employee Ownership Trust
Retail loss prevention specialist Agon Systems has completed its transition to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), allowing the business to enter a new stage of growth.
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ELM Group ends the year on a high with awards success
Surrey-based property management company ELM Group has announced its success at The Negotiator Awards, the UK’s leading peer-judged awards programme for the residential property industry.
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Rarely available Brighton/Hove industrial space brought to the market
Independent property real estate advisory business SHW has been appointed by Hargreaves to market 55,000 sq ft of rarely available, high-quality industrial/warehouse accommodation in the sought-after Brighton & Hove area.
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Approachable accounting
Gemma Pryor, founder of Maidstone-based Trinity Accounting, has built a practice centred on people – providing supportive, jargon-free accounting for SMEs while also nurturing young talent through work experience.
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Charanga relocates to International House on Queens Road
Flude Property Consultants has confirmed the letting of the 5th Floor at International House, 78 – 81 Queens Road, Brighton to Charanga, an established provider of music education technology.
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Dandara provides £12.1M ‘boost’ for local communities
Housebuilder and property developer Dandara South East has reported £12.1 million in financial contributions to local authorities between January 2021 and June 2025, representing a major investment in education, healthcare, community facilities and local infrastructure across the region.
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Changes at the top at Kent Housing Group
In a change at the top of the Kent Housing Group, the collective voice of the housing sector in Kent and Medway, Brian Horton and Rebecca Wilcox have taken up the roles of co-chairs.
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Ashford’s D&D Autos wins wellbeing award
A focus on staff wellbeing saw Ashford-based independent garage D&D Autos crowned the best in the UK at a leading industry award ceremony.
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Bidding war over Ewell garages at auction
A bidding war erupted as eight garages in a courtyard setting in the Ewell area of Epsom, Surrey went under Clive Emson Auctioneers’ gavel on Thursday 11 December.
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Housebuilder delivers second workshop with Communigrow charity
Barratt David Wilson Homes has continued its partnership with local food education charity Communigrow, bringing hands-on food growing workshops to its The Poppies residents in Maidstone, Kent.
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Oakley Property brings Brighton & Hove residential team under one roof
Oakley Property has announced that its Brighton & Hove Residential Sales team will relocate from North Road to the company’s 4,000 sq ft head office on Foundry Street – a move that brings all local disciplines under one roof for the first time.
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Police safety accreditation for international truckstop
Ashford International Truckstop is the only site in the South East to have achieved the national Park Mark Freight standard.
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Kent startup joins £8.2M research project to revolutionise medicines manufacturing
Particology, a specialist particle science company based at science and business hub Discovery Park in Sandwich, Kent, has been selected for an £8.2 million government-funded research consortium to make the manufacture of medicines more efficient and sustainable.
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£18M independent living scheme starts in Ashford
Work has started on creating 59 high-quality homes for older people and adults with learning disabilities on the site of a former sheltered housing scheme in South Ashford.
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Curd & Cure first UK wholesaler to stock 2025 World Champion Cheese
Kent-based speciality cheese and fine food wholesaler Curd & Cure – owned by local entrepreneur Laura Bounds MBE – has secured the only UK stock of the newly crowned 2025 World Champion Cheese, Le Gruyère AOP Vorderfultigen Spezial, 18 months.
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Property industry provides insight into the priorities for Kent
Proximity to London is the county’s strongest selling point, according to development industry experts who attended the recent launch of the Kent Property Market Report.
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Brachers shortlisted for three South East Dealmakers Awards
Kent law firm Brachers has been shortlisted for three categories in the South East Dealmakers Awards: ‘Corporate Law Firm of the Year’, ‘Corporate Lawyer of the Year’, and ‘Deal of the Year (£10m-£40m)’.
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Half of South East smaller business leaders feel ‘isolated’
A new YouGov survey carried out on behalf of The Start Up Loans Company, part of the British Business Bank, has found that half (50%) of smaller business owners in the South East say they have felt lonely or isolated while running their business.
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Team Tactics relocates to larger Selling headquarters
Kent corporate events specialist Team Tactics has relocated to a new headquarters in Selling, renewing its commitment to the community that has supported the business for nearly three decades. Team Tactics has signed a five-year lease on a larger 55 square metre office at Gaskains Ltd, Norham Farm, just less than three miles from its […]
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Reward Funding backs acquisition with £4M facility for 4PL
Reward Funding has supported the growth aspirations of West Sussex business 4PL with a £4m revolving credit facility.
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South East lawyer recognised nationally for later life expertise
Tracy Rowden, private client partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter, has earned national recognition for her specialist work supporting older and vulnerable clients and their families and carers – becoming one of a select group in the UK to achieve accredited Lifetime Lawyer status.
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Shepherd Neame extends Charity of the Year Partnership
Kent-based independent family brewer and pub company Shepherd Neame is extending its successful partnership with current Charity of the Year, Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS), into 2026.
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Autumn Budget 2025: Reactions from the business community
On Wednesday 26 November, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered the 2025 Autumn Budget. But what impact will the changes have on SMEs across the South East? We asked local business leaders, along with legal, financial and property experts, for their reactions.
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Why Kent needs the UK’s first science park sixth form
We are hugely excited to announce that a brand-new, industry-backed sixth form is opening at Discovery Park in September 2026: Carbon 6 Academy of Science. Discovery Park is tackling the UK’s STEM skills shortage at its source. As the first specialist sixth form in the UK to be embedded within a science park, Carbon 6 […]
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