

BUSINESS SECRETARY OPENS CRIPPS’ NEW OFFICE
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Tunbridge Wells MP the Right Honourable Greg Clark today (Friday 24 March) formally opened the new Tunbridge Wells headquarters of law firm Cripps – the first substantial office to…

FRENCH FIRM CONTINUES INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION WITH SUPPORT FROM CRIPPS
Law firm Cripps has helped French accountants H3P continue its expansion into the UK with the purchase of London-based Barber & Co LLP. This is the second UK acquisition Cripps has advised the international accountancy practice on in three years.…

SELEP CALLS ON BUSINESS TO HELP SHAPE INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY
Businesses across Kent and Medway are being urged to give their views on the Government’s proposed Industrial Strategy by the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP). The consultation on the Industrial Strategy lasts until April 17 and companies can comment…

COMPANIES LOOK TO KENT MEDICAL CAMPUS AS ENTERPRISE ZONE STATUS DAWNS
Despite the Chancellor of the Exchequer seeking to defuse the furore over the proposed Business Rates re-evaluation with the announcement of measures to minimise the impact on small businesses, many larger firms are waking up to the prospect of what…

JAGUAR LAND ROVER CHOOSES WATERBROOK PARK AS ITS NEW ASHFORD HOME
Waterbrook Park, the business park near Junction 10 of the M20 in Ashford, is to be home to a £9m state-of-the-art Jaguar Land Rover retailer after a deal was struck with Canterbury-based Barretts Motor Group. The agreement with GSE Group, the Ashford-based…

ENTREPRENEURIAL MAIDSTONE MUM LAUNCHES TIME-SAVING VIRTUAL ASSISTANT BUSINESS
An entrepreneurial Maidstone mum has launched Keystone Virtual – a virtual assistant business offering premium administrative, organisation and marketing support to time-poor local entrepreneurs and small businesses. An accomplished PA in marketing communications, Carly Stringer founded the business earlier this…

CHARTERED SURVEYORS COLLIER STEVENS COMMENTS ON SPRING BUDGET
I would have liked to see the Chancellor address the inequality in VAT between new builds (0%) and renovations (rated at 20%) in today’s Budget, but to not even mention housing at all was totally bizarre. The VAT system as it…

MCBRIDES RESPONSE TO SPRING BUDGET 2017
Statement in response to today’s Spring Budget 2017 from Nick Paterno, Managing Partner at McBrides Chartered Accountants. “With two Budgets this year, today felt like the first act of a two part performance. Leading man Philip Hammond delivered his monologue…

COMMUNITY TEAM SCORES WITH SPONSORSHIP FROM ARRIVA
Anchorian Equal Teams, the Gillingham-based football club for players with disabilities and learning difficulties, can continue competing for at least another two seasons thanks to a shirt sponsorship deal with Arriva. The club has 18 players split across two teams…

FORMER FIREFIGHTER TRIUMPHS AT NATIONAL INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING AWARDS
A Kent-based publishing company, founded by a former firefighter turned millionaire, has won two national accolades at this year’s prestigious Independent Publishing Awards. How2Become.com was originally launched by Richard McMunn when he realised that there was a lack of resources…

WOMEN WORK – LOCAL BUSINESS EVENT
Local businesswoman Victoria McLean is lending her expertise to an inspirational event called Women Work, which is taking place at the Assembly Hall Theatre in Tunbridge Wells on Friday 10 March. Victoria – known as The CV Queen – runs her…