Put your business in the running for a share of £550 million
A list is being built of Gloucestershire’s best small and medium-sized businesses to create a directory of potential new suppliers to some of its biggest companies - to win a share of a £550m spend.
Dear reader,
Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Raikes Journal.
An eclectic mix today, including a little bit of Gloucester Rugby, with CEO Alex Brown taking a lot of positives from the teams change to a more open style last season - and a real pick-up in interest on the business side too.
We have no big reads today, but we do take a look at some figures circulating from Gloucester Brewery, which the owner of the aforementioned Cherry & Whites is also heavily invested in.
And we help announce the launch of an initiative we first covered early last year on Raikes - to try to bring the county’s very biggest firms face to face with potential suppliers.
Its target is to keep more of that simply enormous spend in the county. If even a modest five per cent of that was diverted to SMEs through its new directory it hopes it will mean several hundred million pounds extra spent here in Gloucestershire!
Congratulations to the team at Together Gloucestershire for the incredible long battle it has taken to get this one over the line.
One last thing… the likelihood is there will be no Friday edition this week as I have a long weekend planned. I’ll keep you posted though.
Please do share what we do and encourage others to sign up!
Have a great week.
Andrew Merrell (editor).
For every person you refer to The Raikes Journal’s email service you get points towards a free membership allowing you to see beyond our paywalls. Please do sign up (free or otherwise), send the referral link to a friend or colleague, and help us grow.
Charity of the week: Race for life
Lots of people take on the Race for Life. It’s the personal stories and the private experiences people reference that move so many and encourage others to follow in their footsteps and support Cancer Research UK. On Sunday (19 June) a team from one of our stable of Founding Partners will take to the start line in Cheltenham to do its bit, motivated by their own experiences. Simon Cook, a partner and head of wills, trusts and probate at Willans LLP solicitors, said: “Cancer has touched the lives of many of our colleagues and their families – particularly this year. Taking part in Race for Life is our way of standing together to support those still fighting, and to contribute to the vital research that gives hope to so many.” Fifty out the firm’s 120 staff will be on the start line, including managing partner Bridget Redmond, Cook, Alasdair Garbutt, Helen Howes and Hifsa O’Kelly. We wish them, and everyone taking part this weekend, all the very best! You can support Willans’ team via its fundraising page.
Diary Dates…
Tuesday
Connect with local entrepreneurs at The Growth Hub Stroud to share ideas, good practices and recommendations. Aimed at start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs. From 9.30am to 11am. More here.
Wednesday
Commercial property advice: 1-2-1 clinics for property owners and tenants, hosted by Stephanie Baldwin-Thorne MRICS of Thorne Property at the Cirencester Growth Hub from 10am to 4.15pm. More here.
Thursday
Cyber attack! What would you do? The South West Cyber Resilience Centre (SWCRC), a police-led, business-focused initiative designed to protect and empower SMEs, is staging this at The Growth Hub in Tewkesbury from 9am to noon. More here.
Croissants & Questions at Farm491 in Cirencester. This month’s theme is Regenerative Landscapes and Carbon-friendly Affordable Housing. Guest speakers are Dr Vincent Walsh, MD of RegenFarmCo, and Craig White, CEO of Agile Property and Homes. From 8am to 9.30am. More here.
* The Raikes Journal is a digital magazine and community interest company whose supporters believe, like us, that journalism about Gloucestershire is worth keeping alive. Everything you read here - original stories about our county - is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne; our sponsors, Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
If you upgrade to paid you’ll be part of this CIC too. We’re dedicated to championing the county, its businesses, charities, education and training providers, and to creating an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you’ll be able to see past the paywalls often put on our 2cnd and 3rd email editions of the week, that lock our archive after two weeks and our Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series. You’ll be able to comment on our stories too.
You can sign up for just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once. Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members!
Brewery turns around a difficult start to 2025
Challenging sales over the bar saw Gloucester Brewery start the year with a £46,000 drop in operating profit for its first quarter, but online purchaces have risen and it’s now looking really quite different indeed.
It was a challenging January and February for one of Gloucestershire’s most high-profile breweries, with “noticeable consumer cutbacks” and the “increased impact of dry January” leading to less consumer trade and reduced consumption of its core product - beer.
However, as the business moved in April and May the tide turned and as it prepares to round off its second quarter things are suddenly looking very different.
In the first three months of 2025 NSV (net sales value) declined 20 per cent on the same period last year to £184,000.
Nevertheless, its flagship bar, Warehouse 4, which overlooks Gloucester Docks, saw an eight per cent growth in the first four months of 2025 - which the brewery called “an exceptional performance”.
In the same period there was equivalent growth (eight per cent) in direct to consumer sales, with the business seeing a 35 per cent increase in on-line sales.
The brewery said this “shows that drinkers stayed at home and were influenced by price. Lower footfall resulted in an eight per cent decline in physical sales”.
Figures for the beginning of the second quarter (April and May), tell a very different story.
Sales were up seven per cent on last year to £200,000, operating profit up 120 per cent to £35,000 and gross margins up 11 per cent on the same time last year.
The brewery highlights collaborations with the likes of Chuck Burgers (Gloucester Food Dock) and Bath Road Beers (Cheltenham) as well as its own Easter Beer Festival, the city’s Dragon Boat races at the Docks, Father’s Day and Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival as helping drive sales.
Its 2025 “budget summary” totals revenue at £1.27 million, operating profit at £55,000 and cash revenues at £100,000.
Business briefing notes...
🏉 An interesting “letter to supporters” from Gloucester rugby’s chief executive officer, Alex Brown, who opens by championing the change of style of play adopted by the team for the season gone. While he acknowledges missing out on a top four place was a huge disappointment, he said the change in style had brought more tries, more bonus points, better figures for defences beaten, more offloads, more metres made and more points scored. Ultimately it ended with a seven-game unbeaten run at Kingsholm crowning a season that saw a 40 per cent increase in attendances and “pleasing commercial growth across all areas of the business”. He pays particular attention to Gloucester-Hartpury and the team’s ongoing achivements - not least having 28 players on international duty ahead of the Rugby World Cup. The business’s commecial team, said Brown, would be moving offices to make way for a new premium membership lounge called The Blindside. If you’re lucky enough to get inside, expect canapés, a private bar and to be hosted by a legendary former player. More here.
🏉 Still on the subject of rugby - and Gloucester-Hartpury in particular, William James from Colliers has revealed plans to screen all the Women’s Rugby World Cup matches on Saturday 30 August (four games in total) in King’s Square - and he’s looking for sponsors to help make it all happen. Colliers looks after the square, King’s Walk and Eastgate Shopping Centre, and will also be showing the Gloucester Rugby 2025/26 season launch, including new players and new kit unveilings, and an ‘inclusive rugby community event’, including wheelchair rugby, walking rugby, children’s rugby and more, live music and talks and more. All of the above will take place on 30 August too. Search for William James on LinkedIn.
🧗♀️💷 The team behind fundraising for a community climbing wall in Stroud has revealed it’s just shy of its target of nearly £40,000. Apparently 600 residents called for a climbing wall in Brimscombe Mill, and the project, Climbing Commons, was born. Funds will cover costs of construction and materials. If all continues to go to plan the team expects to open the new centre in October! More here.
🚜 The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), based in Cirencester, has welcomed the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, published this morning (23 June) by the Government. Agriculture features as a ‘frontier industry’ within advanced manufacturing - one of eight sectors said to have the highest potential. RAU vice-chancellor Professor Peter McCaffery said: “The strategy highlights the RAU as central to an agri-cluster in Gloucestershire. It contains a commitment to fund the Farming Innovation Programme until 2030, which includes the new ADOPT funding for farmer-led innovation, and ensures agriculture and horticulture can have traction in crucial decisions on skills, data, investment and trade.”
Put your business in the running for a share of £550 million
A list is being built of Gloucestershire’s best small and medium-sized businesses to create a directory of potential new suppliers to some of its biggest companies - to win a share of a £550m spend.
By Andrew Merrell.
It aims to put Gloucestershire’s many small and medium-sized businesses in front of some of its firms with the very biggest procurement budgets, and it’s opened its doors to those who want to get on board.
After years in the planning, the team behind Together Gloucestershire has launched what it hopes will be a game-changing platform connecting SMEs with major public and private sector buyers and securing hundreds of millions of extre revenue for the county.
Its plan is to create a directory that will champion ethical procurement, sustainability and inclusive economic development, lead to meaingful partnerships between big businesses and some of the many dynamic smaller potential suppliers in the county.
And it if is successful in its aim, which it to encourage those big businesses to spend just an extra five per cent of their budgets in Gloucestershire with companies on its new database, it could deliver an extra £550,000,000 of spending in the county - such is the scale of the budgets of those companies.
“Together Gloucestershire is more than just another business platform. It’s a movement,” said Adam Vines, one of the project’s founding partners.
“It’s about creating real economic opportunities for SMEs in Gloucestershire and streamlining the procurement process for large businesses needing strong and ethical partners they can depend on.
“We are excited to be spearheading this movement and creating a model for other counties to follow.”
To sign-up, businesses are required to commit to an ‘ethical business promise’, enabling suppliers to signal their commitment to responsible practices. Together Gloucestershire also serves as a hub for knowledge, events, and best practice around local supply chains and sustainable commerce.
The initiative has been co-developed with input from county businesses big and small, business support organisations, and anchor institutions including local councils, universities and NHS trusts. Seed funding to develop the system came courtesy of Cirencester business St James's Place in 2023.
According to a statement from the group its initiative has already attracted enthusiastic support from procurement leaders keen to embed social value and carbon reduction in their purchasing processes.
Partners actively involved in the project include St James’s Place, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Spirax Sarco, Cheltenham Borough Council, Gloucestershire NHS Trust, Renishaw, and Gloucestershire County Council among others.
When we first wrote about Together Gloucestershire back in January 2024 we ran this comment from Wotton-under-Edge-headquartered engineering giant Renishaw explaining why it was on board.
“As one of the county’s largest businesses and largest private sector employer, we have long been committed to supporting our local communities, including the business community,” said, Chris Pockett, head of communications for Renishaw.
“We are committed to supporting the three United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are most relevant to our business.
“One of these is SDG 8 which relates to sustainable economic growth and the promotion of policies that support the growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
“Together Gloucestershire is a project that aims to support such businesses in the county, helping them to grow by having the knowledge and capability to supply larger local companies, including Renishaw.”
An annual subscription starts from just £20 per annum for sole traders. To register and explore the platform, visit: togethergloucestershire.co.uk.