The top 10 stories of 2025, as told by The Raikes Journal
As The Raikes Journal approaches its second birthday we look back at the year gone, some of the headlines we made and what our best-read editions were each month. What a year it was!
Dear readers,
When February rolls around it will be the two-year anniversary of the soft launch of The Raikes Journal, a CIC with a mission to put some journalism back into the media mix for Gloucestershire.
There is, quite simply, no other digital platform in Gloucestershire that focuses on business news, is editorially-led, edited by a journalist and strives to deliver this kind of credibility.
If our audience and subcriber growth is anything to go by it’s welcome too.
I like to think that’s a result of readers also seeing Raikes as a safe port of call, a quiet space away from the maelstrom of information that batter the senses in the marketing channels that are social media.
We don’t do advertorials or lead on unchallenged press releases. Raikes is not a marketing channel. We do original journalism. It’s a crusade.
We think the county deserves better. And if you’re like-minded, want your business represented on a platform that has values and wants to help make what we do continue to happen, please do get in touch.
During the last year we’ve challenged the local authority owners on the sale of Gloucestershire Airport, which has produced stories in stark contrast to the press release-led headlines others have run stating how great the deal is for the county.
Is it really?
We have a city council currently that is seeking a £17.5 million loan about to sell its share of an asset some value at £300 million-plus for somewhere in the region of £30 million. For which it will get half. The local authorities dispute this figure, but we’ve been told by an expert is it not unrealistic.
We’ve worked hard to profile some of the faces that make our business community, charity and education and training sectors so effective, and given voice to scores of charities that would otherwise be unheard. Some platforms refuse to run charity stories. You’re not worth it, apparently!
And we’ve covered events like no one else. In fact, no one else seems to!
In the round-up below we look back over the last 12 months at the editions that gained the most views and the top 10 and more stories that led them.
These are stories that would not have been told if Raikes did not exist. Stories that, in the case of the airport, would have been posted elsewhere as ‘great news’ for the county and the voices of the businesses on the Staverton site whose livelihoods depend on the airport would never have been heard.
We already had the most experienced editorial team in the county when we started Raikes, and the obligatory thousands of social media followers – 10,000-plus on LinkedIn alone, etc, etc.
But in that last 18 to 20 months we’ve grown our subscription numbers from scratch to nearly 1,000. If you are reading this, you’re probably one of them. Thank you.
When we’re sending our three newsletters a week we clock more than 12,000 page views a month. If you consider two or those three pages a week are whole editions that contain between six and 10 stories each, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to multiply that by the 12,000 figure to get to a fairer total. But we don’t. What matters is the numbers continue to rise, we attract the right people and readers like what we’re doing.
Afterall, what good is reaching 5,000 people on Facebook if none of them are your target business audience or 2,000 views on LinkedIn if no one clicks through from your post to the meat of the matter?
We know that we reach business leaders and those interested in the county’s business, charity, training and education communities. We can see who reads our stories.
All of this is only possible because we’re backed by some incredible Founding Partners - but we do need more support to enable us to realise all our plans.
We are looking for more to join us in 2026, especially as Founding Partners, helping shape what we write about; as corporate partners, founding members, sponsors of our Top 100 series, our Charity of the Week series, our monthly business awards and more.
We would love to hear from you and help tell your stories. After all, who else will? No one will write articles about you like us that will reach the special audience we are attracting. With your support, we can reach event more people.
Best regards,
Andrew Merrell (editor).
* The Raikes Journal is a community interest company. Everything you read by us is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors and our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
If you upgrade to become a paid subscriber you’ll be part of this CIC too. You’ll help make us sustainable, be able to see past the paywalls, comment on our stories too, and know you’re making possible the county’s only editorially-led platform dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire about its businesses, charities, education and training sectors.
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!
The Top 10 stories of 2025, as told by The Raikes Journal
As The Raikes Journal approaches its second birthday we look back at the year gone, some of the headlines we made and what our best-read editions were each month. What a year it was!
By Andrew Merrell.
This week we have the pleasure once again of accepting an invitation to the QuoLux Alumni Showcase Masterclass, the end-of-year showcase event.
The specialists in leadership development are one of our treasured Founding Partners that make The Raikes Journal possible.
In the 25 years I have reported on the county never has there been such a powerful business group as the QuoLux family. Ever.
What about GFirst LEP, I hear you say?
GFirst LEP was an incredible single catalyst for change - and what change it brought about, bringing the county together like never before in modern times and winning incredible investments too. And it was dynamic because of the leadership and the businesspeople that crewed its ship.
But when you are talking about sheer number of businesses, people employed, growth, ambition, and likelihood most of them will be the very companies that drive the county forward, the QuoLux cohort dwarfs any other. And it continues to grow.
On Wednesday 10 December a fraction of their number, just 100, will gather at the Delta Marriott Hotel, Shurdington Road, to round up 2025. That’s not as many as it can muster; that’s a number limited by the size of the room.
But before we get there, we look back on the year that was 2025 in the story below - and the many, many stories that wouldn’t have been told if it wasn’t for The Raikes Journal. These are our best-read editions from every month, our best 10 editions and then some.
January 2025
We looked at the rise and rise of Gloucester, at tech firms Fasthosts and Ionos moving into The Forum in Gloucester, a stark counterpoint to the big noise but little action at the other end of the county around the Golden Valley Development.
Gloucestershire County Council revealed how it was using £30 million from its pension pot to help tackle the housing crisis, and do right by its staff too, and we focused in on the ingenious project that is Together Gloucesteshire which seeks to open up access to potentially half a billion pounds of investment in Gloucestershire SMEs.
Gloucestershire Airport also makes its first appearance of many this year, as its two owners, Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council, moved towards selling the business. And we get the lowdown on that from a major stakeholder in the airport, Skyborne.
But it was this story that came out on top:
February
Andy Bates of Gloucestershire College helped us look at the culture change that could go a good way towards solving the shortage of skills in the cyber sector - and no, it isn’t get more students onto courses. It’s about a culture change in companies themselves. And he had news of a multi million pound skills school that the college is proposing to be built near Gloucester Quays.
And Raikes also profiled a Gloucestershire family timber business, one of the QuoLux cohort we looked at through 2025 and we helped the Cheltenham tech charity ITSA with its appeal.
But it was this story that caught most views…
March
We reported on the story of a just-published book written by Gloucestershire-based authors called Developing Financial Leadership in Small-Medium Businesses. It was all about how to make Britain more productive.
Co-authored by Malcom Prowle, a scientist, one-time accountant with KPMG and an advisor to two House of Commons Select Committees, as well as a professor at the University of Gloucestershire, and Dr Stewart Barnes, chief executive officer of QuoLux,
Tewkesbury revealed plans for a waterfront development, and we also helped showcase the brilliant Gloucestershire charity, the CCP’s Big Sleep Out event and the appeal by another excellent charity, ITSA, for help with its plans to support schools with IT equipment.
But it was a reaction to the ongoing impact of the Budget that caught most attention:
April
Despite a host of interesting stories and editions in April, not least a report on one of the brilliant Property Forum events, staged by Jo Bruce and Evans Jones. This one featuring experts including Alasdair Garbutt as partner in the commercial property team at Willans LLP solicitors, and Dorian Wragg from Burton Knowles.
It was this profile piece on Willans’ partner Simon Pathé that drew most views.
May
We broke the news of a £10m investment in Gloucestershire by aerospace firm Safran Landing Systems. Incredible news for the county. And we revisited the Golden Valley Development again. With all the social media noise, and still nothing happening on the ground, what was going on?
We also focused on an incredible milestone for Ecclesiastical. It revealed it has given no less than £250 million to charities. And then there was news of Stewart Golf’s working relationship with the sports gear success story that is GymShark (Stewart Golf being another of the aforementioned QuoLux cohort!).
But it was this story that won out when it came to reader numbers.
June
And speaking of QuoLux, we reported on the launch of the latest book by Dr Stewart Barnes, chief executive officer of QuoLux, and Professor Malcom Prowle, Developing Financial Leadership in Small-Medium Businesses, at a showcase event at Gloucester Rugby Club.
We even revealed our plans here at The Raikes Journal to launch a series of articles that will lead to events which will provide a forum for businesses to have their say, which we called The Thinkery.
But this story about Gloucestershire Airport stole the show.
July
GCH had been working closely with the city council on the project so to have it pushed back took them by surprise, and jeopardised £20m of crucial funding. It was a story that came back to haunt the city again later in the year. More of which later.
But this story got most views…
August
Into August, Dunkerton’s Cider reveals expansion plans and we ran the second of our Thinkery articles, courtesy of excellent expert insight from Ollie Newbold of Randall & Payne who picked out some of the firms everyone should be aware of.
This story won the most views.
September
There was news of a new motorbike business hoping to relocate to Newent and create jobs too.
But this story, about skills - and focusing on insight from one of our Founding Partners, Gloucestershire College, was the most viewed…
October
We signed off September with that story about Gloucestershire College revealing it was training 300 apprentices for county firms - but that it believed many more businesses continue to miss out - and went straight into October asking county businesses what they thought about Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s announcement that the nation would make apprenticeships as significant as degrees. They were, he said, key to the nation’s future.
Lisa Spivey was revealed as the new boss of the county council and a new beacon of manufacturing excellence for the space industry opened in Gloucestershire.
But the big interview with Adam Padmore below, founder of Rappor, proved the hit article of the month. Another graduate of the QuoLux leadership school.
November
We were already stepping back from story writing last month as we drove head-on into planning for 2026. But the month was dominated by the Budget for us.
The detail is important, of course, but what’s often missed is the mood of the business community. It can speak volumes. Hopefully we captured that in our piece on Randall & Payne’s gathering of busineses at Gloucester Rugby Club’s Kingsholm Stadium, in partnership with wealth management firm Rathbones. It was certainly a popular read.
And then there was the amazing night that was the Believe in Gloucester Awards, Gloucester BID’s celebration of the very best of the city - from charities to individuals, from independents to major firms, from investment projects to events and festivals. All made possible by headline sponsors WSP Solcitors and Gloucester Quays, and a host of award sponsors.
These are the events that help make a place, build pride and put a spring in everyone’s step. And Raikes was proud to be there to present an award.
But it was that story about the Budget event that was the most read…
December 2025
It’s early days yet, but as we’re not publishing much through December to concentrate on planning for 2026, here’s what’s catching the eye so far…
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations. As we said above, please do consider joining us as a paying subscriber or founding partner.
We hope you had a great 2025 too. Happy Christmas.