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24
Feb
Business Breakfast: Furniture firms team up behind Harrogate charity
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Essential Needs, the Harrogate charity that works to combat 'furniture poverty', has teamed up with some of the area’s leading furniture stores to drive awareness and donations of second-hand furniture.
The charity, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary, normally depends on donations from the public so it can re-use and redistribute good-quality used furniture, household items and white goods to Harrogate district residents in need of support.
Now, stores including Barker and Stonehouse, Smiths of Harrogate, Fred Browns in Knaresborough and The Cotswold Company are supporting the charity by encouraging their customers to donate the old furniture, rather than sending it to landfill.
Martin Brown, managing director at Fred Browns in Knaresborough said:
We often get asked for recommendations from customers of how or where they can dispose of their old furniture and, knowing the great work Essential Needs does in our local community, we were more than happy to support them.
Not only can our customers help the fight against furniture poverty, but because Essential Needs sends one of its vans to collect from our customers’ homes, it’s an easy way for them to make a difference.
Martin Brown of Fred Browns and Lee Wright of Essential Needs.
Lee Wright, manager at Essential Needs, added:
Ensuring a consistent stream of quality donations is an ongoing challenge for us, so we’re delighted that so many stores are keen to get behind us, helping ensure Essential Needs is front of mind for used furniture when people are buying new.
Past donations have meant we’ve been able to make a real difference to households in furniture poverty. In fact, in the past financial year alone we’ve supported over 650 local households, including supporting some of the most vulnerable in our community through our partnership with Harrogate Homeless Project (HHP) & IDAS women’s refuge.
Essential Needs is located behind Leeds Road shops at Back Gladstone Street, Harrogate HG2 8DF and can be contacted on 01423 870040 or at essentialneeds@gmail.com.
National PR agency comes to town
A national communications agency has expanded its office network with a new base in Harrogate.
JBP Communications specialises in media and public relations, parliamentary affairs and stakeholder engagement, as well as digital and creative services across sectors including the built environment, healthcare, the low-carbon economy, local and regional government, logistics and transport, the rural economy, trade bodies and telecoms.
Its 40-strong team is spread across offices in Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Westminster, Manchester, Nottingham and Warwick.
Managing director Chris Lawrance said:
Harrogate is a bullseye location for us as we expand our footprint across Yorkshire and the North, where we are already working with a growing and diverse range of clients.
Linking seamlessly to our central office in the heart of Westminster, JBP’s Harrogate base will also offer clients an inside track into our parliamentary and public affairs specialism – an added dimension that few, if any, agencies in the town can offer.
JBP’s Harrogate-based operations will be led by a team that includes two PR consultants from the town: Richard Chew, co-founder and director of Different PR, and Jane Burgess, a specialist in the energy and planning sectors.
New lawn care franchise
The UK’s largest lawn care franchise has expanded into the region with two new branches in Leeds and Harrogate.
Green Thumb franchisees Steve Graham and Philip Alston now have four franchise locations, having already opened in Preston and Ilkley.
Mr Alston will oversee the day-to-day operations of GreenThumb, focusing on business growth and management. Mr Graham will be in charge of business development, supported by his technical expertise in lawn treatments.
Philip Alston and Steve Graham of Green Thumb
The pair employ a team of nine 'lawn operatives' and three administrative, and work from a fleet of nine GreenThumb branded vans.
Mr Graham said:
With Yorkshire being one of the UK's largest counties, it felt like a natural progression for us to expand by acquiring Leeds and Harrogate.
After successfully growing our Preston branch, acquired in 2019, and Ilkley in 2022, we sought a new challenge that would enable us to scale the business quickly.
Leeds and Harrogate offered an established customer base, a dedicated team and essential equipment. We’re thrilled to now operate across three locations in Yorkshire, which has been made possible with the support from GreenThumb’s head office.
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