Hub launches ‘Made in Townsend Street’ business support package

One of Belfast’s leading business hubs; Townsend Enterprise Park, has launched a new ‘Made in Townsend Street’ marketing support package to help their 46 businesses, post Covid-lockdown.
By Claire Cartmill
Published 23rd Sep 2020, 17:00 BST
Danny McGill, Community Sports Network, Peter Darragh, Townsend Enterprise Park, Margaret Patterson McMahon, Townsend Enterprise Park, Claire and Karen Gibson from Red Earth Designs, Alan Cox, Belfast Coffee Roasters and Anita McCann, Rossi’s Ice CreamDanny McGill, Community Sports Network, Peter Darragh, Townsend Enterprise Park, Margaret Patterson McMahon, Townsend Enterprise Park, Claire and Karen Gibson from Red Earth Designs, Alan Cox, Belfast Coffee Roasters and Anita McCann, Rossi’s Ice Cream
Danny McGill, Community Sports Network, Peter Darragh, Townsend Enterprise Park, Margaret Patterson McMahon, Townsend Enterprise Park, Claire and Karen Gibson from Red Earth Designs, Alan Cox, Belfast Coffee Roasters and Anita McCann, Rossi’s Ice Cream

The initiative includes a complimentary three-month PR and social media marketing campaign for each business to help raise awareness of their service and product offerings to the wider business community.

Throughout the pandemic, Townsend Enterprise Park, a charitable organisation whose aim it is to stimulate social and economic regeneration supported businesses with rent relief and a business advisory support offering.

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The new ‘Made in Townsend Street’ initiative is an extension of that and will be rolled out in traditional media through public relations and on social media. The campaign will tell the stories of the different trades people, business services, community organisations and charities housed within the Enterprise Park.

Townsend Enterprise Park is home to 46 small-to-medium sized businesses, employing over 300 people from across the city and beyond, providing flexible workspaces, meeting, and training and conference rooms.

Businesses housed on-site include a ceramics company, ice creamery, a specialist reupholster, a business courier service, shop front & shutter makers, butcher and a series of charitable organisations including a homeless charity, to name but a few.

Steeped in history and located on a site of huge historical and economic significance, Townsend Enterprise Park, has been a thriving hub of industry for over 30 years, and it recently celebrated a 100 per cent occupancy rate for the first time in its trading history and amid an epidemic.

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CEO of Townsend Enterprise Park Margaret Patterson McMahon said: “As we navigate our way out of the recent economically devastating lockdown, we, as a social enterprise, wanted to do all we could within our budget and power to support the businesses we have on-site.

“Every single business we have here is unique from the woodwork and plastics laser business providing Perspex screens for businesses, to the food bank which is helping to feed over 300 people locally each and every week. To the coffee roasters whose business needed to evolve overnight as every coffee shop in the country closed. Every single business is doing its utmost to not only survive but to once again thrive and we have a big role to play in that.

“Townsend Enterprise Park was opened in 1987 with an ethos of creating local employment and incubating homegrown businesses, and we are proud to sit at the very heart of this historic community. Our ethos is based on encouraging the development of business, while stimulating social and economic regeneration. The park is a charity, and while it is profit making, it is not profit taking. Throughout the disruption of the pandemic, Townsend’s Board and management has worked hard to promote a mutually supportive network approach. We have protected our tenants by providing assistance as they deal with major cash-flow issues, providing advice and support tailored to each business and their needs. “This new initiative is the next step in an ongoing commitment to growth and we hope to help share the amazing stories to the rest of Northern Ireland and beyond.”

The site where Townsend Enterprise Park is located has a played a significant historical role in the industrial and commercial life of Belfast since a major foundry was established there in 1838. As the name suggests, it was literally at the ‘town’s end’ and the site where Robert Shipboy MacAdam and his brother James established the Soho Foundry 182 years ago. With a workforce of over 250 local people, the foundry produced a wide range of iron products that were exported all over the world.

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Still true to its heritage of business innovation, while harnessing economic development to increase the social and political stability of the surrounding community, the board behind Townsend Enterprise Park is committed to the growth and success of its much-valued tenants.

Visit https://townsend.co.uk for further details

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Related topics:BelfastNorthern Ireland