A popular Hertfordshire music festival is among the county’s first tourism and hospitality businesses hit by COVID-19 to successfully secure emergency funding.
Four county businesses have secured funding from Crowdfund Hertfordshire: Small Business Innovation Fund aimed at providing support to those in the retail, tourism, hospitality and other related sectors most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Save Our Standon (Standon Calling Festival) is one of the organisations to be awarded money from the countywide scheme.
The others are Wheathampstead’s Auriel Holidays, The Brewery Tap in Furneux Pelham, and Rickmansworth’s Creative Juices Brewing Company.
Nitin Dahad, chair of Hertfordshire LEP Enterprise and Innovation Board, said: “Prior to COVID-19, Hertfordshire’s visitor economy had been on a strong growth trajectory, contributing £2 billion to the local economy annually and providing 1 in 10 of all jobs in the county.
“It is now more important than ever to support our tourism, hospitality and related businesses to adapt, innovate, safeguard jobs, and ultimately increase their resilience to succeed under these tough new circumstances.
“This fund, part of our wider £3.28m COVID-19 business support package for the county, provides the financial boost our businesses need to do just that.”
Between £2,000 and £5,000 in match-funding is available for eligible small and micro businesses within the tourism, leisure, hospitality, retail, arts and cultural sectors from the £200,000 Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership COVID-19 pot administered by Visit Herts via the Crowdfunder Pay It Platform.
Participating businesses are required to raise money for their project through pledges from their community and loyal customers.
Once a business secures their target through the Crowdfunder campaign, successful applicants are able to unlock match-funding from the scheme.
Standon Calling is an independent music festival launched 15 years ago now catering for up to 17,000.
The outbreak of COVID-19 meant the 2020 festival in the Hertfordshire countryside had to be postponed until 2021.
The team behind Standon Calling, which takes place at Standon Lordship, responded by innovating their festival offer to provide experiences such as a VIP treehouse and the opportunity for visitors’ faces to be incorporated in future marketing and promotion.
Deirdre Wells, chief executive of Visit Herts, said: “Businesses within the hospitality sector have been greatly impacted by COVID-19, but despite these challenges, there has been a great deal of innovation and adaptation among Hertfordshire’s businesses in the last few months.
“The creativity and forward-thinking demonstrated by the successful applicants to date has been inspiring, and we continue to encourage our local businesses to take advantage of the support available to them through the Crowdfund Hertfordshire: Small Business Innovation Fund.”
Of the other beneficiaries from the fund, Wheathampstead’s 2by2 Holidays have been creating tailor-made wildlife and cultural holidays to Africa, Latin America and India for nearly 20 years.
With ongoing travel restrictions in place, they are now launching a new travel agency Auriel Holidays to deliver a range of holidays in the UK and Europe.
Auriel Holidays will initially focus on road trips and rail journeys, as well as a range of small group wildlife, walk and rail tours to Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales.
Team members are also planning to offer island hopping in Scotland, Ireland, the Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands.
Nestled in the heart of Furneux Pelham in East Herts, the COVID-19 outbreak saw The Brewery Tap innovate and adapt quickly, redesigning its dining area to provide customers with a pop-up shop offering fresh produce from a range of local suppliers.
Further modifications allowed the business to set up a new online grocery order service with delivery for the elderly and those self-isolating.
Two refrigeration units were purchased to help increase the display of produce enabling them to reopen the pub to customers.
Thanks to the success of the pop-up, it continues to operate alongside the pub and restaurant.
Located in Rickmansworth, Creative Juices Brewing Company Ltd is a small craft brewery producing high quality beers, which were sold within an on-site taproom.
During lockdown, the team at Creative Juices Brewing worked proactively to set up a new website and a free local delivery service for customers.
Post-lockdown, the taproom space remained unusable due to social distancing constraints and funding from Crowdfund Hertfordshire: Small Business Innovation Fund has enabled the business to create an entirely new outside space to operate from instead.
Creative Juices Brewing Company Ltd founder Ben Janaway said: “We are just one of thousands of businesses in the county who have found themselves muddling their way through uncharted territory thanks to the COVID pandemic and facing the prospect of not being able to reopen our business, even after restrictions started to ease.
“We heard about the Herts LEP Innovation Fund and thought this might offer a solution to what was essentially unplanned, but much-needed investment.”
Ben added: “The generosity of the Crowdfunder donors just blew us away, and combined with the additional LEP funding, we have been able to innovate as a business, pivot our approach, and open our doors – or at least our garden gate – once more.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say that we wouldn’t be able to operate without that investment, so whilst the fund has given us a much surer footing, it has also secured jobs for Hertfordshire and secured a valuable resource for the local community.
“We will remain both humbled and thankful for that support.”
For more information and how to apply, visit https://www.visithertsbusiness.co.uk/get-involved/crowdfund-hertfordshire-small-business-innovation-fund/
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