HASLEMERE Chamber of Commerce has sung the virtues of the government’s Coronavirus Business Grant scheme for allowing it to extend its support to the town’s small business owners.

Currently home to seven small businesses, the chamber’s own Haslemere Business Centre has been a springboard for small businesses success over the past four years, with 11 businesses crediting the centre for giving them the flexible support they needed to grow their operations.

When it became clear the coronavirus would have a significant impact on small businesses, the Haslemere Business Centre applied for a Coronavirus Business Grant of £10,000, with the express intention of supporting those seven small businesses who rely on the business centre as their base.

Business Centre director and president of the Haslemere & District Chamber of Trade & Commerce, Craig McGowan, said: “We are delighted the Haslemere Business Centre has been given the Coronavirus Small Business Grant.

“This has allowed the directors and the chamber to drastically reduce the rent to all the small businesses currently occupying the Business Centre.

“This will help them get through a period of great uncertainty when many are facing a dramatic reduction in their income and business activity.

“I’d urge any small businesses which are eligible to apply for a grant as the whole process was simplicity itself and the money was in the Business Centre’s bank account in less than two weeks from applying.

“We’d also like to thank Waverley Borough Council for their support during this process.”

The Haslemere Business Centre provides serviced office space to rent on a desk-by-desk basis to help local businesses grow.

Located in a recently refurbished, centrally-located commercial property on Haslemere High Street, the Business Centre provides excellent facilities including a screened workstation with desk, chair and filing cabinet, ultra-fast reliable broadband and a VoIP phone system in a professional and affordable environment.

Short-term, flexible agreements mean start-ups don’t feel tied down into long, costly contracts.

See haslemerechamber.co.uk for more information.