Steven Hesketh

Every year we all say the same thing: “We should support local more.” And we mean it. We really do. But then December hits, we’re tired, we’re busy, and convenience starts winning. In this day and age when its never been harder to keep a business up and running, we must do more to help our favourite local independents. Because the high street doesn’t survive on just good intentions. It survives on habits. It survives on people choosing the independent café over the chain, the family-run...

In the last 3 weeks, me and my businesses have been up for three different awards… and we lost all three. I’m not going to pretend it didn’t sting, because it did. You dress up, you bring your team out, you’ve spent hours writing submissions, you’re sat at a big round table with your stomach flipping every time they pause before announcing the winner, and then your name doesn’t get called. In that moment it’s a punch to the gut, and it’s very easy to slip into, “What’s the point?” territory....

This is the week I have been awaiting; the budget announcement has been a grey cloud, unsure if it will prevail with disbursement or rain, and of course rain finally broke, and lets simply put November 2025 behind us all round. Sky News counted 43 tax rises in this Budget, and that’s before you factor in the income tax threshold freeze, dragging more people into higher tax bands over time. This Budget doesn’t feel like it was written by anyone who has ever had to make payroll or owned their...