{$inpagemarkup}

Search News

Results: 1-10 of 679


ACT parent company Bira says Spring Statement fails to address high street crisis

26 Mar 2025

ACT parent company Bira has said the Chancellor's Spring Statement delivered today has failed to address the "perfect storm" of cost pressures facing independent retailers across the UK,... Read more…

ACT parent company Bira outlines key priorities ahead of Spring Budget

25 Mar 2025

ACT parent company Bira has outlined its key priorities ahead of the Chancellor's Spring Budget statement.
Read more…

Bristol-based cycling charity Life Cycle now offering Cytech training courses

20 Mar 2025

Cytech, the internationally recognised training and accreditation scheme for bicycle mechanics, have partnered with Bristol-based charity Life Cycle to offer a range of bicycle mechanic... Read more…

High street 'death knell' – indie retailers, including cycle shops, shutting doors ahead of April tax rises

12 Mar 2025

Towns and cities across Britain are already seeing a wave of closures as independent businesses shut their doors ahead of April’s triple tax burden, including those in the cycling retail... Read more…

Research shows UK businesses hiring more as consumer confidence lifts

5 Mar 2025

New research has revealed a recent uptick in UK consumer confidence, leading to increased hiring by businesses, with the retail sector responding positively to signs of economic resilience.
Read more…

Independent cycle shop becomes first retailer to stock new local bike brand

28 Feb 2025

Independent cycling retailer and ACT member Velo Fit has become the first to stock a new brand of bikes focused on combining quality and affordability.
Read more…

Bira cautiously welcomes new crime and policing bill to tackle retail crime across high street businesses

26 Feb 2025

ACT parent company Bira has cautiously welcomed Labour's Crime and Policing Bill but is calling for urgent action and immediate funding to address the surge in retail crime affecting independent... Read more…

Bira warns of 'troubled times ahead' despite interest rate cut

7 Feb 2025

ACT parent company Bira has warned that retailers across Britain face troubled times ahead despite today's Bank of England interest rate cut to 4.5%, as the Bank halves its growth forecast for... Read more…

Free webinar exclusive to ACT members on employment law compliance

4 Feb 2025

The ACT and legal partner WorkNest are hosting an exclusive webinar on how to remain compliant with employment law while making necessary business changes.
Read more…

ACT parent company Bira urges Government action as December sales disappoint

23 Jan 2025

ACT parent company Bira is calling for urgent government intervention following disappointing December retail figures, which show sales volumes fell by 0.3% following a modest 0.1% rise in... Read more…

Back to news menu

Pet Shop owner nominated for award for food bank donations

Posted on in Business News

Rebecca Harrington, owner of Purdy's pet shop in Coventry, has been nominated in the animal category at BBC CWR's Make a Difference awards for providing pet food parcels to food banks.

Pet store

She said in two months "we've done 124 bags, so that's 124 weeks' worth of food".

People and projects have been nominated in Coventry and Warwickshire for the positive impact they have made.

Rebecca, who volunteered last year at a few food banks, said she "quickly realised" that people were getting food, then "feeding their animals first".

She added this was leaving them without food, "which kind of defeated the object a little bit and I thought 'well, there's got to be a way that people could help.'"

The Radford shop owner said: "We literally worked out that we have to put parcels together, so over the course of a few months we worked out nutritionally what would help an animal for a week."

The project is now "in four food bank centres and one hub for social supermarket" and while 124 bags have been done, "it's growing".

She added: "Within two months to get that, it's amazing. But there's 15 food banks in Coventry and we want to be able to supply all of them."

Rebecca said: "I haven't got loads of money and I've been there where I've had to literally look at the price tag of the food, so I know what it's like."

The awards event will take place on Sunday 8 September.

Back to news menu

Useful links

If you have any other queries please contact us.