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Small Business Strategy Inquiry 2025 - ACT and Bira call for members to share their voice

20 Jun 2025

The House of Commons Business and Trade Committee has asked the ACT, and its parent company Bira, to help them reach out to small business retailers across the country, for their quick input on... Read more…

Beyond the discount: Restoring integrity to the cycle supply chain

18 Jun 2025

The Association of Cycle Traders believes the time has come for greater accountability throughout our supply chain, writes ACT Director Jonathan Harrison in an article published for BikeBiz.
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Bira welcomes Wales' business rates proposals but calls for key improvements

11 Jun 2025

Bira has welcomed the Welsh Government's consultation on business rate reforms for retail shops, whilst calling for significant improvements to ensure the proposals truly support high street... Read more…

New awards launch to champion Britain's independent high street heroes

9 Jun 2025

Retailers on Britain's high streets are being encouraged to put themselves forward for the first-ever Love Your High Street Awards, designed to celebrate the small businesses that bring... Read more…

"Tectonic shift" in employment law threatens independent retailer viability, warns Bira podcast

6 Jun 2025

Independent retailers are facing a "generational" transformation of employment law that could fundamentally change how small businesses operate, according to the final episode of Bira's first... Read more…

Retailers hope warm weather and bank holidays will boost high street sales

16 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has said that members are hopeful the warm weather, Easter weekend and upcoming bank holidays will provide a much-needed boost to high street sales.
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Economic growth surges to 0.7%, but "April reality check" looms for high street retailers

15 May 2025

UK economy delivers strongest quarterly performance in a year despite forecasts of business downturn.
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Communities come together for Local Bike Shop Day 2025 celebrations

13 May 2025

Local Bike Shop Day 2025 brought a wave of... Read more…

ACT parent company Bira welcomes Bank of England's latest interest rate cut

8 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has welcomed the Bank of England's decision to reduce interest rates from 4.5% to 4.25%, calling it a "much-needed boost" for the retail sector, including for cycling... Read more…

ACT parent company Bira responds to Beales' "Rachel Reeves Closing Down Sale" as iconic store makes final protest

8 May 2025

ACT parent company Bira has responded to the news that the 144-year-old Beales department store is staging a "Rachel Reeves Closing Down Sale" in its final weeks of trading, with giant yellow... Read more…

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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.

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