Swindon: We’re here – why aren’t you?

Some of Swindon’s biggest businesses have signed up to support a campaign to ‘back’ Swindon in a bid to attract inward investment into the town centre.

Swindon’s excellent location makes it a major hub for businesses with company’s such as Honda and Zurich already based in the town. So positive is their experience of operating here, they have signed up to back The New Swindon Company’s latest marketing campaign ‘Swindon: we’re here – why aren’t you?’, an initiative that will market Swindon as a destination of choice to more than 3,000 businesses along the M4 corridor, from London to Bristol.

The concept behind this campaign, which is based around a dedicated website launched in September, is to provide companies interested in re-locating with information on what Swindon has to offer, along with local business advice and investment opportunities.

Councilor Phil Young, Lead Member for Regeneration, at Swindon Borough Council commented: “Swindon has a great offering – a fantastic location, competitive property prices and a successful local economy.

We already have a large number of well known businesses operating from the town centre and over recent months have seen increased demand for office space from companies looking to move from London, Bristol and Bath. With the delivery of a £1 billion regeneration scheme underway, which will bring with it a number of new developments and top class office, retail and residential space, things look set to get even better.”

Carol Heneghan, Director of Marketing at The New Swindon Company added: “Significant investment is required in order to attract a broad range of businesses and create a more vibrant town centre, and so the aim of this campaign is to get Swindon’s positive messages out there. Local companies Honda, Zurich, GWE Business West, Monahans, Howard Tenens and Wow! Creative have already signed up to ‘back’ Swindon, and our aim is to get as many businesses as possible to come on board and recognise what the town has to offer.”

Mike Godfrey, Senior Manager and Chief Engineer at Honda, said: “We came to Swindon for a number of reasons. The town has an excellent skills base and a large number of people with a background in manufacturing and engineering. We were able to move straight into a large site with options for future expansion, and this combined with existing infrastructure that could link us to the main supplier base, ports and airports made it an obvious choice.”

Chairman of GWE Business West, Nicky Alberry said, “One of GWE Business West’s core aims is to make Swindon one of the best places to live and work by enabling the local business community to play a part in influencing the way our area is shaped, managed and developed. We fully support any campaign that helps to create a prosperous local environment and will be assisting The New Swindon Company in spreading the message that Swindon presents major opportunities for business.” Go to http://www.newswindonbackingbusiness.co.uk/ for more information on Swindon’s regeneration plans, investment opportunities and testimonials from businesses already operating successfully in the town.