New and growing businesses are being allowed to thrive in a 鈥榮truggling鈥 town centre 鈥 thanks to the redevelopment of two major sites.
Developer Dog and Bone Group has spent more than seven years transforming Carlton House in the town of Stoke, in Stoke-on-Trent, and the neighbouring former potbank site Spode Works into mixed use office space and accommodation.
Between them, both sites now support in excess of 350 jobs, including highly-skilled employees, trainees and apprentices 鈥 and are home to almost a dozen businesses.
Jeff Nash, director of the Dog and Bone Group, said: 鈥淲e started work on the Carlton House site in 2012 and that was actually the inspiration behind what we have done at Spode.
鈥淥riginally Spode was going to be student accommodation, but our plans morphed into what it is today 鈥 a hotel, cafe, wedding venue and office space."
He added: 鈥淭here is still a long way to go but this transformation, and the amount of new businesses popping up around the Spode area, is having a dramatic effect on the wider community, as well as on our own business.
鈥淛ust four years ago, these businesses would not have been seen dead in Stoke, but now they are thriving.
鈥淭hey were attracted to the area because of the combination of great location, easily accessible rail, air and road links, and its proximity to the university and access to a graduate workforce.
鈥淥ne of the biggest draws though has been the vibe that we have created at these two heritage buildings.鈥
Carlton House 鈥 which is now fully let 鈥 boasts a number of new businesses, including IT firm Hixon, global paper supplier International Paper, and beauty and wellness business Lou Lou鈥檚 Beauty Boutique, as well as electromechanical specialists Fletcher Moorland.
Emma-Louise Tschubenko 鈥 who runs Lou Lou鈥檚 Beauty Boutique 鈥 moved into Carlton House last year.
She said: 鈥淚 have been in the trade for 15 years. I was freelance but I wanted to offer more than I could offer as a mobile business.
鈥淲e were looking for a premises for a long time, but when we came across this we thought it was amazing.
鈥淚 wanted a really quirky building that I could turn into a modern beauty and wellbeing centre, I didn鈥檛 want somewhere that was really clinical looking.
鈥淣ow we have treatment rooms, a spray tanning area and a nail bar and we are fully booked on evenings and weekends until October. Business is going really well.鈥
Jonathan Lawton, managing director at Hixon, added: 鈥淪ince moving into the Carlton House building four years ago, we have expanded rapidly and this would not have been possible if we hadn鈥檛 have moved here.
鈥淎s a Microsoft Partner, we provide services to a wide range of clients throughout the 海角视频 and with the fantastic road and rail links, this has increased efficiency massively.
鈥淲e can now provide rapid response engineers throughout the county and beyond in a fraction of the time in comparison to our old premises.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also a great location to further grow our relationship with Staffordshire University, Keele University and Newcastle College.
鈥淲e look forward to working with Jeff to further improve the facilities across both sites moving forward, but also being an active part of the local business community that is forming as part of this exciting development in the town.鈥
Nearby at Spode, events caters Mosaic, Centre Space Gallery and video production company Popcorn Learning Media are among the businesses based at the former potbank.
Eric Cresswell, director of Popcorn, said: 鈥淲hen we were looking to move into larger offices, we had a chance meeting with Jeff whilst we were having lunch.
鈥淲e already loved what he was doing with the Spode factory, and an office had just become available which was ideal for our size business.
鈥淎 year later we are growing and are really keen to stay involved in all the great things Jeff is trying to achieve at Spode. We are really proud to be a part of the story.鈥
Last week, Dog and Bone Group hosted a meeting with council leaders and local businesses to showcase the regeneration at the two sites and how they are playing a big part in the regeneration of Stoke town.
Councillor Daniel Jellyman, cabinet member for regeneration, infrastructure and heritage at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said: 鈥淐arlton House and Spode Works has brought transformational change to the town of Stoke.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to imagine that four years ago none of these businesses were here and that Stoke is fast becoming a hub for creative businesses and other organisations.鈥
Councillor Abi Brown, leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, added: 鈥淚t is exciting to see the changes that have happened over the last four years, and it is exciting to see what is happening to the area of Stoke.
鈥淏uildings like Carlton House and Spode Works are becoming a focal point for the town, and it鈥檚 great to see that lots of businesses are choosing to set up here.鈥
