Chorley Council celebrates centenary of business start-ups

A business set up by former workmates who were made redundant when the firm they worked for ceased trading is the 100th new business to be supported by Chorley Council since it launched its specialist start-up service.

And husband and wife team, Martin and Jayne Smith who set up the business and took on two of their former colleagues who had been made redundant at the same time, said they were ‘over the moon’ at the amount of help and support they’ve received from the council.

“We’ve never been employers before so there were so many things we had no idea about. The help and support we’ve had from the council has been and continues to be invaluable.”

“Martin and Jayne had a clear vision for their business but needed help to ensure they set off in the right direction.

“I wish Jayne and Martin well with their business and their plans for the future. I’m also now looking forward to seeing Chorley’s 200th start-up business get off the ground in the not too distant future.”

Jayne said: “Martin and I designed the product which we made at our previous employment. We built a good name for them so when we were made redundant we decided to have a go at doing it ourselves and took on two of our former colleagues to help us.

“We manufacture a range of standard sized products but we can also do bespoke sizes to fit people’s needs, put wheels on them to make them mobile, offer powder coated products in different colours and we can even offer a personalised service with photos of people’s pets on the doors. Because we design them ourselves, we can do exactly what people want.”