State of the Economy Dinner

Business leaders from Gloucestershire recently attended a State of the Economy dinner hosted by Top 200 legal firm, BPE Solicitors. An evening of spirited debate showed that the impacts of globalism are keenly felt on the doorsteps of many county firms.

The senior business figures from 13 organisations came together at Cheltenham’s Hotel du Vin on Wednesday 24 May, representing banks, further education, private sector businesses and professional services firms in the county.

During dinner the evening’s host, BPE Senior Partner John Workman, led the discussion on how the Bank of England’s macroeconomic forecast will be reflected in business confidence in Gloucestershire, the potential impact of Brexit, and the priorities for firms within their own businesses.

“While it’s too soon to fully assess the issues and opportunities for many Gloucestershire businesses until the Brexit negotiation process gains momentum, there was both determination and realism around the table,” John commented. “Turbulent global markets have been the source of both pain and opportunity for those already trading internationally. Optimism and pragmatism was evident in response to uncertainty in this changing political and economic climate.

“Education in all its forms was an impassioned talking point; the importance of developing ‘work-ready’ youngsters and retaining experienced people to drive our businesses forward.”

There was further discussion about the UK National Cyber Centre in Cheltenham and the plans for future development throughout Gloucestershire, along with opportunities that may result from this.

Organisations represented at the dinner were: BPE, AGD Systems, Barclays, Gloucestershire College, Hazlewoods, Infosec People, Lloyds Bank Group, Optimising IT, Snape Group, SK Heating & Cooling, Target PR, Tungum Ltd, QuoLux.

These notes have been prepared for the purpose of articles only. They should not be regarded as a substitute for taking legal advice.