Dinner & debate

Business leaders from Stroud and the Five Valleys recently attended a State of the Economy dinner hosted by Cheltenham and Stonehouse legal firm, BPE Solicitors. During the course of the evening, the delegates expressed their thoughts for the future as ‘cautiously optimism’.

The senior business figures from ten organisations came together at The Painswick Hotel on Thursday 11 May, representing banks, private sector businesses and professional services firms in Gloucestershire.

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, as well as predictions for 2022 and the potential impact of Brexit.

“The issues and opportunities for many Gloucestershire businesses will become more apparent as the Brexit negotiation process gains momentum and the detail becomes clearer,” John commented. “It is also good to see that contingency planning is already well underway. In the short term however, our priorities are shared; guarding against the challenges whilst taking advantage of the opportunities.

“There is no doubt that there will be winners and losers, and our firms intend to be among the winners, taking our businesses and people 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, GFirst LEP, Gill Harris James, Howard Tenens, Lister Unified Communications, Lloyds Bank Group, Randall & Payne, Renishaw, The History Press and Tudor Rose International Ltd.

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