Supporting Hertfordshire’s High Streets: A Round-Up of Our Recent Workshops

Over the past month, Hertfordshire Growth Hub delivered a series of focused workshops in Watford, Stevenage, St Albans, and Buntingford, designed to support local high street and customer-facing businesses with the practical tools they need to strengthen their brand, improve visibility, and navigate key areas of compliance.

Across these sessions, we welcomed a mix of independent retailers, hospitality providers, personal service businesses, and other small enterprises who engaged in open discussion and took away practical steps they can begin applying straight away.

At our Watford, Stevenage, and St Albans workshops, brand strategist Anna Peck from Midnight Blue guided businesses through the importance of clarity, confidence, and consistency in building a brand that stands out. Attendees explored how to identify their ideal customers, communicate their unique strengths, and use both digital and in-person touchpoints to build stronger customer relationships. The smaller group sizes provided space for personalised discussion, something many participants found especially valuable.

In Buntingford and Stevenage, the session also included insight from Michael Niles, who demonstrated simple ways businesses can improve their visibility in local online searches. His focus on workable changes to Google Business Profiles and basic SEO helped equip businesses with practical actions to boost their digital reach.

Compliance support was another important theme across the series. In selected workshops, Better Business for All offered clear guidance to help businesses understand key regulatory considerations and know where to access friendly, accessible advice from Trading Standards, Environmental Health, and Licensing teams. Their contribution helped reassure businesses that support is available and easy to access.

These events form part of Hertfordshire Growth Hub’s wider commitment to supporting high street resilience. High streets continue to play a vital role in Hertfordshire’s economy, yet many businesses face pressures linked to rising costs, shifting customer expectations, and the increasing need to operate effectively both online and offline. The workshops were designed to help businesses strengthen the areas they have identified as priorities, particularly branding, digital capability, and clarity around compliance.

Regulatory guidance is another area where businesses have asked for clear and accessible support. Our ongoing partnership with Better Business for All is helping to simplify the regulatory landscape and give businesses the reassurance they need to operate safely and confidently.

We would like to thank all the businesses and partners who took part in the workshops

If your business would like further guidance or would like to access funded one-to-one support, please contact the Hertfordshire Growth Hub team.