Full Festive Line-up at Colonnade House

Christmas Pop-up Shop

Our popular Christmas Pop-up Shop is back for two weeks from Tuesday 12th December with a selection of original gifts including paintings, prints, cards, jewellery, homewares and more from the talented residents of the studios at Colonnade House, including John Bond who draws dogs of all kinds and has lent us his festive image - 'Merry Sniffsmas'.  

Open every day Tuesday 12th - Saturday 23rd December 10am - 5pm.

Come and join us for a glass of mulled wine at our late opening event Thursday 14th December - open to 8pm.

Click here to read more

West Sussex Art Society Christmas Exhibition

The West Sussex Art Society’s annual exhibition is at Colonnade House this year and will feature a range of affordable artwork from paintings, drawings and sculpture to textiles, greetings cards and handcrafted Christmas decorations. 

Click here to read more

Michelle can't stop drawing...!

Local artist and illustrator Michelle Dawson will be back at Colonnade House with her popular drawings and prints, this time focussing on images of Worthing. Michelle runs classes to share her infectious love of drawing with pen or pencil and will be drawing live in the gallery at times during the week - so come and catch the bug!

Click here to read more

A Brush with Colour 

Finishing 2017 and taking us into the new year, Walter Wall will be showing his latest encounters with colour. Be prepared to be dazzled by brilliant brushstrokes, outpourings of colour and flamboyant flinging of paint. It will brighten your winter!

Click here to read more

Friday Night Live Music - Black Friday Deal

TONIGHT 19:30 -22:00

Tonight, enjoy some live music while you dine. The wonderful Amelia will entertain you with her dulcet tones and David will be tinkling the Ivories. Both performers come with a wealth of experience of performing in London West End Theatre and Hotels

There will be music from the Beatles to Fats Waller, the Great American Songbook and more

BLACK FRIDAY DEAL: 

Book by midday quoting BLACK FRIDAY to receive a complimentary Prosecco cocktail with peach schnapps on arrival and a liquor with your coffee!

You know a good deal when you see one!!

We're coming at you this BLACK FRIDAY with a couple of deals that are truly too good to miss. What better excuse to enjoy some of the best steaks and seafood in Worthing than a jolly good deal.

GIFT VOUCHERS:

For every £50.00 spent on vouchers we will increase it to £60.00 for you this Friday only. Just quote BLACK FRIDAY when purchasing. Before 8pm  

To claim either of the great deals below just call us and quote BLACK FRIDAY when booking.

http://indigorestaurant.info/   01903 230451

MHA Carpenter Box Autumn Budget Summary

Perhaps the biggest news to come from Philip Hammond’s second Budget this year was the sharp cut to UK growth predictions. The Chancellor downgraded productivity, growth and business investment forecasts fairly substantially. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now expects the economy to grow by only 1.5% this year, down from the estimate of 2% it made in March. Furthermore, they believe growth will drop to 1.3% by 2020 before rising to 1.5% by 2021.

Other notable points from the Autumn Budget include:

Stamp Duty Land Tax has been abolished for first time buyers on homes costing up to £300,000, and on the first £300,000 of properties costing up to £500,000

Tax-free personal allowance on income tax set to rise to £11,850 in April 2018, with the higher-rate tax threshold to increase to £46,350

VAT registration threshold is to stay at £85,000 for the next two years

£3 billion is to be set aside over next two years to prepare UK for every possible Brexit outcome as UK leaves EU

Increase in Enterprise Investment Scheme investment limit from £1m to £2m, provided any amount over £1m is invested in one or more knowledge-intensive companies.

Want to know more? Read our Budget Summary

As ever, the Chancellor's announcements from the floor of the house covered only a small percentage of the legislation introduced by the Budget. We have therefore provided a summary of the main announcements (as well as the less publicised changes) that are also likely to affect your personal and business finances.

Our Budget Summary aims to highlight the most important new rules and regulations from across various government publications to help you understand your options as an individual and/or a business.

We will look at the new proposals to ensure we offer our clients the best advice to help them remain as tax efficient as possible. Our colleagues in Carpenter Box Wealth Management LLP are also on hand to help manage investments and pensions.

If you would like more detailed one-to-one advice on any of the issues raised in the budget or on business or personal finances, please get in touch or give us a call on 01903 234094.

Reactions from MHA Carpenter Box:

"The additional funding support for housing is good news for the construction industry. And while we welcome the Stamp Duty withdrawal for first time buyers, we are yet to see what the impact will be on housing prices." Robert Dowling, Head of Construction and Real Estate

"On the skills front, there is a further £600 for each new pupil taking maths or further maths at A Level and some extra resource promised around the recruitment of computer science teachers. Once again though, it appears that there is no real strategy to meet the skills challenge in engineering. We now await the Industrial Strategy white paper and hope that it will set out a more positive pathway to promoting UK manufacturing and engineering as we strive to make and export more." Chris Coopey, Head of Manufacturing and Engineering

"The increase in personal allowances and basic rate band would mean a reduced income tax liability of £45 per month for higher rate taxpayers, and £14 per month for basic rate taxpayers from April 2018." Karen Thomas, Associate, Tax Services

"Dealers will be hopeful that the minimal impact of this Budget on the sector will help turn-around falling volumes and bring car replacements back up the priority list for buyers, especially for those looking to step out of diesels." Chris Reeves, Head of Motor Retail

"The Autumn Budget sees a freeze on so called “booze duty”, which is welcome news for anyone running their own restaurant, licenced premises or brewery. And some pubs in England will also see the discount on business rates apply, which further relieves cash-flow pressure." Nathan Keeley, Head of Hospitality

"Good to see the NHS being granted extra money but the key factor will be on how that is allocated. With the development of medical science meaning an ageing population, the demands are ever increasing."Jeff Huggins, Head of Healthcare

"Overall, good news for the vineyards and breweries – there was no increase in duty in most cases." John Billings, Head of Agriculture and Rural Business

"While investment limits have doubled for EIS investors, the rules around capital preservation have been tightened. Individuals seeking to invest in small businesses will need to understand that despite the underlying tax benefits, the risks are high and the potential for loss could be a reality." Simon Fox, Managing Director, Carpenter Box Wealth Management

Parmar Staffing have grown!!

Parmar Staffing a local recruitment agency based in Worthing are pleased to announce another new member of staff has joined us. Rob Newton joins us with a wealth of sales and account management experience and will be a valued addition to the team. This now takes the Parmar Staffing business to four staff. 

Steve Parmar-Greaves - Sales Director said - Rob’s employment has come at the right time as we enter our 11 year of trading in 2018 and develop our business further. We have some exciting plans to unveil in the new year and will share these with you soon. 

Parmar Staffing provide recruitment services across the Sussex and the South East to a wide range of clients, covering Executive Recruitment, Technical Recruitment and Professional Recruitment. 

Budget investment in city transport welcomed by Greater Brighton

Investment in transport links in UK cities are a welcome boost, claim Greater Brighton leaders - though they warn the Chancellor could, and perhaps should, have done more to improve South East infrastructure.

Following the budget yesterday (Wednesday November 22), Councillor Andy Smith, chairman of Greater Brighton Economic Board, which represents nearly one million people and more than 35,000 businesses, welcomed the announcement of a £1.7 billion transport investment fund for UK city regions.

However, with half of this restricted to the devolved combined authorities - most of whom are in the Midlands and North, Cllr Smith said more was needed to bring about lasting change to transport links across the Greater Brighton region.

Cllr Smith said: "While it is great to see the Chancellor's support for devolution and the City Regions, it is disappointing that half of the £1.7 billion transport investment is restricted largely to the Midlands and the North.

"Anyone who has used our over-stretched and unreliable rail system in recent years will know how much it is damaging business and restricting growth across our area. The same can be said for our congested highways, with the A27, A23 and A259 reducing productivity among our hundreds of thousands of workers.

"Greater Brighton look forward to being able to look in detail at how to access the remaining £850 million. And we will continue to campaign and lobby for improvements to the Brighton Mainline, as well as the A23 and A27."

The issues of a congested road and rail networks which are hampering growth across the Greater Brighton region were raised with leading Government officials in September. Whitehall officials were informed it currently takes more than two hours to get to Heathrow Airport by train and over 80 minutes to travel 34 miles to Guildford from the City Region.

Further research shows more than 35,000 people currently travel between Greater Brighton and Gatwick/Central London every day showing a reliance on north-south links. There is also a high number of people that rely on key transport links for jobs, with 2011 Census figures showing 32% of Lewes-based workers and 33% of Adur workers commuting to Brighton & Hove.

With the population increasing by 98,000 and 48,000 jobs being created by 2030, Greater Brighton leaders believe now is the right time for the government to invest.

For more details on Greater Brighton visit here.

The Top 8 Implications of the Autumn Budget for SME's

To help understand the key implications that small and medium sized businesses should know about, I’ve detailed the key items announced today:

1 - Stamp Duty Land Tax

The big announcements were in respect of housing, with the Stamp Duty Land Tax exemption of £300,000 for first time buyers being the headline announcement. However, whilst 300,000 more houses per annum is what experts believe we need, what actual impact will the SDLT relief have? There is much analysis that suggests that all that happens is the price for properties in this price range increase because of the SDLT saving.

2 - SME builders

We need to see the finer detail of how the help for SME builders will work. One of the biggest issues is that these builders often have difficulty in obtaining finance. The change to tax on liquidations in 2015 hit this sector hard, as it created uncertainty as to the tax treatment on exit for investors. One of the biggest helps here would be for HMRC to give real guidance on how this rule affects this sector.

3 - Supporting the knowledge based and tech business sector

Spreadsheet Phil also made a big play on supporting the knowledge based and tech business sector. The speech itself gave little detail as to how this would filter down – there was much talk of plans and consultations, and public-private partnerships, but little concrete detail.

4 - National minimum wage

Business will have planned for the increase in National minimum wage next spring, and this has been confirmed.

5 - Change to the calculation of business rate

There is a welcome change to the calculation of business rate increases (to the lower CPI rather than RPI), but the increase in business rates will now happen every three years, rather than five. This was presented as a benefit to business!

6 - Increase in EIS limits for tech companies

The increase in EIS limits for tech companies is welcome; but there are restrictions on EIS where they are lower risk. The definition of risk is to be what is considered ‘reasonable’. This can only add to complexity.

7 - How to deal with off-payroll working

Further down the line, there will be a consultation on how to deal with ‘off-payroll working’ and how this will be extended to the private sector. This has been a big issue for the public sector already in dealing with these changes. We can expect similar administration burden for those in the private sector as well.

8 - ‘Big numbers’

Whilst there weren’t many headline measures, it's always interesting to look at the bigger numbers in the Treasury’s Red Book. Here we see how the Budget will actually impact.

The abolition of indexation allowance (an allowance for inflation on cost for companies when they sell an asset) will save over £0.5bn pa.

The SDLT relief for first time buyers will cost a similar amount. If we say that the average SDLT for a first time buyer would be say £5,000, this implies over 330,000 first time buyers each year.

The change for business rates increase to CPI from RPI will save in total £0.5bn pa.

The really interesting one will be the National Productivity Investment Fund which will cost £7bn but only in 2022/23. If it's that important, perhaps we should have it earlier.

Perhaps the maths does matter!

Click here to visit the website

Click here to view the top 5  Personal Finance Implications of the Autumn Budget

Update from Southern Water - Lets Talk Water: A Resilient Future for Water in the South East

Water plays a central role in our everyday lives, but its value, importance and the wider benefits it provides are very rarely discussed. 

The impacts of climate change and population growth mean we need to adapt the services we provide to ensure they are resilient in the long-term. To achieve this we need to be bold and innovative - meaning we need to embrace new technologies and ways of working. 

Our Vision

This month we published our vision for the next 25 years entitled Let’s Talk Water – A Resilient Future for Water in the South East .This sets out how we will transform the services we provide to meet the challenges and opportunities the future presents. 

Worthing FX's Grand Opening!

Chamber members are invited to Worthing FX's grand opening day of their new shop on 29th of  November at 10am.

The address is 118 Montague Street BN11 3HG

Visit their website for more information http://www.worthingfxservices.com/

Students Film Comedian Jo Brand ahead of Worthing Pantomime
 
Northbrook MET Creative Media Practice (Moving Image) degree students had the amazing opportunity to film Jo Brand for her new role in Worthing Theatre's pantomime Snow White, which opens at the beginning of December.
 
Jo, who plays the mirror in the production, visited the West Durrington campus, where the students produced, filmed and edited a video of her, which will be incorporated into the pantomime.
 
Kate Mapes, Moving Image degree Course Leader, said, “It’s great that students get the opportunity to work on professional jobs. This gives them a real insight in how to work with a celebrity client in the outside world.”
 
Nick George, Artistic Director for leading pantomime production company Paul Holman Associates (PHA), said, "The students at Northbrook MET were a pleasure to work with. It was great to go into such a professional and well equipped facility, with the students on top of every aspect of the project. PHA would be very happy to work alongside the students on future productions.”
 
A series of collaborations with Worthing Theatres has been developed in the last few years by Level 3 Theatre Arts Course Leader Sadie Anderson. Projects have included the creation of a large scale Cinderella slipper and a Tinkerbell figurine.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opens at the Pavilion Theatre, Worthing from Friday 1st December 2017 until Monday 1st January 2018. Tickets are available from the Worthing Theatres box office on 01903 206 206 and online at worthingtheatres.co.uk.

Latest Worthing Podcast

The latest Worthing Podcast is online, once again with Worthing Theatres, looking at what's coming up in December. 

There will be another podcast coming soon. With Frances Wetherilt from Here & Now Magazine, to talk to her about the background to the magazine and what makes it successful!  That will be up in a few days. 

Click here to listen to the podcast