Here’s something that doesn’t get said often enough in South Holland: Most “local businesses” aren’t based in Spalding town centre.
They’re not clustered around the Market Place or Bridge Street.
They’re not always on Long Sutton, Crowland or Holbeach High Streets either.
They’re in Gedney Dyke and Gosberton, Pinchbeck and Pode Hole, Weston, Surfleet, Donington, Cowbit, Moulton.
They’re operating from spare rooms, sheds, garages, studios, vans, yards and industrial units. From kitchens that double as offices and back gardens that double as workshops.
They’re plumbers and painters. Dog groomers and dog walkers. Builders, electricians and landscapers. Website designers, photographers and artists. Fitness instructors, yoga teachers and personal trainers. They are therapists, wellbeing practitioners, tutors and coaches.
They don’t all rely on footfall. Their customers don’t necessarily wander past and pop in.
People find them because someone recommends them, because they need them, or because they’ve quietly built a reputation over years.
They are local businesses in every sense of the word – just not the visible, shopfront kind.
Most local businesses don’t rely on footfall – but we still talk about them as if they do.
The problem with how “local business” is still framed
Despite how most businesses now operate, our idea of local business hasn’t really shifted.
When attention turns to supporting local business, the focus nearly always drifts back to the same place: the “town centre”.
That’s where investment goes.
That’s where regeneration efforts concentrate.
That’s where success is measured – footfall, events, appearances, activity.
And to be clear, none of that is inherently wrong. Town centres matter. They shape how a place feels. They influence whether people want to visit and spend time there. But they don’t represent the full picture of the local economy anymore.
When we are talking about local businesses, there are a far higher number not based in town centres than the number of those with premises on the high street.
When we looked at the local business stats for the Lowdown magazine, South Holland had more than 3,000 micro businesses. Only a fraction of those could possibly be operating from town-centre premises – otherwise we wouldn’t still be talking about empty shop units.
The majority are exactly the kinds of businesses people don’t always picture when they hear the phrase “local business”.
When place-based investment is treated as business support
Spalding’s recently approved £20 million Pride in Place funding is a good example of how this plays out.
The Vision is about improving the town centre as a place – making it safer, more welcoming, and more attractive to visit. That’s a legitimate aim. But almost all of the attention, language and investment is tied to physical space: streets, buildings, public areas, events and gateways in and out of the centre. What’s missing is any parallel conversation about the majority of businesses that operate completely outside that footprint.
The issue isn’t that the plan is doing the wrong thing. It’s that town-centre investment often gets talked about as if it automatically supports local business as a whole. For a lot of businesses in South Holland, it simply doesn’t.
The reality many businesses are dealing with
Right now, many small businesses are feeling the squeeze.
Not because fewer people are walking down Bridge Street – but because:
- disposable income is tighter
- customers are being more selective
- “nice to have” spending has dropped
- costs keep rising
Fixing places is not the same as supporting businesses.
Those pressures hit plumbers and dog groomers just as much as cafés and shops. They affect fitness instructors, creatives and trades regardless of postcode.
They’re not solved by better paving or refreshed branding in the town centre.
Yet those businesses rarely see themselves reflected in the way “supporting local business” is discussed.
Who gets counted – and who doesn’t
This is the uncomfortable question sitting underneath all of this.
If local business support is shaped mainly around what’s visible from the pavement, then a huge part of the local economy gets quietly sidelined.
Not deliberately.
Not maliciously.
But consistently.
And when businesses don’t feel seen or considered, they disengage from the conversation altogether.
A broader view is overdue
None of this is about dismissing town centres or the businesses that rely on them. It’s about recognising that the local economy has changed – and not everyone’s thinking has fully caught up.
Supporting local business today needs to mean more than improving places.
It needs to reflect how people actually work, trade and earn a living across South Holland.
Local, actually, is happening everywhere – not just where it’s easiest to see.
Got a view on this?
If this struck a chord – or you see it differently – you’re not on your own.
We talk about this kind of thing over in the ikandoo Facebook group.
No shouting. No selling. Just honest conversations about local business life.
