AUG 2026 | ISSUE 100 | FREE UNLTDBUSINESS.COM
RAISING THE BAR
MEET THE YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR MAKING HIS MARK ON SHEFFIELD’S HOSPITALITY SCENE SETTLING IN
TEAM EFFORT
BREWED TO LAST
Settl founder James Coughlan on building tech for a new way to work – and taking it around the world
15 years into Fenti’s story, Mark and Elaine Shipley reveal why investing in people remains central to its success
We head behind the scenes at Abbeydale Brewery to discover what’s kept the local favourite thriving for 30 years
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Contents
@UNLTDBUSINESS UNLTD BUSINESS UNLTDBUSINESS
Hello, (dabs brow) and welcome to the latest issue of unLTD. I’m typing this note from what can only be described as a hellish sweatbox of an office. Drawn blinds block out the midday sun, but the heat remains stubbornly trapped. Desk fans blow warm air into reddening faces, while whatever breeze occasionally makes it through the open window feels like divine intervention. Yes, the sixth heatwave of the summer is sapping our strength, dear reader. But our will to bring you a comprehensive update from the South Yorkshire business scene is far greater. We’ve been dragging our heavily perspiring selves around the region, gathering stories of inspiring young entrepreneurs, innovative app founders and longstanding local icons, alongside your usual helping of news, analysis, advice and opinion. Oh, and a quick toast is in order: this is unLTD Business Magazine #100. The century has been reached! And there’s plenty more in the tank, too, with fresh ideas taking shape and events aplenty heading your way. Don’t worry about getting us a card, but if you’re feeling generous, a subscription to the unLTD Business Club will do nicely. We’ve got some new offers dropping soon, so do keep your eyes peeled. I’ll leave you to mull that over and flick through the issue. Catch you next month. I’m off to dunk my head in the Don. Joseph Food Magazine editor
CONTENTS 28: CALLING THE SHOTS Part-time bar staff to nightclub owner by the age of 21, David Savereux’s rise through Sheffield’s hospitality industry has been remarkably fast. Now heading up the growing Nivek Group, he tells unLTD about building a diverse portfolio, protecting Corporation’s unique heritage and his ambitions to create new opportunities for the city’s nightlife, live music and cultural scene. 18: INSIDE TRACK: JAMES COUGHLAN From door-to-door sales to building an international tech platform, James Coughlan’s entrepreneurial journey has been shaped by a willingness to take the leap. With a relaunch imminent, the Settl founder tells Russ Thompson about rethinking flexible working, rebuilding his platform and why community is integral to modern working. 34: CREATIVE LICENCE Fresh from celebrating 15 years in business, Fenti Marketing is looking firmly to the future. We meet owners Mark and Elaine Shipley to discuss the agency’s evolution, their people-first philosophy and how they’re embracing new technology while keeping human expertise at the heart of things. 52: THE LONG POUR As Abbeydale Brewery celebrates 30 years in business, unLTD’s editor heads behind the scenes to discover how one of the city’s best-known independents has continued to evolve. From their famous heritage beers to employee ownership and a brand-new taproom space, we chart the journey from grain to glass.
EDITORIAL EDITOR Joe Food Joe@unltdbusiness.com
ONLINE EDITOR Ash Birch
Ash@unltdbusiness.com
DESIGN Marc Barker ADVERTISING Phil Turner phil@unltdbusiness.com 07979 498 034
Nick Hallam nick@exposedmagazine. co.uk 07843 483536
FINANCE Lis Ellis accounts@ exposedmagazine.co.uk CONTRIBUTORS Dan Bumby Steve Brown Jill White Ruby Deakin
unLTD is published monthly by Blind Mice Media Ltd Unit 1B Rialto, 2 Kelham Island Sq., Kelham Riverside, Sheffield S3 8SD The views contained herein are not necessarily those of Blind Mice Media Ltd and while every effort is made to ensure information throughout unLTD is correct, changes prior to distribution may take place which can affect the accuracy of copy, therefore Blind Mice Media Ltd cannot take responsibility for contributors’ views or specific listings.
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RAISING THE BAR
PHOTOGRAPHY: @MARCABARKERPHOTOGRAPHY
With a refreshed, ambitious programme of talks, experiences and networking opportunities confirmed, we’re making sure this year’s unLTD Business Expo is elevating expectations for business events across South Yorkshire.
Let's be honest: business expos can sometimes be a bit ... predictable. A stroll around the exhibition hall, a handful of conversations, a tote bag or two and then it's time to head home. That’s exactly what we’re trying to change with this year’s unLTD Business Expo. From the outset, the focus has been on creating an event that delivers genuine value for exhibitors and visitors alike, while making the day enjoyable, engaging and worthwhile. For 2026, that ambition has been taken several steps further. Returning to Magna Science Adventure Centre on 14 October, this year's Expo features the most ambitious programme the team has assembled, transforming the event into a full-day business experience packed with opportunities to learn, connect and get involved. Alongside a busy exhibition showcasing businesses from across South Yorkshire and beyond, visitors can expect an extensive programme of keynote talks, interactive activities, live broadcasts, networking sessions and handson workshops. Whether the goal is to discover new ideas, build relationships, challenge yourself or simply enjoy a day away from the office, there will be something happening from the moment the doors open. One of the biggest attractions comes courtesy of headline sponsor Wildfire Events, which is bringing its popular Pressure Chamber experience to Magna. Inspired by the hit TV show The Cube, the fastpaced challenge puts teamwork, communication and problemsolving under pressure in a fun, competitive environment. The Expo floor will also play host 6
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to the unLTD TV Studio, delivered in partnership with Media Partner LensGo. Throughout the day, unLTD editor Joseph Food will interview exhibitors, speakers and business leaders, capturing conversations and insights from across the event. Nearby, the Confidence Booth will give visitors the chance to step in front of the camera, tell their story and push themselves outside their comfort zone. For anyone wanting to improve how they present themselves and their business, Andy Hanselman's Pitching Clinic will offer practical advice, constructive feedback and a supportive space to build confidence. Learning remains at the heart of the Expo, with an impressive line-up of speakers sharing honest experiences and practical advice that delegates can apply within their own organisations. Among the highlights is the candid Fk Up Club** panel, where successful business leaders Ashley Tate, Jilly Cross and Nathan Angus will discuss the setbacks, mistakes and difficult decisions that ultimately helped shape their careers. Artificial intelligence also takes centre stage in a session from Richard Askew, who will cut through the hype to explore where AI is genuinely creating value for businesses today and how organisations can use it effectively in practice. Elsewhere, David Coslett of Hello Social Avenue will put one brave business under the microscope during a live marketing makeover, while aspiring entrepreneurs can pitch their ideas to an expert panel during Dragons' Den: Tech Edition, featuring Yorkshire AI Labs co-founder David Richards and
FindAUniversity co-founder Andy Pritchard. The day concludes on a more relaxed note with a sparkling wine tasting hosted by multi-awardwinning wine expert Andrew Lofthouse. Those sessions represent only part of a packed programme. Visitors can also expect Andy Hanselman's special Expo edition of 3D Connect, discussions around business exits, ownership and legacy, plus a full schedule of talks, workshops and panel conversations designed to inform, challenge and inspire. Networking is receiving a significant boost too. Following strong demand in previous years, Speed Networking returns with three dedicated sessions across the day, giving attendees multiple opportunities to meet potential collaborators, suppliers, customers and new contacts in a structured but welcoming environment. unLTD Director Phil Turner explained the changes: "We've spent a lot of time thinking about what people actually want from a business expo. Yes, they want to meet suppliers and make connections, but they also want to be inspired, entertained and leave feeling like they've spent their time well. "This year we've worked incredibly hard to bring together a programme that offers all of that. We're really proud of what we've put together and can't wait to welcome everyone to Magna in October." Businesses looking to put themselves in front of hundreds of decision-makers from across the region can still book exhibition stands, while visitors are encouraged to explore the full programme in advance and reserve places on selected sessions to make the most of everything on offer. expo.unltdbusiness.com
ATTEND
If you're planning to attend as a visitor, now's the time to get your free badge and start mapping out your day. Explore the full programme, book your places on selected sessions and discover everything waiting for you at Magna on 14 October. Scan the QR code for more.
EXHIBIT
If you're looking to showcase your business to hundreds of decision-makers and professionals from across the region, exhibition stands are available to book now and we recommend doing this to get the most from the day. Scan the QR code here for more info.
THE UNLTD BUSINESS EXPO IN A NUTSHELL WHAT? THE UNLTD BUSINESS EXPO ‘26 WHERE? MAGNA SCIENCE ADVENTURE CENTRE WHEN? 14 OCTOBER COST? VISITOR PASSES ARE FREE, STALLS FROM £350+VAT
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THREE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
JOIN THE CLUB The unLTD Business Club is thriving – with a whole raft of new offers from our partners now included! At unLTD Business Magazine, our mission has always been clear – to connect, support and celebrate the South Yorkshire business community. Now, we’ve taken that commitment even further with the launch of the unLTD Business Club – an exciting new membership initiative designed to give local businesses of all sizes more opportunities to grow, collaborate and thrive. Here are just a few of the benefits and discounts you can access as soon as you sign up: ⚫ 20% off your bill at all True North venues (Monday to Friday) with a True North Business Card ⚫ 20% off memberships and day passes at Kenwood Hall Health Club and Spa ⚫ 1 branded polo shirt from We Do Workwear (any size/colour) ⚫ 25% discount on the day delegate package and room hire from PJ Taste … with much more to come! So whether you’re a growing SME looking for meaningful networking opportunities, an entrepreneur wanting to stay 8
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ahead of the curve, or a larger organisation seeking strategic brand exposure, unLTD Business Club offers a range of benefits tailored to meet your goals. We’re open for signups now – with immediate access to a host of benefits depending on your subscription tier. Why Join? It's about more than just perks – it’s about being part of a community. Members will benefit from the power of local connections, increased visibility through South Yorkshire’s leading business publication and insider access to some of the region’s most anticipated networking events. Whether you’re looking to raise your profile, grow your network, or simply stay up to speed with the region’s dynamic business landscape, this is a platform to support your ambitions.
BUSINESS CLUB MEMBER £10/month or £99/year (plus VAT) Designed for professionals who want to network and engage more actively: ⚫ Priority access to all unLTD Business Breakfasts, Socials and other events – free of charge ⚫ Monthly e-newsletter ⚫ A guaranteed print copy of unLTD Business magazine ⚫ 10% discount on exhibition stands at the unLTD Business Expo ⚫ 20% off your bill at all True North venues (Monday to Friday) with a True North Business Card ⚫ 20% off your bill at all True North venues (Monday to Friday) with a True North Business Card ⚫ 20% off memberships and day passes at Kenwood Hall Health Club and Spa ⚫ 1 branded polo from We Do Workwear (any size/ colour) ⚫ 25% discount on the day delegate package and room hire from PJ Taste
BUSINESS PARTNER Tailored packages available Benefit from all the benefits of a Business Club Member as well as promoting your brand through our digital platforms and print magazines… our premium tier for businesses looking for strategic exposure and deeper engagement: ⚫ Monthly print advertising and editorial features in unLTD Business magazine and on unLTDbusiness. com ⚫ Social media promotion via LinkedIn ⚫ Opportunity to co-host networking events with the unLTD team ⚫ PLUS… All Business Club member benefits
BUSINESS SUBSCRIBER Get Started Today Visit unltdbusiness.com/ businessclub to sign up or email phil@unltdbusiness. com for more information on Business Partner opportunities.
£2.50/month (plus VAT) ⚫ Ideal for readers who want to stay informed, this entry-level tier ensures you receive: ⚫ A guaranteed copy of unLTD Business magazine each month ⚫ Monthly e-newsletter featuring news, insights and upcoming events
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Agenda
Sheffield’s visitor economy is booming, with record numbers discovering the Steel City’s independent spirit, cultural clout and outdoor appeal. Words: Ruby Deakin 10 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
As Sheffield’s independent shopping scene continues to grow, along with fresh developments in the Heart of the City project, new visitors are flocking to soak up the buzz. In 2025, the city welcomed over 18 million visitors – up by 7.3% from the previous year – with day visitors making up the majority of Sheffield’s tourism. The statistics, compiled using the Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Model (STEAM), show the strength of Sheffield’s cultural output, with the city also offering vital contributions to the wider South Yorkshire picture. Spending patterns reveal that shopping keeps its spot as the top expenditure category, followed by food and drink, transport and accommodation. With local tourism now supporting over 16,000 full-time equivalent jobs, the steel city remains dedicated to creating new opportunities across an enormous range of sectors and industries. Councillor Ben Miskell, Chair of the Economic Development, Skills and Culture Committee at Sheffield City Council, said: “As we look ahead, we’re committed to building on this momentum, ensuring that tourism continues to benefit communities across the city, plays a central role in Sheffield’s growth and provides opportunities for entry levels jobs that are so important for the young people of our city.”
SELLING SHEFF: THE TOURISM PITCH • We are the only major UK city located entirely adjacent to a national park, with the Peak District literally beginning within the city boundary, serving up a unique mix of urban culture and outdoor adventure. • The city is increasingly marketing itself around its combination of major cultural events (including Tramlines, the World Snooker Championship, DocFest and Crossed Wires) drawing in hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. • Sheffield is often described as the UK’s greenest city, with around 61% of its area made up of green space, including more than 250 parks, woodlands and gardens. It’s also home to roughly 4.5 million trees, meaning there are more trees per person than any other city in Europe. • Food and drink-wise, the city is becoming increasingly known for a thriving independent food and drink scene, with areas such as Kelham Island, Neepsend, Abbeydale Road and Leah’s Yard regularly cropping up in national travel and lifestyle guides as reasons to visit. • Beer tourism is booming – and Sheffield was recently lauded in a BBC News article for having one of the densest clusters of breweries in the UK: 10 within a mile radius. Throw in some excellent award-winning real ale and craft beer pubs, plus annual events like Sheffield Beer Week, and you can see why hop-botherers will gladly travel to visit. • ‘The Outdoor City’ brand has helped to sell the Steel City as one of the best places for adventure, whether that’s climbing, mountain biking, hiking, trail running and kayaking. We boast the UK’s only inner-city mountain bike trail at Parkwood Springs, alongside hundreds of miles of road and off-road cycling routes.
WHAT’S REALLY EXCITING IS SEEING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE COMING HERE AND FALLING IN LOVE WITH IT THE WAY WE ALREADY DO." Sheffield’s cultural calendar continues to rack up new events and social functions year on year. There’s something for everyone, from nationally renowned festivals like Tramlines, Crossed Wires and DocFest to award-winning food, calming green spaces and a vibrant nightlife scene. In 2027, the city will also celebrate the World Snooker Championship’s 50th anniversary in its iconic home at the Crucible Theatre. “What’s really exciting is seeing more and more people coming here and falling in love with it the way we already do,” said South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard. “We’re working hard to make it even easier for people to get around and experience everything we have to offer. And we’re supporting the venues, artists and communities who give South Yorkshire our independent spirit." “Whether you’ve been before or not, I’d just say come and take a bit of time to explore South Yorkshire. It’s our home, and it’s a pretty special place.”
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Agenda SKYLINE ADVANCES PLANS FOR PARKWOOD SPRINGS ADVENTURE LEISURE DEVELOPMENT Plans to transform Sheffield’s former Ski Village site into a major adventure leisure destination are moving forward, with a public consultation set to begin next month. New Zealand-based adventure tourism company Skyline Enterprises is progressing proposals for the long-derelict site at Parkwood Springs, around a mile north of Sheffield city centre, with a planning application expected later this year. The company has agreed a strategic framework with Sheffield City Council, setting out a shared commitment to bring the site back into use following several previous attempts at redevelopment. Skyline’s proposals would be delivered in phases, with the first expected to include its signature gravity-fed downhill karting attraction, known as the Luge, alongside a family playground, food and drink facilities and an indoor attraction. A zipline and surf wave experience remain part of the longer-term vision, while the potential introduction of dry ski slopes is also being explored. A public consultation is expected to launch in September, giving residents, businesses and other stakeholders the opportunity to see the proposals and provide feedback before a planning application is submitted. The development forms part of wider plans for Parkwood Springs and would seek to improve connections with neighbouring Neepsend and Kelham Island. Sheffield City Council is also investing in
infrastructure around the site, supported by £19 million of Government Levelling Up funding. The work includes a new access road, junction improvements and other measures intended to support traffic flow and future visitor numbers. Geoff McDonald, CEO of Skyline Enterprises, said Sheffield was the “ideal city” for the company’s next UK development. “Our adventure and experience brand aligns perfectly with Sheffield’s renowned ‘Outdoor City’ ethos,” he said. “We know that Parkwood Springs has been a challenging site to bring forward over the years, but with strong support from Sheffield City Council and an experienced project team on board, the pieces are now in
place to deliver something truly special for the city. “The scheme would enhance Sheffield’s visitor appeal, stimulate the local economy and create permanent jobs.” Cllr Fran Belbin, leader of Sheffield City Council, said Skyline’s proposals remained a focal point of plans to transform Parkwood Springs. “The site has had many false starts over the years, but I am now delighted to see the latest proposed details for their facility,” she said. “Alongside the wider investment into Parkwood Springs, this project has the potential to create jobs, boost tourism and support economic growth, while providing a new attraction for residents and visitors to enjoy for generations to
come.” Skyline has appointed leisure development specialist Omisa Ltd as project management partner, with a number of Sheffield firms also involved. They include architects Hadfield Cawkwell Davidson, landscape architects Ares, environmental consultancy Weddles, planning consultancy Urbana and communications agency Counter Context. Founded in New Zealand in 1966, Skyline operates visitor attractions internationally and employs more than 1,000 people. Its current UK projects also include a £43 million leisure destination in Swansea. Further details and updates are available at skylinesheffieldproject. co.uk. unLTDBUSINESS.COM 13
Agenda PM UNVEILS NEW PLANS DURING STEEL CITY VISIT Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived at Sheffield Hallam University last month to announce brand new plans in his vision for devolution across the UK The PM unveiled the scheme to transfer power from Westminster to devolved regions, allowing elected mayors to keep a share of income tax generated in their area for the first time from 2028. Along with Chancellor John Healey and First Secretary of State Louise Haigh, Burnham visited Sheffield Hallam University’s partnership-led Meadows Nursery and Early Years Community Research Centre to announce the new plans on 31 July. The award-winning
community nursery offers free early learning places to local children in Shirecliffe and provides a hub for wider support for parents and families. Its research into early education best practices is carried out with the support of families and
carers and involves the partnership between the university, Save the Children UK, Watercliffe Meadow Primary School and Sheffield City Council. The PM addressed staff and families, saying: “What an amazing place you have here. You can feel it walking through the door, what a welcoming place this is. It’s great to get universities involved on the ground supporting people and families. It’s a credit to you and all the partners and the community.” Professor Liz Mossop,
WORLD’S FIRST TEAMS UP WITH CMS Sheffield FC has announced international law firm CMS as its exclusive legal partner as the historic football club continues to build for a more sustainable future. The partnership brings together two organisations with longstanding connections to Sheffield and an international reach. CMS, which has had a presence in the city for 35 years, employs lawyers across more than 50 countries. As exclusive legal partner, the firm will support Sheffield FC’s growth on and off the pitch, while the two organisations aim to strengthen links between football, business and the wider community. Founded in 1857 and recognised by FIFA as the world’s first football club, Sheffield FC has been putting new foundations in place under its current stewardship, with commercial partnerships forming a key part of plans to improve the club’s financial sustainability. Jon McClure, chairman of Sheffield FC, said: “We’re delighted to welcome CMS as our legal partner and would like to thank them for their support at a significant time 14 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
for the football club. “Over the first few months of our stewardship, we’ve spent time listening, learning and putting the right foundations in place for the future. Our ambition is not to change what makes Sheffield FC special, but to ensure that the club becomes financially sustainable. “Strong commercial partnerships are essential to achieving that goal and turning our ambition off the pitch into success on it.” Helen Johnson, partner at CMS Sheffield, said the agreement represented another demonstration of the firm’s commitment to Sheffield and the wider region. “This is no ordinary football club – it is the original football club, and Sheffield should be rightly proud to be the birthplace of the beautiful game,” she said. “We look forward to supporting the club as it enters this exciting new chapter.” Sheffield FC is also inviting businesses to explore further sponsorship opportunities, including long-term partnerships and individual match-day packages. More information is available at sheffieldfc.com.
Sheffield FC predates the FA by six years. When the Football Association was established in London in 1863, the Sheffield club had already been playing for more than half a decade. Its history includes the world’s oldest football fixture against Hallam FC, a FIFA Order of Merit and a 150th anniversary celebration attended by Pelé.
Sheffield Hallam University Vice Chancellor, said that she was delighted that the new PM and cabinet ministers opted to combine the announcement with a visit to the award-winning community centre: “The nursery and research centre are a shining example of what can be achieved when strategic partners come together to work in collaboration with communities to improve outcomes. “I am sure the passion and dedication of those involved in this project will have left a huge impression on our country’s new leaders. I hope it has given them a real insight into the significant impact universities make in the regions they serve through their collaborative research and innovation partnerships."
NEWS IN BRIEF HBC COMPLETES £17M CHILD HEALTH TECHNOLOGY CENTRE IN SHEFFIELD Local firm HBC Construction has completed The Spark, the £17 million home of the National Centre for Child Health Technology at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park. Delivered with Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, the 43,000 sq ft facility will bring together healthcare, academic and industry expertise to develop innovative new technologies for children’s healthcare. Targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating, The Spark is set to become operational later this year, during Sheffield Children’s 150th anniversary. SKILLS BANK FUNDING RETURNS FOR SOUTH YORKSHIRE BUSINESSES South Yorkshire businesses can once again access partfunded training following the launch of Skills Bank 4 by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. The programme combines public funding with employer investment to support training linked to business growth, including leadership, management, sales, customer service and communication skills. Eligible businesses must have a physical base in South Yorkshire, have traded for at least 12 months and demonstrate how training will support their growth plans. SHEFFIELD HALLAM GUARANTEES PAID INTERNSHIPS FOR GRADUATES Sheffield Hallam University has launched an exciting new scheme, Career Promise, which guarantees paid internships for eligible graduates who are not in work or further study 12 months after completing their university course. Available to all UK undergraduate students starting from September 2026, the scheme forms part of a seven-point employability commitment. The announcement coincides with the upcoming launch of Hallam Talent, an on-campus recruitment agency connecting students with jobs, placements and graduate roles. PARADISO MARKS FIRST BIRTHDAY WITH GIANT RECORD-BREAKING TIRAMISÙ Sheffield independent Paradiso Artisan Tiramisù celebrated its café’s first anniversary by creating a giant 3m by 2m tiramisù, the biggest ever made in the city and – probably – for many miles around. Around 400 people attended the celebration at The Mowbray in Neepsend, where founder Mattia Paradiso and former masterclass participants assembled the huge dessert before it was unveiled and shared out. Paradiso's name was inspired by a family recipe from Mattia's native region of Puglia and has welcomed more than 20,000 customers during its first year in business.
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Opinion
DEVOLUTION NEEDS DELIVERY As Andy Burnham’s ‘Manchesterism’ agenda puts devolution and place-based growth firmly in focus, Matt Smith CBE, CEO of Key Fund, argues that social investment, smarter procurement and greater backing for social enterprises could help local authorities make devolved funding go further and build stronger local economies. What would a ‘Manchesterism’-style approach mean across the North? One of the main things is the devolution of power which will allow places to take control of their own destiny – often the solutions places need is within them. The second thing is good growth. We hope the new Government will have a refreshed focus on growth that drives positive outcomes, not just growth at any cost. It's about creating opportunities, jobs and outcomes that add value and enhance places. Can place-based growth be delivered without stronger partnerships between combined authorities and social investors? It could happen, but it would be a lot harder. Combined authorities need to use all the tools they have available to support good growth. Not just for growth, but also for efficiency of time and resource. Social investment should be seen as a valuable resource. It is also worth considering what the public sector is doing more broadly: Who is it buying from? Can we create more opportunities for SMEs as well as social enterprises? And can we encourage the private sector to think more carefully about how it buys, sells, and
the development of other successful social enterprises and with over 25 years of expertise, we know what can make or break an initiative. With the knowledge already there, combined authorities can use outlets like us to strengthen their social enterprises, their business models and create lasting impact. Real change takes time, but by backing organisations with sustainable futures, we can help communities thrive beyond the next funding cycle.
contributes to places? How can social investors help combined authorities reach communities that traditional funding programmes often struggle to engage? Communities in Yorkshire and the North have faced challenges for a long time. Less money circulates here than in other places, and traditional commercial models don't always work. That's where social enterprises can really make a difference. They're already embedded within communities and owned by local people – if we
ENABLING SOCIAL ENTERPRISES TO TRADE MORE WOULD BE A GAMECHANGER”
create the conditions for them to thrive, they can do more to aid good growth. What role can partnerships between combined authorities and social investors play in strengthening growth and getting more from devolved funding? Devolved funding is a huge opportunity, but combined authorities face challenging choices because there's much more to do than money available. To make resources go further, we must support social enterprises to build sustainable business models rather than relying solely on grants. Grants can be vital for getting ideas off the ground, but repayable finance helps organisations grow for the long term. At Key Fund, we're a social enterprise that's been set up to enable
What would success look like if combined authorities across the North made greater use of social investment, and what needs to change to make that happen? Success would be seeing combined authorities across the region recognise social enterprises as part of the solution, especially when designing services and delivering impact. Social investment can help organisations grow and deliver, but it only works where there are sustainable trading models. That's why enabling social enterprises to trade more would be a game changer. The more organisations that are trading, the more they will need social investment, helping to drive growth by creating market opportunities. Government, local authorities and the wider public and private sectors all have a role to play by creating more opportunities for social enterprises to win contracts, grow their income, and deliver lasting impact in their communities.
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The Inside Track: James Coughlan REAL INSIGHTS FROM THOSE WHO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN
James Coughlan’s route into tech entrepreneurship began with an abandoned plan to become a vet, followed by several years in door-to-door sales before a move into the world of marketing agencies. It might not look like the conventional route for someone building an international flexible working platform from Sheffield, but those experiences have each left their mark on the entrepreneur he is today.
JAMES COUGHLAN
FOUNDER OF SETTL INTERVIEW: RUSSELL THOMPSON PHOTOGRAPHY: MARC BARKER
Originally from East London, James went to university intending to study veterinary medicine, only to realise during his first year that the academic path ahead was not really suited to him. “I’m happy to admit that’s I’m not the most academic and structured studying isn’t my thing,” he says. “My mind goes here, there and everywhere. It runs 200 miles per hour, which is not a great fit for uni.” What he did know was that running a technology company one day appealed. Rather than spending years studying towards a career he was no longer convinced about, James decided to get out there and begin building skills that might eventually open the right doors. . His first move was into direct sales, working doorto-door on commission in London. For someone who says he “wouldn’t really say boo to a goose” at the time, it was an effective way of getting over any reluctance to talk to strangers. When your income depends on starting conversations and making
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sales, confidence becomes less of an optional extra. James spent three years in the business and built a team of around 40 people across London, before a friend provided the opportunity that would eventually bring him up north. The friend had started a logistics technology company and needed help setting up its sales and marketing operation. With many of its customers based around the M62, A1 and M1, Sheffield offered a useful base in the middle of them, and James moved to the Steel City in 2015. When the company was later acquired, he moved into marketing agencies, working with businesses in Sheffield and London and adding another set of skills to those learnt in sales. It was during this period, travelling around the country and regularly meeting clients, that the beginnings of his own technology business started to emerge. The problem was a fairly everyday one. “I wasn’t a fan of meeting clients in one particularly popular coffee chain, just because it was too
noisy and too busy,” he says. “It made me wonder why there was nothing to help people in the same situation find somewhere more suitable to meet a client or open a laptop and get some work done.” That thought became the basis for the Reef app in 2019, and James began building the platform in January 2020. For a business intending to encourage people into hotels, restaurants and other hospitality venues, the timing proved unfortunate, although the longer-term effect of the pandemic would ultimately make the idea relevant to a much larger audience. “In the short term it wasn’t great because you wanted to get a platform out there and start monetising it. But looking back long term, it’s been a huge silver lining. It brought millions of people 10 years forward from probably where they would have been with hybrid and remote working and that whole flexibility around work.” Before Covid, James had largely been thinking about people whose jobs already took them away from a
WE ENDED UP BUILDING SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE NEED RATHER THAN WHAT WE THOUGHT THEY WANTED.”
conventional workplace: field sales teams, freelancers, consultants and people travelling between meetings. The sudden experiment in mass homeworking changed that. Millions more people discovered that they could work effectively without being in an office every day, while many also discovered there were limits to how much time they wanted to spend working alone at home. James was one of them. He had been developing Reef alongside his agency job, with his employer aware of what he was doing, and found the shift to full-time homeworking difficult. “I could do the odd day working from home, but I couldn’t do five days a week. I was just going insane,” he says. “If it helps me, I know it will help other people.” That experience helped shape his thinking about what Reef could become. The question was no longer simply where somebody could hold a better client meeting. There was a growing group of people who wanted the flexibility of remote work without necessarily wanting their home to become their permanent workplace. Reef eventually launched in May 2022, before reaching the point where James had to decide whether to continue balancing the business with agency life or commit to it properly. “It came to a point where I had to go full-time on Reef to get it to where it needed to be. You’ve just got to take that leap of faith when you’re doing a start-up.” Over the following four years, the platform expanded into around 15 countries, including South Africa, Singapore, Thailand, Portugal, the Netherlands and the US. Much of that growth has been driven by demand rather than a rigid international plan. A strong LinkedIn presence brought messages from people asking when Reef would arrive in their
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 19
The Inside Track: James Coughlan
country, while James also had connections in several markets who understood the idea and were interested in developing it locally. “I wouldn’t have had a clue going in some places,” James admits. “We’re bringing more local knowledge when we’re setting up in countries, so we don’t have to make mistakes when we launch in certain places, but they also have contacts on the ground too. Expansion-wise, it’s been a lot quicker and a lot more costeffective.” It has also influenced the way James leads the business. As the network has grown, he has become more comfortable giving people responsibility rather than trying to remain involved in every decision. He knows he has recruited people because they understand their particular market or discipline better than he does, so giving them room to use that expertise makes sense. “I’ve learned to trust a lot more and not be so hands-
on,” he says. “The reason I’m bringing people in is because they’re an expert in what they do, so I should let them have the freedom to be that expert and not be a micromanager.” The experience accumulated since 2022 is now feeding into the biggest change to the business so far. Reef is being rebuilt and relaunched as Settl, with a new identity that James believes better represents what the platform has become. At its simplest, Settl helps people discover and book places where they can work, meet and collaborate in person. The emphasis is predominantly on hospitality venues, where users can find somewhere to open a laptop and get some work done while also accessing offers such as free coffee, discounted food and drink or packages put together by the venue. What has changed is James’s view of the role the platform should play around those bookings. Four years of
data and feedback have given him a much clearer picture of how people actually use flexible workspace and, crucially, what is missing from the experience. “We ended up building something that people need rather than what we thought they wanted,” he explains. “Doing that, it became more than just a booking platform. It became more of a community-led piece as well.” That distinction is important to James because the conversation about flexible working has moved on considerably since the early days of the pandemic. Employers are still wrestling with the balance between office and home, with some pushing for greater attendance and others maintaining hybrid or fully remote arrangements. James thinks the discussion often overlooks another option. For him, Settl occupies the space between the two. An employee who cannot easily reach the company
office does not automatically have to spend the day at home, just as a freelancer who has no office to go to does not have to work alone. Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality spaces can provide a third place where people are around others and still able to work productively. “There was a report in the US saying isolation and loneliness can take five years off your life, so it’s huge from a mental health and wellbeing point of view,” says James. “There’s all this talk about people collaborating better in person, which is true, but they don’t have to do it from an office. Even when people do go into an office, they might be the only one there, or the only member of their team there, so they’re still missing that interaction. We can mix places up and, because it’s hospitality, it’s always going to be social.” The rebuilt Settl platform will develop that idea further by allowing people to create their own co-working days,
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 21
The Inside Track: James Coughlan
either for a private network or as public events others can join. James is also talking to existing co-working communities around the UK, with the aim of giving them another route to grow their audiences rather than trying to replace what they already do. For a founder whose original concern was finding a quieter place for a client meeting, it represents a substantial broadening of the idea, and James sees the rebrand as necessary to signal that change. There was some understandable nervousness around leaving behind a name the business had spent several years establishing, but rebuilding the technology at the same time made the decision easier. “We have to move away from just being a booking platform, which is what a lot of people thought we were,” he says. “When we were developing the new platform, it just kind of fell into place. It wasn’t really a decision we had to make. It made itself.” There is also considerably more structure behind the business than there was when Reef first launched. James has concentrated on processes and automation so that entering another country does not mean rebuilding the operation each time. New partners can access the systems they need to begin onboarding venues quickly, while the underlying experience remains consistent across different markets. Such infrastructure will be tested as Settl looks towards its next phase of international growth. India, Australia and Canada are among the markets in the pipeline, alongside further European expansion, with local people already being lined up to help run them. James hopes to build a UK team too, giving him more time to support those international operations and explore further 22 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
WHAT IS INSIDE TRACK?
In an age of curated success and quiet comparison, Inside Track is about flipping the script. These conversations focus on honesty over hype, and people who turn setbacks into stepping stones. The aim is simple – to source inspiration, not envy.
To find out more about Russ’s work and how you can join the conversation, visit director-on-demand. co.uk
opportunities. For all the international ambition, his reasons for wanting the business to succeed are closer to home. James has a young daughter, who has inevitably changed his priorities, while his sister, who has Down’s syndrome, has long been a major source of motivation. He wants to build a business that gives him the freedom to look after the people around him and, in time, use what he has learnt to help other entrepreneurs through the same process. He is open about the difficult parts of going at it alone. Building a start-up has meant watching friends from school move into well-paid careers while he has followed a less financially predictable route, something that previously fed into his own imposter syndrome. He says reducing his social media use has helped, as has reminding himself that comparison is not especially useful when
the destination he is working towards is different. “I have to keep bringing myself back to, ‘Well, this is the route I want to go down. This is my own journey, and I’ll get hopefully there in time.’” And for somebody who has built a business around removing everyday frustrations, James does have one remaining problem he would like solved. Asked what single law he would introduce if everybody had to live by it, he doesn’t choose anything grand about entrepreneurship, work or wellbeing. “Lorries in the outside lane on any road,” he says, “particularly when I’m running late for something.” Not every problem, it seems, can be solved with an app these days.
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FUTURE READY DIGITAL: NORTH
GLOBAL E-COMMERCE AND AI LEADERS TO SPEAK AT LANDMARK DIGITAL EVENT
Sheffield will welcome some of the biggest names in technology, digital marketing and e-commerce in September as a new event aims to help northern businesses get to grips with the rapidly changing world of AI-powered commerce. Future Ready Digital: North, created by Sheffield-based technology and digital agency Reach Studios, will take place at the Millennium Gallery on Friday 18 September, bringing speakers from Google Cloud, Trustpilot, Semrush, Dotdigital and US agency Corkboard Concepts to the Steel City. The one-day event has been designed for e-commerce businesses looking to understand not simply what AI might mean for their sector in the future, but what its growing influence on search, marketing and purchasing decisions means for them now. From the way consumers discover brands to the technology influencing what they eventually buy, established models are changing quickly. Future Ready Digital: North will examine those shifts while giving businesses practical ideas they can apply to their own digital strategies. For Reach Studios, the event also represents an opportunity to bring international expertise to Sheffield and create new connections between global technology businesses and the North's commercial community.
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Jonty Ward, commercial director at Reach Studios, said: “At Reach Studios, we believe in partnerships that strengthen our local business network and support investment and talent in our region. “With the launch of Future Ready Digital: North, we aim to deliver tangible value to northern businesses through our partnerships with world-leading organisations. By attracting outstanding industry leaders from the UK, Europe and the USA to speak in Sheffield, we are creating a platform for sharing knowledge and learning from the very best.”
FROM AI SEARCH TO THE FUTURE OF SHOPPING Among the headline speakers is Reece Medway, account executive at Google Cloud, who will explore what is being described as the next major development in online retail: agentic commerce. His session will look at the evolution of AI from technology that generates content to systems capable of taking actions on behalf of consumers and businesses. With more than $3tn in revenue expected to flow through agentic commerce by 2030, the
implications for retailers could be substantial. For businesses already grappling with changes to conventional online search, meanwhile, two sessions will examine the increasingly important question of how brands appear within AIgenerated answers. Graham Wilkinson, head of agency partnerships at Trustpilot, will discuss AI visibility and trust, including how businesses can develop content strategies suited to a world in which purchasing decisions are increasingly influenced by AI platforms. Fernando Angulo, senior market research manager at Semrush, an Adobe company, will take that conversation further by examining the structural signals influencing which brands are cited by platforms including Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity. Crucially for businesses attending, his session will include practical actions organisations can take over the following 90 days. The programme will also tackle two familiar commercial priorities being reshaped by AI: customer loyalty and paid advertising. Tash Halligan, senior enterprise account executive at customer experience
platform Dotdigital, will explore what personalisation looks like beyond simply adding a customer's first name to an email. Drawing on research involving more than 3,000 consumers in the UK, US and Australia, she will look at how expectations differ between generations and markets, and where the channels favoured by marketers may differ from those their customers actually want to use. Joining the line-up from the US is Jordan Atchison, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Corkboard Concepts. His session will focus on how high-growth brands are adapting paid media strategies across Google, Meta, TikTok and programmatic advertising as AI changes consumer behaviour. The emphasis will be on using AI, creative strategy and first-party data to improve return on advertising spend and make revenue more predictable.
PUTTING SHEFFIELD FRONT AND CENTRE Hosting the inaugural event at the Millennium Gallery gives the event a distinctly Sheffield setting. Opened in 2001 and now an established part of the city's cultural landscape, the
REECE MEDWAY THE FUTURE OF AGENTIC COMMERCE
GRAHAM WILKINSON AI VISIBILITY AND TRUST
TASH HALLIGAN
THE LOYALTY DIVIDE: WHAT CONSUMERS WANT MARKETERS TO KNOW
FERNANDO ANGULO HOW AI OVERVIEWS DECIDE WHO TO CITE
JORDAN ATCHISON
HOW HIGH-GROWTH BRANDS USE PAID MEDIA TO DRIVE PREDICTABLE REVENUE
KEY DETAILS
What: Future Ready Digital: North When: Friday 18 September 2026, 11am–4.30pm Where: Millennium Gallery Who’s speaking: Experts from Google Cloud, Trustpilot, Semrush, Dotdigital and Corkboard Concepts Afterwards: Future Ready Digital: After Dark networking drinks from 5pm Tickets: Free for e-commerce businesses at futurereadydigital.co.uk, with limited places available by invitation
gallery sits alongside the Winter Garden and close to the Crucible Theatre. Reach Studios chose the venue to reflect the event's focus on new perspectives, progress and wider cultural impact. The main programme will run from 11am until 4.30pm, but conversations will continue afterwards with Future Ready Digital: After Dark. The networking drinks reception, beginning at 5pm at a nearby venue, will give attendees an opportunity to meet fellow business leaders and speakers, discuss the day's ideas and potentially develop new commercial partnerships. Future Ready Digital is the latest initiative from Reach Studios, which works across web, mobile, automation, AI and e-commerce strategy and development. The Sheffield event is intended to be the first in a wider series of business-focused programmes planned around the UK during 2027. Future Ready Digital: North is free to attend and aimed specifically at businesses working in the e-commerce space. Places are limited and available by invitation only, bringing together local entrepreneurs for a day of fresh thinking, useful conversations and new connections. For those navigating the opportunities and challenges of a fastchanging digital landscape, it promises to be a valuable day out of the office – with plenty to take back to the business afterwards.
Register your interest today at futurereadydigital.co.uk. unLTDBUSINESS.COM 25
Every now and again, the unLTD team are released from the shackles attached to our desks and encouraged to mingle with each other – even, on occasion, being asked to fraternise with members of the general public! For out latest foray out of the office, we pitted our wits against a range of local businesses for Wildfire Events’ highly rated Master of Tasks challenge. Words: Ashley Birch
Held at Gold Digger Trust's Refinery Café on Ecclesall Road, the Master of Tasks is absolutely nothing to do with the hit TV show – and potentially litigious – Taskmaster. The fact that you're asked to compete in a series of quirky challenges, judged by the Master of said Tasks until a winner is crowned, is pure coincidence. There's nothing else to see here... so look over there... and shut up, yeah! We began with the first of several drawing rounds, which should have been an easy win for us because our designer is an artist. Unfortunately, he was on photography duty today, so we had to make the best of it with our limited talent. Asked to recreate everything
from the Northern Rail logo to Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon album cover (this was my time to shine), we made some interesting artistic choices but came through with a solid showing in round one. Onto round two and a headlines challenge. Two points were awarded for correctly identifying the redacted headline, with one point given for an answer the Master of Tasks simply liked. We're a witty bunch but apparently know nothing about current affairs, so it was single-point scoring all the way for Team unLTD! Round three was more drawing. This time, we were asked to draw the Master of Tasks' assistant, but upside down. Our attempts at
bribery and flattery failed, but we were still in the running and it could have gone either way at this stage. The competitive streak had fully kicked in. Luckily, the penultimate round played into our skill set – eating out! Asked to pick up marbles with chopsticks and move them from one cup to another, we breezed through the task and probably set some sort of world record. For the final round, the gloves were off and the balloons were out! Each team was given a category and asked to create a balloon sculpture inspired by it. We got historical events. In what was a calculated decision – and totally not just tying a load of balloons together – we somehow managed to represent Covid in balloon form (see above - we nailed it!). With only a slight feeling of guilt for the team that had painstakingly created a full set of traffic lights, we romped to victory. Collecting our medals (no expense spared here) rounded off a really fun morning and was the perfect way to push any looming deadlines to the back of our minds. Check out Wildfire's website for their full range of events and activities. spreadlikewildfire.co.uk
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unLTDBUSINESS.COM 27
RAISING THE BAR DAVID SAVEREUX WAS JUST 21 WHEN HE TOOK OVER CORPORATION, THE STORIED SHEFFIELD NIGHTCLUB WHERE HE HAD STARTED OUT BEHIND THE BAR. FIVE YEARS AFTER FIRST JOINING THE MILTON STREET INSTITUTION, UNLTD HEARS HOW THE YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR IS BUSY BUILDING A GROWING HOSPITALITY PORTFOLIO SPANNING LIVE MUSIC, EVENTS, PRODUCTION, DRINKS AND UNIQUE VENUES WITH PLENTY OF HEART. WORDS: JOSEPH FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY: MARC BARKER
When David Savereux arrived in Sheffield to study finance and investment banking at Sheffield Hallam University, buying one of the city’s best-known nightclubs was not necessarily part of the plan. It was during the Covid pandemic, for one thing, and the hospitality industry he would eventually enter was largely shut down. When venues began reopening, he took a bar job at Corporation, the Milton Street venue that has been a fixture of Sheffield’s alternative music scene for decades. From there, things moved quickly. He progressed through the business to become a manager before the previous owner decided the time was right to move on. David completed an owner leveraged buyout and, at 21, found himself in charge of a building with 25 years of history where he had started behind the bar less than two years earlier. “It’s just snowballed from there, really,” David says – and ‘snowballed’ is possibly putting it mildly given the progress since. Today, Corporation sits at the heart of Nivek Group, through which he has been steadily building interests across hospitality, events, production and drinks. His route into the industry is unusual, but his finance background goes some way to explaining the speed of his progression. While David clearly has a deep affection for Corporation – or Corp, as practically everyone in Sheffield knows it – he’s a self-professed numbers person,
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something that helps bring a levelheaded approach to the decisions that come with running the venue. “I think sometimes people in the music industry like music before they like business. Sometimes that can cloud your judgement. Whereas the view from me is more of a business-led, numbers-focused, practical angle.” However, that does not mean he underestimates what he inherited. Corporation has a longstanding identity that would be difficult to manufacture from scratch, built through decades of club nights, gigs, sticky floors and those famously potent coloured pints. “There is simply nothing like it in Sheffield, or further afield, and you could not recreate Corp even if you tried,” he says. Taking responsibility for an operation of its size, however, brought a fairly brutal education in the less glamorous side of nightlife. VAT, employer national insurance, licensing and legal requirements all suddenly became steep learning curves, and he credits the previous owner with helping him through the transition by remaining involved for a period after the sale. It also taught him how little of running a nightclub actually takes place while the doors are open. “We might be open for five hours, but there are so many hours of prep work that will have gone into that event,” he explains, adding that putting on a night as a promoter is one thing; taking responsibility for the physical infrastructure, staff,
I’VE NEVER KNOWN ANYTHING DIFFERENT BECAUSE I JOINED THE INDUSTRY AFTER COVID… IT’S ALWAYS BEEN A BIT OF A FIGHT.”
COVER INTERVIEW: DAVID SAVEREUX licensing, production and safety of the venue is quite another. Five years after first joining Corp, his working week has broadened considerably and continues to shift as Nivek Group grows. In Sheffield, the three most visible parts of the portfolio are Corporation, neighbouring events space Trafalgar Warehouse and The Albion on London Road. David recently took over the latter alongside local beer aficionado and Pints of Sheffield founder Joe Rugg, refurbishing the pub following its time as a Stancill Brewery tap. There was a clear business case for taking it on – “the numbers stacked up” – but he was equally drawn to the potential of the pub and the area it resides in. “I think London Road could be a lot better than it is from a drinking experience point of view,” he says. “The goal is to bring more people to the area for socialising. It’s not just going to benefit us – I want it to benefit all of the businesses along that road and really improve footfall.” With its proximity to Bramall Lane, football trade will inevitably form an important part of The Albion’s customer base on Saturdays, but David wants to broaden its appeal throughout the week, using the group’s marketing experience to bring a wider audience to what he describes as a “real hidden gem”. It is also a useful addition to a portfolio deliberately being built around businesses that can support one another. “The best way to beat downturns in terms of net margins is to vertically integrate,” he explains. “With the pub, for example, the fact that we now buy more beer than we did previously has reduced our beer cost by probably 15% across all of the venues on draught. You get more buying power and more scale.” The same principle applies elsewhere in Nivek. Corporation’s production operation services the group’s own sites while also hiring equipment and expertise externally, meaning assets needed for its venues can generate revenue when used elsewhere. A larger events portfolio creates a bigger pool of staff and resources, while a national promotions arm means a club night or event does not necessarily have to remain a Sheffield-only proposition and can instead be taken to seven or eight cities. There is a drinks business in
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 29
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COVER INTERVIEW: DAVID SAVEREUX
I AM YOUNG AND I AM HUNGRY, BUT THERE’S NO POINT JUMPING ON THINGS WITHOUT IT ADDING VALUE.”
the mix too. They have recently become part-owners of Treb, a Newcastle-based canned drink brand developed around the city’s ‘trebles’ bars. The concept has an obvious crossover with Corporation and its own infamous coloured ‘Corp Pints’, leading to limited-edition versions based around its blue, red and green drinks. Treb is currently focused on high-volume venues, with longer-term ambitions to move into retail. For David, it is another example of what he describes as “eating the supply chain up” rather than allowing some of the group’s largest areas of expenditure to sit entirely outside the business. “If I look at where our biggest expenditure is at the moment, apart from staff, it’s stock. We’re probably spending £800,000 a year on stock. If we then had a wholesaler, that’s £800,000 of business that could go into a business we operate.” Across Nivek, he estimates there are now seven or eight distinct income streams. That diversity matters in an industry where trade can fluctuate sharply through the year, particularly for nightclubs
during the quieter summer months. “Having the revenue coming in elsewhere in the group across a year just balances out your profit and loss, especially from a cashflow point of view.” It is a savvy approach to an industry that has spent the past few years confronting rising costs, closures and repeated questions about the future of the traditional night out. David does not dismiss those challenges, but his experience at Corporation does not quite match the suggestion that younger audiences have simply stopped going clubbing. “The student standard club night numbers are very strong. We’re seeing growth in that,” he says. “I was at a meeting recently in Liverpool, chatting to people from students’ unions around the country, and they’re also seeing a decent amount of nightlife growth. It’s different to what you see in the media.” What is changing is the kind of night people want. At Corp, experience-led events have become increasingly important, with
individual nights requiring a stronger identity than simply opening the doors, putting a DJ on and selling drinks. “You’re effectively running an event rather than just a club night,” he says. “It’s a different brand, a different spin on things, more of a bespoke offering.” His longer-term view is that the distinction between nightclub, events venue and general social space will continue to blur. “I think the next version will be a space that is socialising first,” he says. Alcohol will remain part of the offer, but alongside better non-alcoholic choices and programming designed to make a venue useful to a much wider range of people. “Basically, you could run an event there at nine o’clock in the morning, like a coffee morning, and you could also run a rave there at three o’clock in the morning.” There is a commercial reality behind that thinking. With the turnover now required to sustain a city-centre venue, David argues that operators need to get more use from buildings that might traditionally sit empty for much of the day. His
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 31
COVER INTERVIEW: DAVID SAVEREUX eventual ambition for Corporation is to have the site in use around the clock, whether that means hosting educational sessions during the daytime, live music in the evening or a club night into the early hours. That does not mean turning a much-loved brand into something unrecognisable. He is conscious of the balance involved in modernising a venue with a well-established identity and says it has taken several years to make changes gradually. “You want to update things, keep it fresh, but you don’t want to kill anything off at the same time. There’s a heritage here that we’re proud of.” This summer will see further investment in the building’s infrastructure, including the conversion of one room into another grassroots live music space. The aim is to keep overheads low enough that emerging and touring bands can afford to put on shows while still having access to professional-grade equipment. “A lot of the problem that you have with touring bands, or for local bands, is that it’s too expensive for them to book a space and put on a show,” he says. “With this new space, artists can make money on it, we can make money on it, and that’s because of the way the space is set up. To be able to add another room where we can get as many bands in as possible and really showcase grassroots music is super important to us.” That wider ecosystem is something he sees as important to the city’s cultural health. David is involved with the Sheffield Independent Venues Association (SIVA), a network through which grassroots venues share knowledge, equipment and support. Sometimes that collaboration is as simple as another venue stepping in when an amplifier or microphone breaks; at other times it means sharing advice around noise, licensing or the resources available to operators. In terms of governmental support, David backs measures such as a VAT reduction for hospitality, particularly for smaller, single-site independents without the buying power of a growing group. Yet there is an interesting distinction between his perspective and that of operators who remember the industry before Covid: he does not have a more prosperous period against which to compare the current market. “I’ve never known anything different
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because I joined the industry after Covid,” he says. “I know people who were in the game before would have seen how it was. Whereas for me, I’ve never known anything else – it’s always been a bit of a fight.” That timing coincided with a difficult period in his life. David’s father, Kevin, died in 2022, shortly before the opportunity arose to take over Corporation. He spent several weeks with his mum before returning to Sheffield, where the club’s previous owner asked whether he wanted to buy the business. “I was just kind of looking for something at that point,” he says. “I didn’t mind university, but I always wanted something more. And then I thought, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’” The name Nivek is Kevin backwards, giving the group that has subsequently grown around Corporation a quiet connection to his father. What began as “a huge opportunity” now has a much more defined direction. There are targets for further growth and the infrastructure required to support it, although he is wary of acquiring businesses simply to increase the size of the portfolio. “I am young and I am hungry, but there’s no point jumping on
things without it adding value. Every venue we add to the portfolio, or any other business we add, it has to be a good deal and right for what we want to achieve.” There are more of those deals under consideration, including currently undisclosed projects in Sheffield that he believes could have a significant cultural impact on the city. The broader ambition is clear: to use Nivek’s growing scale to increase Sheffield’s hospitality offer while building a business capable of absorbing some of the pressures currently facing the sector. If there’s one thing our conversation reinforces, it’s that David Savereux is not one to idly let an opportunity pass by. The 24-yearold’s journey from bar staff to business owner in such a short space of time is perhaps best reflected in a piece of advice he is known to give to those working around him: “This job is whatever you make of it. If you want to do more, work towards that and the opportunities will come.” As such, you can bet it won’t be long before you hear about Nivek Group making its next move, adding another string to its considerable bow and something exciting for the region’s hospitality scene.
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SPOTLIGHT ON: FENTI MARKETING
After celebrating its 15th anniversary in December, Fenti capped off the milestone by being named Best Creative Business at the unLTD Business Awards. We headed to the digital marketing agency’s Killamarsh base to meet owners Mark and Elaine Shipley and find out what’s behind its success, how the industry has changed and why looking after your people remains integral to their approach. WORDS: JOSEPH FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY: MARC BARKER
There’s something immediately telling about Fenti’s office when we arrive at Westthorpe Business Innovation Centre in Killamarsh: every desk is occupied. At a time when plenty of businesses are still debating the merits of hybrid working, their 14-strong team are all office-based. More importantly, judging by the animated chatter and laughter around its spacious top-floor workspace, they seem pretty happy about it too. It makes sense once we sit down with husband-and-wife owners Mark and Elaine Shipley and hear one of the key principles behind the company. “For us, employees are the most important thing in the business,” Mark tells me. “Because if they’re happy, they’re going to work hard and well for our clients. We want employee satisfaction above everything else.” It might sound counterintuitive coming from someone who spent much of his career in sales, but there is solid business logic behind it. Fenti effectively acts as an outsourced marketing department for some sizeable businesses, meaning its clients are trusting the team with big brands, budgets and reputations. Keeping the people responsible for that work happy is not treated as a nice extra; it’s vital. “We’ve previously had customers that have caused unnecessary stress to staff and we’ve not renewed the contract,” Elaine says. “We are honest businesspeople and want to do things properly. It’s about values.” A people-first philosophy has helped 34 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
take Fenti a long way from its beginnings in December 2010, when Mark’s first challenge was simply getting through the front door. Anyone who remembers the winter of 2010 will recall the historic snowfall that brought much of the country to a halt. 16 years down the line, you’d be forgiven if the details are a little hazy, but Mark certainly hasn’t forgotten. He had planned to get going with his new business on the Monday, only for the weather to intervene. “I literally had to delay my first day at the office until the Thursday or Friday,” he laughs. “So certainly not the best of starts, but thankfully it wasn’t an omen!” Prior to this, Mark had spent 13-and-a-half years working for a global paper merchant before moving to one of his print industry clients, where he progressed to director level. After leaving three years later, he had a decision to make: return to the paper industry, find another job in print or have a go himself. He chose the latter, drawing on his contacts to find clients and outsource print and mailing work, while Elaine continued working independently as a graphic designer. At first the two businesses remained separate, with Mark managing the commercial and print side and Elaine producing artwork through her own company. The marketing landscape they were working in was very different from today, with a key emphasis on print. “A lot of it was: print 10,000 brochures, send them out and hope somebody makes a call back to place an order,” Mark explains. “That was obviously a huge difference compared with where we are now and how quickly you can get information out to people through email and social media.” Fenti’s move towards digital began surprisingly early in its story. Around six months after launch, Elaine introduced Mark to a web developer who was building websites and exploring email marketing. They saw an opportunity to offer existing clients another way of reaching customers without the expense of printing and distributing thousands of brochures.
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 35
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SPOTLIGHT ON: FENTI MARKETING “Quite quickly that took off,” Mark says. “We started doing more email marketing, sending people back to websites and then clients wanted to upgrade those sites because they were getting clicks through to them. From there, we started building websites, hosting them and increasing our offer.” It set the direction for much of what followed. As the ways businesses reached their customers changed, Fenti gradually added the expertise to match, moving from web development into SEO and paid advertising, followed by social media and content creation. Today, its in-house capabilities cover SEO, PPC, content writing, graphic design, web development, photography, video and social media, with custom software and app development among the newer areas of the business. For a company that began by outsourcing much of its work, bringing those disciplines under one roof was, in Mark’s words, “always the dream”. The advantage is less about being able to describe Fenti as a ‘one-stop shop’ and more about the in-person collaboration between departments it brings. A project can move seamlessly from design into web development and SEO, with specialists working together rather than each part of the job being treated separately. In the same vein, there are deliberately few barriers between clients and the people carrying out the work. Elaine oversees projects from a strategic perspective, but clients are encouraged to interact directly with the designers, developers, writers and other creatives working on their account. “We have a lot of retainer-based clients, around 30, so we are essentially their complete marketing team,” Elaine explains. “We do everything for them, so that connection and availability is important.” They work with businesses at varying stages of development, whether evolving an established identity or creating a new brand from the ground up. OEC Sheffield, part of the A&S Leisure group, is one example, with Fenti involved from the outset in developing its logo and brand before going on to deliver its website, social media, email marketing and content. Elaine’s proud to add that many client relationships stretch back to the agency’s
earliest years. While the breadth of work has changed considerably since 2010, so have the tools available to the people delivering it. Inevitably, that brings our conversation to AI and the questions it is raising across an industry built around creativity and communication. Fenti has chosen to use AI where there is a clear practical benefit rather than treating it as a replacement for the people already doing the work. Research and admin tasks are two areas where they believe it can save considerable time. The agency’s content writers also use AI as a research aid, particularly when getting to grips with unfamiliar or highly technical industries, but a usage agreement in place draws a line when it comes to the content that ultimately reaches an audience. “We’re still very much of the view of humanfor-human consumption of content,” Mark says. “We’ve stuck by that since AI exploded. Human content will always rank and work better for our clients’ websites.” Elaine is similarly wary of confusing quantity with quality. “In the time it takes to write one piece, you could probably produce 20 using AI. But if those 20 pieces aren’t going to have
IT WAS ALWAYS MY DREAM TO HAVE EVERYTHING IN-HOUSE, SO WE COULD BE THAT ENTIRE TEAM.”
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 37
SPOTLIGHT ON: FENTI MARKETING
NO TWO DAYS ARE THE SAME - I’M ALWAYS JUMPING BETWEEN INDUSTRIES & COLLABING WITH THE TEAM, LEARNING FROM THEIR EXPERTISE!
anywhere near the same ranking potential for a client, then it’s pointless.” In other respects, the fundamentals have changed surprisingly little. Elaine still leads the design side of the business alongside two other graphic designers, and the importance she places on high-quality artwork and smart branding goes back to the company’s beginnings. “We’ve always been keen to push the boundaries with design and branding. We don’t want to keep companies in the same lane; we want to move brands forward and reflect where the business is now and where it wants to be.” Since its beginnings, Fenti has recorded year-on-year growth and built a client base extending well beyond South Yorkshire. The team has worked with businesses and delivered projects across the US, Australia, Ireland and continental Europe, with much of that international work coming through recommendations and existing client relationships. However, home is still where the heart is, and both are optimistic about the wider South Yorkshire business landscape. Fenti works across a broad mix of sectors, but Elaine says manufacturing and engineering in particular continue to provide a strong market locally. Despite the pressures facing individual industries, Mark says the prevailing mood among the agency’s clients is one of wanting to push forward rather than retreat. “From the conversations we have, you don’t get the sense of anyone pulling back. They’re pushing on. They want more work, more leads, more enquiries through the website and more sales through the site.” For all the clear confidence in the work they produce, Mark and Elaine admit that promoting their own achievements has not always come naturally. That changed, at least
38 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
for one evening, in December 2025, when the company marked its 15th anniversary by entering the unLTD Business Awards for the first time and bagging the Best Creative Business trophy. “We know we do a phenomenal job for our customers, but we don’t really shout about it,” Mark says. “We just get on and do the work and do the best that we can. Then we thought, ‘We’re 15 years in. Shall we just do it and go for it?’” Elaine put together the application, and neither appears to have gone into the evening expecting to win. “We were like, ‘Oh my God! What do we say?’” she laughs, recalling the moment their name was announced. Once the initial surprise had sunk in, their thoughts quickly turned to the team. Mark remembers posting in the work group that evening to make sure those who weren’t there knew the award belonged to them too. “I just said, ‘This is credit to you guys. You’re the people who have assisted us along this journey.’” And they have no intention of slowing that journey. The plan is to continue expanding the team and developing services, with software development among the areas they see growing in the years ahead. AI will inevitably form part of that future too, although on their own terms, with technology used where it makes the work better rather than simply because it is available. For Elaine, whatever changes over the coming years, the staff who make up Fenti will remain at the heart of proceedings. “I think anybody that’s ever worked with us knows that we’re genuine and hardworking. We’re very careful in our selection of staff; they’re experts in their field and committed to what they do. That’s what we’re most proud of.” fenti.co.uk
ELEANOR, HEAD OF SOCIAL AND CONTENT
WORKING AT FENTI IS GREAT! VARIED PROJECTS KEEP ME GROWING TECHNICALLY AND COLLABORATIVELY. GEORGE, WEB & SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
I LOVE TURNING DATA INTO ANSWERS. THE BEST PART IS SOLVING PROBLEMS TOGETHER AS A TEAM AND FINDING OPPORTUNITIES THAT MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE FOR OUR CLIENTS. TOM, SEO AND PAID MEDIA MANAGER
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This September marks eight years since Laura Blackburn took the leap into selfemployment and launched B Animated. Coincidentally, it is exactly as long as she spent in her previous employed design career. With the business busier than it has been for several years, Laura tells unLTD about taking that initial gamble, seeing her work in New York, navigating the arrival of AI and learning that success does not have to mean working every hour available. Eight years ago, Laura Blackburn walked away from the security of fulltime employment without knowing exactly what would happen next. “I quit my full-time job and just thought, ‘I’ll just see what happens,’” she says. She had some reassurance in the shape of a substantial six-month contract due to begin the following January. However, by the time it arrived, B Animated had already begun gathering enough momentum to change the plan. Laura had spent those first few months building a portfolio of work she could publicly share, and quickly realised that developing B Animated itself was more valuable in the long term than committing her time to a white-label contract. “The work that I could actually show off and promote meant a lot more at that point than the money,” she says. That decision proved 40 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
to be an important one. Eight years later, Laura has worked with hundreds of clients, created thousands of animations and seen her work appear everywhere from huge event screens to football stadiums. One particularly memorable moment came through work for sports nutrition brand Science in Sport, when Laura created content displayed around Yankee Stadium in New York. “I think seeing my work in New York was one of the big ones,” she says. “My work was on all the strips around Yankee Stadium. I couldn’t really warrant a trip over to go and take pictures, unfortunately, but it did happen!” Closer to home, her work has appeared on LED advertising around football pitches and large digital screens at venues including Meadowhall and Cineworld, while she has worked on Tech Summit events since 2022. Her latest work for
the Northern Tech Summit will be displayed across the Crucible’s main screen during the two-day event in Sheffield. It is a varied portfolio built largely without a conventional marketing strategy. “I’ve never really fully marketed,” says Laura. “I’ve done a few expos, but apart from that, people come to me through word of mouth.” Collaboration has played a significant role. B Animated regularly works behind the scenes with video and creative agencies. “I’m not competitive. I’d rather collaborate,” she says. “We work with video agencies and that’s a biggie.” It means plenty of Laura’s work has been seen without B Animated’s name attached to it, including previous projects for major organisations. That makes winning those clients directly
particularly satisfying, and she is currently working on sizeable animation projects for both the Police and NHS. The workload is part of what feels like a return to form after a more challenging period for the creative industries. “I’m busier now than I’ve probably ever been,” she says. “I’m as busy as I was in 2023, and 2023 was my big year.” Among six major projects currently on her books are the police and NHS animations, the Northern Tech Summit and a 30-second television advert. She has also recently completed projects for Launchpad and The Business Village. As well as producing her first app animation, something she hopes to do more of in future. But the creative landscape Laura is working in today looks markedly different to
B:ANIMATED
the one in which B Animated launched in 2018. AI, unsurprisingly, has become one of the biggest talking points. Laura, who trained as a graphic designer before moving increasingly into animation, says she noticed a particular drop in graphic design enquiries as businesses experimented with generative AI. “There has been a drop in the graphic design requests, but they’re coming back because everyone’s putting these AI posters out,” she says. She believes audiences are becoming increasingly adept at recognising AIgenerated graphics, while businesses are beginning to understand the limitations of replacing bespoke design with automated output. Animation, she believes, remains harder to replicate. “I don’t think it can create industry-standard animations yet,” she says
“Even when it does, it won’t be bespoke. You won’t be able to go back and say, ‘I need this little part changing,’ without it changing the whole thing and creating something new again.” That does not make Laura anti-AI. In fact, she already incorporates it into her own work when elements like AI voiceovers are requested by a client. “You’ve got to work with it,” she says. “You’ve got to use it where it works for you.” If technology represents one change over B Animated’s first eight years, Laura’s approach to running the company represents another. In the early days, she admits she regularly worked days and nights, eventually pushing herself into burnout. “I’ve burnt out a lot,” she says. “Especially in the early days of running the business, I was working day and night,
who knows how many hours a week. When you burn out, it’s horrible because then you can’t do anything.” These days, she is much more deliberate about protecting time for herself and her family. B Animated has been based at the Digital Media Centre throughout its eight years, but Laura has built a working setup that can move easily between the office and home. She is also supported by two longstanding freelancers, rather than feeling pressure to build a large permanent team. “I’m perfectly happy using them at the moment, and
they’re brilliant,” she says. “Maybe when my youngest grows a bit older, I can look at expanding more and having staff. But for now, it works perfectly.” For Laura, that flexibility is perhaps the greatest success B Animated has given her. “The biggest thing of anything is my kids,” she says. “I’m flexible, so I do every school run. I’m there for every appointment, every emergency, and I’ve not missed one milestone.” She has also made more room for her own wellbeing, building the gym into her mornings and recognising that looking after herself ultimately makes her better equipped to run the business. “It’s nice at the moment to have a full-time kind of wage, but still have the part-time flexibility,” she says. “I would find it really hard to go back to a nine-to-five job.” Eight years after taking what she describes as a “dive off the top diving board”, there is plenty for Laura to look back on. But finding the time to appreciate it has perhaps been another lesson in itself. “Sometimes you don’t have time to look back and think of what you’ve achieved because you’re just constantly doing it,” she says. With B Animated busy again, major projects underway and Laura having found a working system that feels sustainable, September offers a timely opportunity to do exactly that. banimated.co.uk
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 41
BUSINESS SHEFFIELD supported and their development and growth. What we’re seeing as a result is a sector that is more resilient to the challenges it faces, better able to grow and more connected, both with other social enterprises and the broader business support landscape.
Sheffield’s social enterprise sector is one of the strongest in the country, but turning a good idea into a sustainable organisation takes more than good intentions. Terry Murphy of Sheffield Social Enterprise Network explains how the SEGA programme, commissioned by Sheffield City Council through Business Sheffield, is helping organisations build resilience, increase their impact and access specialist support.
For those who aren’t familiar with it, what is SEGA? SEGA stands for the Social Enterprise Growth Accelerator. As a child of the 80s, once we realised the acronym was heading towards SEGA, all the other options went off the table! Essentially, though, it does what it says on the tin. It’s a programme specifically set up to support the development and growth of Sheffield’s social enterprise sector. Sheffield Social Enterprise Network [SSEN] is predominantly a membership organisation for social enterprises locally, but we also look at where there are gaps in support that are best filled by an independent organisation. That’s what led us to tender for the first iteration of SEGA around two and a half years ago, and we’ve now started the third iteration of the programme. What have you learned from the first two phases? The concept has been proven. The question at the outset was whether social enterprises would benefit from bespoke business support that addresses their particular needs, rather than relying solely on generic business support. The answer has been very clear. We’ve exceeded our targets around the number of organisations
IN MY OPINION SHEFFIELD IS ONE OF THE THREE OR FOUR BEST PLACES IN ENGLAND TO SET UP A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE.” 42 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
What does that support look like in practice? Organisations start by putting in an application and then undergo a full diagnostic with our team, looking at all elements of their business and social enterprise activity. From that, they receive an action plan and are matched with either someone from our internal team or one of our associate consultants, who have expertise in specific areas of social enterprise. There’s also a strong peer element. We run action learning sets, which are a formalised form of peer mentoring, alongside events throughout the year and an annual conference. At the more informal end, we have quarterly catch-ups at The Gardeners Rest. They’re always enjoyable. So there’s one-to-one support, learning in group environments and opportunities to build a network around you. What are the particular challenges of running a social enterprise? There’s no single definition or legal structure for a social enterprise, but there’s a line from a well-known social entrepreneur that I always come back to: “It’s a business where profit is the means to an end, not the end in itself.” That captures the main challenge. You are running a business and need to generate income and profit, but that profit serves your social or environmental purpose. You have to hold that tension between financial sustainability and your mission. If you’re a social enterprise working in a particular community, for example, you might have no interest in becoming a huge organisation or operating elsewhere. You want to grow your impact, but you can’t do that without taking care of the bottom line. How strong is Sheffield’s social enterprise sector?
Very strong. Numbers change as organisations come and go, but from those we’ve mapped and supported, we estimate there are somewhere in the region of 200 to 250 social enterprises in Sheffield. Sheffield is also one of a relatively small number of places to have been accredited by Social Enterprise UK as a Social Enterprise Place. To achieve that, there needs to be both a significant number of social enterprises and the infrastructure to support them. We’ve had that infrastructure here for a long time, but I think there’s something in Sheffield’s social fabric too. There’s a strong sense of local pride and a desire to see people and communities across the city do welll. That social heritage has been around these parts for centuries, and in my opinion Sheffield is one of the three or four best places in England to set up a social enterprise. You can see that in established organisations across the city, from Opus and Zest to Printed By Us and Food Works. They’re all different organisations, but all demonstrate how enterprise can be used to create wider social or
environmental value. Where does social enterprise fit into Sheffield’s wider business landscape? I tend to think of it as a spectrum. At one end you have the traditional charity and voluntary sector, and at the other you have traditional business. Social enterprise sits somewhere in the middle, taking elements from both. Our role isn’t to say every organisation should become a social enterprise. But social enterprise can act as a magnet towards that middle ground. For voluntary and community organisations, grants and donations are increasingly difficult to depend on, so many need to think about diversifying their income and generating more earned income. At the other end, businesses are increasingly having to consider the social and environmental implications of how they operate. That doesn’t mean every company is going to become a worker co-operative, but there is a wider movement towards businesses thinking beyond profit alone.
What would you say to somebody with an idea for a social enterprise but no idea where to start? Sign up for SEGA. That’s exactly what we’re here for. The programme supports organisations at every stage, whether somebody has just had an idea or has been operating for 20 years. In the last iteration, we found the majority of people coming to us were at that early stage. They had an idea but weren’t sure what to do with it. Before you do anything else, put in an application and have a conversation with us. We can help you understand whether social enterprise is the right route and where your idea fits. We also run a day-long boot camp for start-ups, where people can explore their idea, understand the different options and develop it alongside peers who are in a similar position. There’s no shortage of ideas. Often what people need is the confidence and knowledge to establish whether an idea can work and understand how to go about making it happen.
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 43
BUSINESS SHEFFIELD
What separates the social enterprises that go on to make a significant impact? First, you have to understand your market. You can have a wellintentioned idea, but as a social enterprise you’re still dependent on selling a product or service. You need to establish that there’s demand for what you’re offering and understand what else already exists. Then there’s the question of impact. Does what you’re doing address inequality, support a particular community or contribute to tackling the climate challenge? Is it regenerative? Is it relevant to the local area? If you can start addressing some of the root causes of a problem, rather than only dealing with its symptoms, you’re more likely to create deeper impact. Adaptability is important too. Social enterprises are often relatively small and deeply embedded in their communities, which can make them remarkably agile and resilient when circumstances change. But you can’t neglect the business side. That’s why SEGA sits within the wider Business Sheffield support offer. We address the specific needs of social enterprises, but we actively encourage organisations to use 44 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
mainstream business support too, whether that’s around accountancy, branding or other areas. To build the most resilient organisation possible, you need both. Social purpose and good business practice aren’t alternatives. The strongest social enterprises understand how to make them work together. Applications are open for the third Social Enterprise Growth Accelerator, offering Sheffield social enterprises and start-ups fully funded, specialist support to develop and grow. Apply now at ssen. org.uk/sega. Email: hello@ssen. org.uk
SOCIAL SHEFFIELD • Sheffield is home to more than 200 social enterprises, working across sectors including health and wellbeing, education, culture, food, renewable energy and community development. • The city was recognised as a Social Enterprise City in 2018 and gained formal Social Enterprise Place accreditation from Social Enterprise UK in 2022. • Sheffield Social Enterprise Network (SSEN) leads the partnership working to strengthen the sector’s visibility, connections and influence. • This year’s Festival of Social Enterprise attracted almost 800 people across 23 events and activities, including more than 200 at its conference.
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Airmaster Air Conditioning Ltd has promoted James Dawson to design director and appointed him to its board of directors, marking the culmination of a decade-long journey from graduate engineer to company director. James joined the employeeowned mechanical services contractor in 2016 as the company's first graduate engineer. Over the past ten years, he has steadily progressed through the business, developing both his technical expertise and leadership skills to become a key figure in Airmaster's continued growth. In his new role, James will continue to lead Airmaster's in-house design team, which includes Mechanical Design Engineer Sam Casadei and award-winning Design Apprentice Max Brough. Together, they deliver innovative mechanical services designs for projects across the UK while helping to nurture the next generation of engineering talent. Alongside his day-to-day responsibilities, James has continued to invest in his own development. In 2025, he qualified as a CIBSE Low Carbon Consultant, further strengthening the company's expertise in delivering energy-efficient and 46 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
sustainable building services solutions. Since Airmaster became employee-owned, he has also served as the company's Employee Trustee Representative, helping to ensure colleagues have a voice in the business. His appointment to the Board reflects both his own achievements and Airmaster's long-standing commitment to developing talent from within. Managing Director Lisa Pogson said: "When James joined us ten years ago as our first graduate engineer, we knew he had enormous potential. Over the last decade, he has continually challenged himself, embraced every opportunity to learn and develop, and become an exceptional technical leader. "His appointment to the Board is thoroughly deserved. He brings technical excellence, strategic thinking and a genuine commitment to our people and values." Operations Director Gareth Campbell added: "James' journey reflects exactly what
OVER THE LAST DECADE, JAMES HAS CONTINUALLY CHALLENGED HIMSELF, EMBRACED EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN AND DEVELOP, AND BECOME AN EXCEPTIONAL TECHNICAL LEADER. MANAGING DIRECTOR, LISA POGSON
Airmaster stands for. We believe in investing in people, giving them opportunities and supporting them to build rewarding careers. "Today, James is not only leading our design function, but he is also mentoring the next generation of engineers, helping them develop in exactly the same way." For James, the promotion represents both a personal milestone and an opportunity to help shape the company's future. "It's a real honour to be appointed Design Director and to join the Airmaster Board," he said. "One of the things that stood out from the beginning was the culture. Everyone was approachable, ideas were welcomed and I was trusted to take on responsibility early in my career. "I'm particularly proud of the team we've built within the design department. Developing people is just as important as delivering great engineering. "Joining the Board gives me the opportunity to help shape the future of the business while continuing to drive innovation, sustainability and technical excellence for our customers." Now celebrating his tenth anniversary with the company, James' promotion stands as a powerful example of Airmaster's commitment to long-term career development and investing in its people.
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 47
HIGHLIGHTING THE VISION, ADAPTABILITY AND GRIT BEHIND SOUTH YORKSHIRE’S LONGEST-STANDING BUSINESSES
Against all counsel, Karen Sherwood opened an independent gallery in Hillsborough in 1991. 35 years, more than 10,000 artists and countless brews later, Cupola remains one of the city’s most welcoming creative spaces. WORDS:JOSEPH FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY: MARC BARKER
“I always say a temporary fit of insanity,” replies Karen Sherwood with a laugh when I ask what inspired her to open Cupola Gallery. “But the reality is I’ve wanted to open an art gallery from the age of 15, bizarrely. My friend Jeni and I would design some of the first art centres, with dedicated spaces for art, fashion, independent cinema, restaurants and even stress relief rooms … we were ahead of the curve!” I’m sitting with Karen – an instantly warm and likeable character – in the front room of her gallery on Middlewood Road. It’s a veritable Tardis-like warren of artistic talent and creativity, with four rooms and a splendid sculpture garden currently displaying the work of more than 150 artists. There’s plenty to catch the eye: from Alison Dunn's oversized leather Mega Boob hanging in the Craft Gallery to Alexander Johnston's Straita 1, a geometric wall sculpture assembled from thousands of individually cut wooden slats. It turns out that the idea for Cupola wasn't born from spotting a gap in the market so much as running headfirst into a big problem. When Karen graduated with a 48 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
fine art degree in the late 1980s, she found herself looking for somewhere to exhibit her work in a city that had produced generations of artists but remarkably few places to show contemporary art. "I could not find anywhere. People said, 'Oh, there's the university library,' or there was a tiny gallery in Crookes, but I couldn't even get an A1 portfolio through the door there. There'd been an art college in Sheffield for 150 years, there were working studios, but nowhere to show or sell contemporary art. I thought, 'This is ridiculous.' People kept saying to me, 'It'll never work in Sheffield,' and I was thinking, 'It's the fifth largest city in the country. What the hell is going on?'" Determined to prove there was an audience, Karen and fellow printmaker Shaeron organised an exhibition in the flat she was renting above a butcher's shop on Wostenholm Road. They designed and screenprinted invitations before handing them out anywhere they could think of. "We took them to church, we took them to the theatre, I harassed people at bus stops. In the end, loads of people came. We had free alcohol, which probably
helped, but people bought things too. The work wasn't expensive, but it was unusual, and people don't buy things just because they're cheap. They buy them because they like them." The experience helped to convince Karen there was room for a contemporary gallery in Sheffield. However, finding anyone else who agreed proved another matter. "The bank almost patted me on the head. Business support didn't understand the concept of an art gallery because you couldn't buy it, mark it up and sell it off. I even contacted the Arts Council and they said, 'We've supported so many galleries that have gone down the swanny. We don't both er anymore.' I thought, 'Oh, that’s inspired me with confidence.'" The breakthrough arrived from somewhere unexpected. Following the death of her grandmother, a check arrived for around £15,000 a year later. Around the same time, she'd met the owner of the picture framing business on Middlewood Road who was planning to emigrate to Alaska.
"I suddenly thought, 'Blimey, I wonder how much he wants for the business?' Perhaps a picture framers could subsidise the gallery? Maybe I could make that work." The asking price was £10,000. Karen negotiated to pay £6,000 upfront and the rest during her first year in business. The landlord offered favourable rent if she took the neighbouring unit as well. "I ran off to Scotland to get married, came back, learnt how to picture frame in a fortnight and opened an art gallery," she recalls, still sounding faintly amused by the whirlwind nature of it all. "It was completely bonkers, really." With a seemingly inexhaustible amount of energy expended in a short space of time, things fell into place and the doors opened in 1991. But there’s a wry smile as she adds, “and then came the cynicism.” Karen remembers putting out a call to Yorkshire Artspace inviting artists to submit work. Just one did. "The thinking was it couldn't be any good if it was in Sheffield and it certainly couldn't be any good if it was in Hillsborough. I was like, 'I beg your pardon?' People said there was no money in Hillsborough. I said, 'Hang on. People buy houses, kitchens, holidays and cars. What do you mean there's no money?' They'd say people wouldn't choose to spend it on art, but if you're never given the choice, how can you decide what your taste is?" That determination to challenge assumptions still defines Cupola Gallery today. Karen talks less about selling artwork than she does about removing the
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 49
invisible obstacles and presumptions that stop people walking through the door in the first place. "The biggest barrier to any art gallery is often the door because people assume galleries are posh and unwelcoming,” she sighs. “But look: there’s free cake every Saturday, we've got Lego for children, we're dog friendly. There are things here that cost thousands of pounds and there are things for a couple of quid. We're here to deliver the pleasure principle: this is joy and it's personal and it’s for everyone." Over the years, this dug-in philosophy has created as many memorable stories as exhibitions. During the huge disruption caused by the Supertram works in the early 1990s, when businesses across Hillsborough struggled simply to stay open, construction workers would often stand outside looking through the gallery window. "I said, 'Come in and have a look,' and they said, 'We're mucky though.' They came in, I made them a cup of tea and they wandered round. A few months later one of them came back in and said, 'You don't remember me, do you? I'm one of those builders you invited in. You weren't rude to me and you didn't patronise me.' It just shows you how important those experiences are." Another poignant encounter has stayed with her even longer. "There was a man stood outside for about 10 minutes. Eventually I opened the door and asked if he'd like to come in. He said, 'I didn't know whether you'd ask me to go away because I might not be the kind of person you want in your gallery.' That just broke my heart." Listening to Karen, it's clear that interactions with customers matter just as much as the exhibitions themselves. Over the years she estimates they’ve exhibited work by more than 10,000 artists. Plenty, like ceramicist Edmund de Waal, have gone on to international acclaim. Others have remained part of the Cupola family for decades. Several artists from the gallery's earliest years are exhibiting alongside firsttime contributors in the current show. "I'm not here to be the arbiter of taste,” she tells me. “I'm interested in showcasing people's creative talents and I love showing the diversity of art. Creativity is absolutely essential. There's not a culture on the planet that exists without music, dance, poetry and some form of visual art. If that doesn't tell you it's a fundamental need, I don't know what does." The gallery itself has grown organically over time. What started as a picture framing workshop gradually expanded into neighbouring rooms, while Karen and her 50 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
husband moved upstairs to make space for more exhibitions below. The sculpture garden followed once the building became entirely dedicated to the gallery. There have been personal sacrifices too. Karen speaks candidly about putting her own artistic practice on hold while raising her two sons and running the business. It wasn't until a customer lent her a caravan in Seahouses for a much-needed break that she rediscovered painting. "I went away for 10 days, did 22 sketches and I've not stopped since." Now, Cupola's anniversary exhibition 35 Years brings together an eclectic mix of work in what she cheerfully admits is a busier hang than usual. "I wanted to show as many people as I possibly could because that's what the gallery has always been about. I want people to come in, have a cup of tea or a coffee, then they can wander round and take their time." The celebrations continue with a free party on Sunday 30 August featuring live jazz, Persian food from local restaurant Antler and, inevitably, Karen greeting visitors with the same enthusiasm that's carried Cupola Gallery through recessions, roadworks and changing fortunes over the last three and a half decades. "All people have got to do is have a drink, enjoy the art on show and put up with me wandering round going, 'I love you all.' “Now, that’s not such a bad deal, is it?" cupolagallery.com
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UNLTD VISITS: ABBEYDALE BREWERY
30 years on from its beginnings in a single industrial unit on Aizlewood Road, Abbeydale Brewery is still growing. What started in 1996 as the vision of founders Pat and Sue Morton has become one of Sheffield’s bestknown breweries, currently producing more than 220 barrels a week across 15 different beers, while remaining proudly independent. Alongside the brewery, the business includes The Rising Sun in Fulwood and the recently opened Abbeydale Beerworks Taproom on Abbeydale Road. Since October 2024, it’s also become employee owned, with every member of staff sharing a stake in the company. WORDS:JOSEPH FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY: MARC BARKER
To mark the milestone, unLTD joined marketing manager Laura Rangeley for a walk through the brewery’s past and present, following the journey of a perfect pour from grain to glass, before crossing the road for a pint at their newest venue. Fittingly, the tour begins where the brewery itself started out. Unit Eight, now just one part of a much larger site, was once the entire operation. Today the surrounding space has gradually been absorbed as Abbeydale has expanded, each new unit, gleaming tank and production space reflecting steady, 52 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
organic growth and a willingness to keep evolving. No matter where you are on the premises, the unmistakable aroma of malt and fresh hops hangs in the air. “I’ve worked here for just over 11 years,” says Laura, “but that smell never gets old.” While the brewery is best known for flagship pale ale Moonshine, innovation has always sat alongside tradition. Laura points out that their first ever beer, now viewed as something of a local institution and drank right across the country, was itself ahead
of its time when it launched. “It’s easy to look at a beer like Moonshine and think it’s quite traditional – and it is,” she explains. “But when we started making it 30 years ago, using American hops was really innovative. We’ve always stayed true to ourselves, but we’ve always made an effort to stay current and forward-thinking.” That philosophy can be seen across the brewery’s core range, which has grown from five to ten over the past three decades. While Moonshine remains the calling card, still accounting for half of
their output, later additions such as the Mosaic-hopped American pale ale Heathen and crisp lager Heresy have become favourites in their own right, sitting alongside an ever-changing lineup of seasonal brews and experimental releases. Inside the brew house, brewer Sam is hard at work as the latest batch works its way through the system. Laura talks us through the process, from milling grain to extracting sugars before hops are added during the boil. One particularly striking vessel contains what she describes as “essentially like making a big cup
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 53
UNLTD VISITS: ABBEYDALE BREWERY of loose-leaf tea with hops”, slowly infusing aroma into the wort before fermentation begins. For all the craft and creativity attached to brewing, it’s also an operation built on precise engineering and logistics. Fermentation vessels tower overhead, while dedicated tanks condition lagers, and yeast quietly does the work of converting sugar into alcohol over several days. New investments, including a larger brew kettle and centrifuge, have helped improve efficiency without changing the character of the beer. Moving into an adjoining room, the production line hums away. Casks are washed, filled and prepared for delivery while cans move steadily along the conveyor at up to 27 a minute before being checked and boxed by hand. Six drivers head out daily, supplying pubs across Sheffield four days a week before reaching customers throughout the Peak District and much of northern England. There’s some export, too, and we’re told that Abbeydale beers make occasional appearances in watering holes across Italy, Denmark and Finland. The final stop is perhaps the most intriguing. Tucked away behind heavy doors sits the Funk Dungeon, home to the brewery’s exciting barrelaged and mixed fermentation project. Lead by head brewer Jim, rows of former wine, bourbon and Madeira barrels quietly mature beers that spend months, sometimes years, developing layers of flavour and complexity. Rather than chasing bold wine or spirit flavours, the focus is on how the wood itself shapes the beer over time, creating complex bottles that blur the line between brewing and winemaking. The room smells incredible and I can’t help but wonder whether I’d have enjoyed GCSE Chemistry far more if a craft brewing module was included. Arriving at the onsite shop, shelves are stocked with freshly canned releases, merchandise and the full Abbeydale range, offering visitors the chance to take a little piece of the brewery home with them. We’re furnished with complimentary pin badges – a barrel emblazoned with the words ‘Drink Cask’ – before calling time on the tour. Just 200 paces away, though, there’s another chapter to the story. In May this year, 54 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
WE JUST BELIEVE IN WHAT WE DO, WHAT WE MAKE AND THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE IT.”
Abbeydale Beerworks opened its doors, giving drinkers a dedicated place to experience the brewery’s beers at the source. Situated in the former Turner’s Bottle Shop on Abbeydale Road, the cosy taproom has quickly found its place in one of Sheffield’s liveliest independent hubs. For Laura, taking over the site wasn’t about replacing a much-loved venue, but building on what was already there. “When we heard Turner’s were moving on, it felt like a good fit,” she explains. “It was important that we could keep it as an independent beer venue.” The taproom acts as both a
showcase and an extension of the brewery itself. Twelve draught lines feature an ever-changing cross section of Abbeydale’s output, with ten dedicated to their own beers (all of which are gluten free) across cask and keg. Moonshine, Heathen and Heresy are permanent fixtures, while seasonal releases, limited editions and beers from the Funk Dungeon regularly rotate through the remaining lines. A single guest tap – the aptly named ‘Friends of Abbeydale Brewery’ line – is reserved for fellow independent breweries that share the company’s values. “We wanted somewhere that really showed who we are,” says Laura. “We’ve got this huge range of beers and we don’t like making assumptions about what people drink. Just because someone likes Daily Bread doesn’t mean they won’t enjoy a double IPA or one of our Funk Dungeon beers. This gives us somewhere to showcase the range we offer.” It’s also where visitors on the monthly tours finish their experience, settling down with a tasting flight after seeing exactly how the beers are made just a few hundred feet away. Beyond the beer, the taproom is becoming a community hangout in its own right. A monthly social run club sets off from the bar before returning for discounted pints, while quizzes, tasting evenings and collaborations with local businesses are all in the pipeline. Plans are already taking shape for a 30th birthday celebration in August, while October will see the arrival of the brewery’s annual Pilgrim Party, celebrating its cult-favourite pumpkin beer Pilgrim. For Laura, that community focus has helped Abbeydale navigate three decades in an industry that has seen huge change. “I think it’s because we’ve always stayed true to what we do. We’ve always put the emphasis on doing business in the right way: looking after our people, focusing on quality, keeping up with the times without following fashion too much. We just believe in what we do, what we make and the people who make it. If we can carry on doing that, hopefully we’ll still be here in another 30 years.” @abbeydalebeers @abbeydalebeerworks
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11TH SEPTEMBER 2026
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AIMEE GILL
For the latest instalment of our Keeping up with the Banner Joneses series, we sat down with Will Writer Aimee Gill, part of the firm’s private client team based in Sheffield city centre to discuss the path that led her into law, the importance of putting plans in place for the future, and some of the more unusual requests she has encountered along the way. Tell us a little about your role at Banner Jones. What does a typical day look like? I'm one of the will writers in the private client team, focusing mainly on wills and lasting powers of attorney, although we also deal with probate matters and trust work. Every day is different because every client has different circumstances and a different story to tell. I spend a lot of time meeting people face to face, understanding what they want to achieve, advising them on all the options and helping them make the right decisions for themselves and their families. I enjoy the fact that it isn't simply about drafting documents. It's about understanding people, their circumstances and their wishes and then giving them the advice that goes alongside that. What do you enjoy most about the job? Definitely the people side of things. I enjoy building relationships with clients and getting to know them over time. In previous roles, I worked much more remotely, whereas here everything is much more personal and client-focused. A client might come to us for their first will, then return when they get married, have children or start a business. Being able to support them through different stages of life is really rewarding. How did you end up working in law? It's funny because, when I was younger, I actually wanted to become a doctor. Then I realised that science
and the sight of blood weren't really for me. I decided to study law at A level, really enjoyed it and thought it might be something I could pursue professionally. Although I'm not helping people medically, I'd still like to think I'm making a difference in some way. Did you always know that private client work was the area you wanted to specialise in? Not at all. I fell into it, really. After finishing university, I was keen to gain experience in a law firm and started working in private client as an administrative assistant. Over time, I took on more responsibility, developed my own caseload and realised how much I enjoyed it. The work is fascinating because you hear so many different stories and get an insight into family dynamics. I knew fairly early on that the corporate side of law wasn't for me. I much prefer dealing directly with people. You're Sheffield born and bred, aren't you? I am. I grew up in Stannington and went to Bradfield School before studying in Sheffield as well. I've always liked the city. There are plenty of great places to eat and drink, and it's nice being surrounded by the countryside while still having everything a city has to offer. Working in your field, you must hear some unusual requests from time to time. Absolutely. A lot of the more unusual requests involve funeral arrangements. I've had clients ask for their ashes to be
placed inside fireworks, while others have wanted them scattered in the Champagne region of France. One client wanted their family to hold a meeting after their death where everyone would have to make a case for why they should inherit a particular item. That was certainly memorable. There must be difficult moments as well. Of course. We work with people who have experienced bereavement or who are going through extremely challenging periods in their lives. Some clients have lost children, while others may be seriously ill or approaching the end of their lives. Those situations are never easy, but it's important to support people and ensure that everything is in place for them and their families. Many people put off making a will. Why do you think that is? I think people simply don't like talking about death. I hear clients say all the time that they've been meaning to sort things out for years but have kept putting it off. In reality, though, taking that first step gives people peace of mind because they know they've got everything in place. Families are often blended, people may own businesses, have vulnerable beneficiaries or want to protect assets for future generations. Our role is to understand those individual circumstances and make sure the will achieves exactly what the client wants while avoiding potential problems further down the line.
Clients often tell us they appreciate having someone they can sit down with and talk things through. Having a local expert to guide you through the process and explain everything in plain English gives people confidence and reassurance. What advice would you give to business owners in particular? Business owners invest huge amounts of time, money and energy into building their businesses, but many people don't think about what would happen if they became unable to manage things themselves. Wills are important, but lasting powers of attorney are equally essential. Business owners should be asking themselves who would take over running the business, how employees would be paid and who would be able to access business accounts if something happened unexpectedly. Putting plans in place now means the business has the best possible chance of continuing in the future. Finally, what do you enjoy doing outside work? If you ask anyone in the office, they'll probably tell you I'm always on holiday. I love travelling, and I always like having something booked. Mallorca is a favourite for a long weekend away, while Las Vegas is probably the most memorable place I've visited. I'm heading back there later this year before travelling on to Canada with my partner and family, so that's definitely something I'm looking forward to.
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 57
PRIDE OF YORKSHIRE ALEX SZAMBO-HASLAM
MONKEY BUSINESS
300 lions continue to prowl the streets of South Yorkshire as Pride of Yorkshire transforms the region in support of Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity. For Sheffield designer Alex Szabo-Haslam, painting one of them almost never happened. Alex saw the call-out but assumed it wasn't intended for him…
What made you think the opportunity wasn't for you? I'd seen the opportunity and thought about going for it, but because I'd never done anything in 3D before, I talked myself out of it. I do that a lot. I convince myself I won't be able to do things. Then Pride of Yorkshire got in touch to say the Arctic Monkeys had selected me to create their sculpture. I’d worked on their tour posters before, but I definitely wasn't expecting that!
body of a lion. It had to be ‘Body Paint’! The sculpture is wrapped in the song's soundwave. Originally, I wanted it to be black and white, but their previous elephant sculpture had already used that colour palette, so I switched to a metallic finish instead. I've deliberately not put any text on it. I'm hoping people work out the connection for themselves. It'll be really interesting to see how people respond.
That must have been daunting? Definitely. I hadn't painted since I was about 18, so I genuinely had no idea what it was going to look like. Designing the soundwave was the easy part. Printing everything out, creating the tape masks and painting it accurately was the real challenge. Thankfully, however, it's all turned out alright.
Have your friends and family been to visit it? How has that felt? This was the last piece of work I made before my mum died. She was too unwell to visit it in person, but she saw lots of photos and videos while it was being made and installed. Design and artwork were
Tell us about the design. Once I knew I was creating a sculpture for the Arctic Monkeys, using something from The Car album made sense. I wasn't sure which song to choose until it suddenly hit me – I'm painting the 58 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
always something she encouraged, so it means a lot that she got to see it before she passed. My dad's been to visit it a few times. In fact, once he heard I was involved, he decided to cycle the entire trail of 300 sculptures, which is really impressive considering how spread out they all are! Would you like to create more public art? Some of my other work is on display in London, and I've produced a lot of screenprints over the years, but the lioness is the first time I've painted something like this. Maybe it'll lead to more art trails. I've got loads of other work to draw from and would love to do more public art. Finally, where would you like your lioness to end up after the trail? I'd love it to end up somewhere public like the Winter Garden, where hopefully some kid walks by one day and thinks, 'I can do that.' @szabohaslam For more information about Pride of Yorkshire, visit prideofyorkshire.org or follow @ prideofyorkshiretrail.
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OPINION
unLTD podcast maestro James Marriott takes a break from talking into microphones to have a little moment in the Hillsborough Park sunshine – and explain why, after all these years, Tramlines still feels unmistakably Sheffield.
Don't mind me. I'm having a moment. It's Saturday teatime, I'm lying on the grass in between acts on the main stage. The sun is shining. It's lovely. But my mind is casting back to a few weeks ago, when Tramlines posted the line-up flyers from previous years on its socials, all the way to the first one. It was a poignant reminder of how far it has come. From the fledgling early editions on Dev Green, through the frankly forgettable years at the temporary home of Ponderosa, to the current iteration at Hillsborough Park. And the eight years at S6 have been nothing if not eventful – the phantom line-up of 2020, the Covid test event of the following year, the swamp that was 2023, the Pulp homecoming of 2025. And so here we are, bang in the middle of Tramlines 2026. My mates have all gone to get food or drinks, I'm on my own. As I look around, I'm surrounded by joy. Everyone's having a great time. There's a group of mates to my right laughing so hard one of them nearly stumbled over – cue even harder laughing. Just in front of me is a young couple playing with their baby in a pram. To my left, the football stadium is looking particularly majestic, with the rightfully restored proper owl casting its beautiful eyes over us all. The air is alive with the sound of people just having fun. The sun is shining, the laughs roll. See, all those previous years of Tramlines have led us to this point – and it needs celebrating. I mean, I haven't loved every act I've seen so far, and probably won't over the rest of the weekend. But that's not the point is it? Tramlines isn't JUST about great music. It's about great people. And great vibes. And Hillsborough Park is swimming in those right now (much better than the
swimming of '23). Every year, Facebook is swamped with keyboard warriors who just can't wait to start their annual pastime of whinging about this event. Well, if any one of them was sat where I am right now, in this near-perfect moment, maybe they'd get it and keep their fingers to themselves next summer. If you've never been to Tramlines, I hope some of these words are cutting through. I'm sure there is stuff in your life which brings you pure joy. For 40-odd thousand of us, it's this park every July. There are the kids down the front with their moshpits, which rip up a bit of grass and gives the aforementioned keyboard warriors something to carry on whinging about for a few weeks afterwards (for what it's worth, to me, a fair price to see hundreds of young folk having a jolly good time). I'm about three quarters of the way back, so behind me is the usual mixture of families taking it easy and the overkeen ones who've been a little too liberal on the booze and need a breather. There's the steady stream of people making their way from one stage to another, perhaps via the loos, which are surprisingly pleasant even now. I hear the odd scream from the brave souls on the fairground rides. Tramlines is a broad church. Attendees cover every age group imaginable. This is a festival for Sheffield, not a demographic. The cacophony of smells from the various food stands wafts back and forth in perfect symphony with the gentle and most welcome breeze. And I'm a partaker in the unofficial contest of wearing obscure football shirts (plenty of belters this year but hard to beat the guy wearing a purple Harchester United top, easily trumping my Bohemians/Kneecap collab). Everything I've said here
EVERY YEAR, FACEBOOK IS SWAMPED WITH KEYBOARD WARRIORS WHO JUST CAN'T WAIT TO START THEIR ANNUAL PASTIME OF WHINGING ABOUT THIS EVENT.” centres on the park itself, glossing over the Fringe events spread right across the city, including a ton of events in the city centre, which from what I hear from friends and colleagues is a cracking weekend in itself. And rightly so. That's its origins. We all know Tramlines had an organic start back in 2009. Indeed, I found myself producing a podcast recording a few weeks ago where co-founder James O'Hara talked about it initially being an idea to help pay the VAT bills while the students were back home for summer. Things have changed of course. I don't know a lot about the ownership of Tramlines now and frankly
I don't much care. Because – and I know this will be controversial – it is still the same festival. Yes, it's bigger. Yes, it's more expensive. Yes, there are rules people don't like. But it's still Tramlines because it still embodies Sheffield. Earlier I saw someone walking across the grass trip over the foot of someone sat on the floor. Rather than a flashpoint, it resulted in a scramble for who could apologise first, then random hug and exchange of friendly words, then a photo taken together with each other's children in. That's what makes Sheffield, well, Sheffield, and by association makes Tramlines, well, Tramlines. I don't think you could pick this up and plonk it in, say, Newcastle or Liverpool, or any other similar-sized city and expect it to work. I mean heck, how many cities can host an urban festival, a few minutes out of the city centre, well served by public transport, and have a main stage with a backdrop of trees as far as the eye can see on either side? This thing is Sheffield to its core. It can't not be. Lest we forget that Sheffield didn't have this 18 years ago. Leeds already had its festival. Manchester had a ton of stuff. We had nowt, and it was rubbish. Tramlines gave us that anchor in the calendar. I for one have no shame admitting that my excitement starts a good couple of months out and I love going through and planning my schedule. There are people I only see once a year at Tramlines, and every year I meet new people here who go on to become good mates. It's smack bang at the heart of Sheffield life. Imagining a Sheffield without Tramlines makes me shudder. Not that it's perfect. Everyone has the things they'd change of course, from line-up preferences
to prices. I have a gripe: Tramlines destroys footwear. Buy new expensive trainers for this weekend at your peril – they will not survive. But the good wins out every time. Take for example The Library Stage, Into The Trees and The Open Arms – essential elements of this event. Here you will find the sometimes weird, often wacky but usually wonderful. Tramlines can't all be pop and indie, because neither is Sheffield; it's important that it reflects all genres. You'll find that diversity across the festival. I've just seen a park full of people go wild for Rick Astley singing ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ on the main stage after yesterday watching Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson scale the rigging (someone had a health and safety paperwork nightmare with that one) and Fatboy Slim flash up a moment of support for Count Binface. On T'Other Stage, Ross Noble had us in hysterics this morning, before we had a boogie during a takeover by a newer Sheffield institution, Day Fever. Earlier on the Leadmill stage I caught the raw and unrefined energy of Matt Hennessy; later I'll be enjoying the polished soul of Gabrielle. Highlight of the Library Stage so far – Double Dollys. You guessed it, two Dolly Partons leading a sort-of line dancing tutorial. And we're barely halfway through. It's time to snap out of my moment. Sleeper are on in a minute and I'm that guy in the crowd who knows every single word to their entire back catalogue, so this is my time to shine. God bless Tramlines. See you next year. James Marriott is a podcast producer, strategist and founder of Sound Media. wearesoundmedia.com for more information.
unLTDBUSINESS.COM 61
YOUR PITCH
DANI O’HARA - FOUNDER, CAPTURE TRAVEL JOURNALS Putting pen to paper on a fresh take on travel memories, Capture Travel Journals is turning adventures into keepsakes – with big ambitions for the journey ahead. Tell us about your business – sell yourself! Capture Travel Journals is a collection of seven hardback journals designed for female adventurers of all ages. Each edition covers a different region of the world and combines practical organisational pages with space to record the experiences that make a trip memorable. Journalling can be difficult to start, so prompts throughout encourage travellers to capture not just where they went, but what they learned, noticed and felt. They’re designed to be used across many trips and eventually become a keepsake filled with years of adventures. What distinguishes your approach from the competition? When I started looking at travel journals, I found lots of brown leather, aeroplanes and fairly traditional designs. I wanted something bright, fun and attractive enough to display on a bookshelf or coffee table. Organising the collection by continent also means someone who travels widely can easily return to a particular trip years later. Most importantly, the prompts go beyond photographs: What did a place smell like? How did it make you feel? Who did you meet? Those small details are often the memories we lose. What is the key ethos underpinning what you do? I want to stop meaningful travel memories disappearing into camera rolls and phone notes. Travel is about far more than the places we photograph - it’s the people we meet, foods we try, stories we hear and things we learn. I still love rereading my own travel notes and rediscovering the name of a tiny village I visited, a local dish I tried or a story I’d completely forgotten. What are some common challenges you face in your line 62 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
of work, and how do you address them? I run Capture alongside working full-time as a secondary school teacher, so time is my biggest challenge. I've had to teach myself every stage of building the business - from designing the journals and formatting them for print to building a website, marketing, social media, working with UGC creators and now learning about wholesale distribution. I fit it around weekends and school holidays, often using online resources and YouTube to teach myself.
on that milestone and secure more independent UK stockists in time for Christmas.
Any exciting developments on the horizon? My biggest development is securing Capture’s first physical stockist. Wrap and Joy, a new independent store opening in Formby this October, will stock the Europe, Asia and North America editions. My next goal is to build
How can people get involved with what you do? The full collection can be discovered at capturetraveljournals. com and purchased through Amazon in the UK, US and Europe. I’d also love to hear from independent retailers interested in stocking Capture Travel Journals.
Where would you like the business to be in five years’ time? I’d love to see Capture regularly restocked in independent gift and travel shops across the UK and US, as well as major retailers such as Waterstones. I’ve already had interest from contacts in Germany, the Netherlands and the US, so international retail is something I’d love to develop too. Ultimately, I’d love Capture to grow enough to become my full-time business.
Registered Charity No. 505002
Collect lions. Support Sheffield Children’s See South Yorkshire!
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Or visit prideofyorkshire.org
S I MO DA
EDR EXPLAINED: DETECTING AND STOPPING CYBER THREATS BY HARRY THOMAS, DIGITAL MARKETING EXECUTIVE
Cyber threats have evolved dramatically over the last few years. Today's attackers are using increasingly sophisticated techniques that can bypass traditional antivirus software, making it harder for businesses to protect their systems, data and people. Many legacy security tools rely on recognising known threats. While this approach can still identify some attacks, modern cybercriminals are constantly developing new methods designed to evade signature-based detection. As a result, organisations need a more intelligent approach to endpoint security. This is where Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) comes in. EDR provides continuous monitoring of laptops, desktops, servers and other connected devices, enabling organisations to identify suspicious behaviour and respond to threats before they can cause significant damage. Rather than simply looking for known malicious files, EDR solutions analyse how applications and users behave, helping to identify threats that would otherwise go unnoticed. To understand the difference EDR can make, imagine an employee receives what appears to be a legitimate invoice from a trusted supplier. Without realising it's malicious, they open the attachment and unknowingly trigger ransomware. In a traditional environment, the malware could begin encrypting files, spreading across the network and disrupting business operations before anyone notices. With a modern EDR solution, that suspicious 64 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
activity is identified almost instantly. The platform recognises unusual behaviour, automatically stops the malicious process, isolates the affected device and prevents the attack from spreading further. Security teams are alerted in real time, while detailed forensic information reveals exactly what happened and where the threat originated. What could have become a major business disruption is contained before it has the opportunity to escalate. At Simoda, we work with organisations across a range of sectors to strengthen their cybersecurity posture using SentinelOne, a leading EDR platform that combines artificial intelligence, automation and real-time threat detection. One of the key advantages of SentinelOne is its ability to identify threats based on behaviour rather than relying solely on prior knowledge of attacks. This means it can detect emerging threats, fileless malware and sophisticated cyberattacks that traditional antivirus products may miss. The power of artificial intelligence also helps
security teams gain greater visibility into potential threats. Rather than dealing with countless alerts and logs, SentinelOne automatically connects related events to create a clear picture of how an incident occurred. This enables faster investigations and helps organisations understand the full scope of a security event without overwhelming internal teams. The longer a threat remains active within an environment, the more damage it can potentially cause. SentinelOne is designed to respond automatically when malicious activity is detected, stopping harmful processes, isolating compromised devices and preventing attacks from spreading. In the event of ransomware, the platform can even help restore systems to a pre-attack state, minimising disruption and reducing recovery time. As businesses continue to embrace hybrid working and distributed workforces, maintaining visibility across every endpoint has become increasingly important. Employees are accessing systems from multiple locations and devices, creating new opportunities
for attackers. SentinelOne's lightweight agent provides consistent protection across Windows, macOS and Linux devices, ensuring organisations can maintain security regardless of where users are working. Simoda takes a consultative approach to cybersecurity. We work closely with businesses to understand their specific risks, operational requirements and long-term objectives. Whether an organisation has an in-house IT team that requires additional cybersecurity expertise or needs a trusted technology partner to act as its complete IT department, we can provide the support and protection required. From initial deployment through to ongoing optimisation, we help businesses maximise the value of their security investments while building a stronger and more resilient security posture. Cyber threats aren't slowing down, and neither should your approach to protecting your business. By combining advanced EDR technology with expert guidance and support, organisations can move beyond traditional antivirus and take a more proactive approach to cybersecurity. If you'd like to strengthen your cyber defences and better protect your business from modern threats, speak to the team at Simoda to learn how SentinelOne and our managed cybersecurity services can help.
simoda.co.uk
LeT’S meet At the charleston
Bakewell’s most exciting new arrival. The Charleston is an Art Deco bar and restaurant housed in a beautifully restored bank, bringing 1920s glamour to the heart of the Peak District. Brunch from 9am till 4pm, evening dining until late and Sunday roasts to linger over. You’ll also find Afternoon Tea, coffee and cake and a bar menu made for grazing from morning until late. When the sun is out, our outdoor courtyard is the place to be. As the evening draws in, live music played on our baby grand piano fills the room every night, from smooth jazz and soulful grooves to toe-tapping swing.
Some occasions deserve a special setting. For something more private, The Speakeasy awaits. Set within the original bank vault, this intimate room seats up to 10 guests and is perfect for corporate lunches, celebration dinners and everything in between. Corporate packages start from £38pp, with every detail taken care of by our team. We are fully accessible downstairs, with lift access from the courtyard. Bookings welcome. Walk-ins too. Come and see what all the fuss is about.
Rutland Square, Bakewell, DE45 1BT 01629 692 892 • letsmeet@the-charleston.com @thecharlestonbakewell
CITY LIFE
PUTTING DOWN ROOTS One of the UK’s most celebrated landscape architects has brought her award-winning Chelsea Flower Show garden to a new home in Sheffield. Sarah Eberle’s ‘On the Edge’, winner of 2026’s Garden of the Year, is taking root at Park Hill to highlight the importance of greenery and our connection with nature in urban spaces. unLTD spoke to Sarah about the project and preserving nature on our doorstep. Words: Ruby Deakin Portrait: Mark Spencer Commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), ‘On the Edge’ invites visitors to immerse themselves in nature while confronting what is at stake when green spaces are overlooked or neglected. Inspired by the fields, paths, parks, woods and scrublands that provide everyday encounters with nature, Sarah’s garden focuses on the ‘edgelands’ of towns and cities, where fragile land can be threatened by development. “This land is the first touchstone of nature that people who live in towns and cities have. It’s where we walk our dogs, it’s where our children play, and that access to land is important,” Sarah explains. “We wanted to call the garden ‘On the Edge’ because it describes both the location and the threat.” At its centre is Gaia, a striking sculpture that Sarah used to represent the need to preserve the countryside and wild spaces surrounding our towns and cities. “Nature is a sanctuary. Gaia is well known as Mother Nature, and I knew creating her would really hold the place and explain the garden to people. She needed to be big, as a symbol of protection of nature and sanctuary.” Following its success at this
CONNECTING TO NATURE IS CRITICAL, AND I THINK OUR POPULATION HAS BECOME VERY DIVORCED FROM NATURE AND WHAT IT MEANS.” 66 unLTDBUSINESS.COM
year’s Chelsea Flower Show, the garden has been rebuilt and reimagined at Park Hill. Sarah first visited the Sheffield landmark as a landscape architecture student in the 1970s and immediately felt it was the right second home for Gaia. “I’m almost more excited about her being there than I was at Chelsea, because I really think she belongs there. There’s something about the balance between her spirituality and softness and the buildings, which are so brutal.” The project has been a major collaboration. Chainsaw artist Chris Wood carved Gaia from fallen mature trees, while Tom Hare wove her hair from willow branches. Fifth-generation West Yorkshire stonewallers Lydia and
Cuthbert Noble worked alongside steelworkers, structural engineers and other craftspeople. “I’m more like a conductor of an orchestra than anything,” Sarah says. “We all feed off each other’s energy and create something that’s braver and bolder than what you’d be able to do on your own.” At Park Hill, the garden has been simplified to work organically with the site. Wildflower turf connects with the surrounding banks, while existing flora and hedgerows help Gaia settle naturally into the landscape. Sarah hopes residents and visitors will develop their own relationship with the space. “Connecting to nature is critical, and I think our population has become very divorced from nature and what it means. It’s our natural habitat, and I think every single person has an inbuilt genetic response to nature.” For Park Hill’s residents and Sheffielders in general, she wants the garden to inspire a sense of ownership. “It’s theirs and it’s for them. It’s there to interact with, and if it gives anybody half the pleasure it gave us making her and seeing her come to life, then that’s job done.” @saraheberlelandscape
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