Business

Waltham Forest Council is proud to support businesses across the borough, from startups to more established organisations and international occupiers of industrial space such as Eurostar, Blackrock, Capital Industrial and Allied Bakeries.

Whether you're a nascent entrepreneur looking for support or want to find out about office or retail floorspace, Invest Waltham Forest can help.

Waltham Forest means business

Waltham Forest is seeing remarkable, transformative growth in its business economy, with self-employment rates exceeding the London average and a marked increase in start-up rates.

The core of the economy is underpinned by traditional retail, wholesale, construction and manufacturing, with the Upper Lee Valley, London’s industrial heartland, flanking the borough’s western boundary. Industrial businesses relocating to the Upper Lee have access to the Productive Valley Fund, a £3 million programme of investment in small businesses growth.

There is significant growth underway in the creative, digital and sectors that serve London’s businesses. Companies are increasingly locating in Waltham Forest due to its proximity and easy access to Central London, affordable rents and a vibrant cultural environment. The Council is supporting this through the creation of the Blackhorse Lane Creative Enterprise Zone, business rate relief for flexible, affordable open workspaces and the business accelerator programme, Forge.

Our full programme of business support, that helps to ‘keep, seed and grow’ our business economy can be viewed on our Business support webpages.

Hustle & Heels

In March, we appointed Hustle & Heels to help boost the profile and success of retailers in Leytonstone and Walthamstow. Now Jen Scott and Jamie Tavares are finalists at The Black British Business Awards this October. We caught up with the entrepreneurs about how they started in business, the ways in which they have helped different organisations in the borough and their feelings about the nomination. Take a minute and watch our short interview with Jen and Jamie.

Keep Cup

Addressing the Climate Emergency is not something we can do alone. Environmentally conscious companies such as Keep Cup are integral to helping us address the crisis.

We caught up with Chris Baker, general manager of Keep Cup, to find out about this London Living Wage Employer's plans to further boost their green credentials.

Blackhorse Road: where people make and create

The Council is running a two-year business support programme for those working in the Blackhorse Road area.

See what businesses benefitting from accelerator programme, Forge, are saying about working in Waltham Forest below

Blackhorse machine shop

Productive Valley Fund

Business with plans to relocate to the industrial heartland of the Upper Lee Valley have access to the Productive Valley Fund (PVF), a £2.7 million flexible loan fund to support industry-led growth and enterprise. Loans of between £50,000 and £400,000 are available.

PVF is open to small to medium-sized industrial estate based businesses in the Upper Lee Valley – Enfield, Haringey and Waltham Forest – and those looking to relocate there. If you have plans to relocate, are an exemplar of modern production, and are committed to providing good quality local jobs, PVF is designed for you.

Full details of the fund and how to apply can be found here.

Greater London Investment Fund

The Greater London Investment Fund is aimed at growing SMEs with a viable business expansion proposal unable to obtain part or all of their debt funding requirement from the private sector, due to lack of collateral or track record.

Loans between £100,000 and £1 million are available to support businesses with compelling commercial potential, for activities that will deliver substantial growth impact including, sales and marketing activity; hiring new staff; new product development and; entering new markets.

Full details here.

Upper Lee Valley

Think Work strategy

Waltham Forest's Think Work strategy aims to ensure the following:

That residents can access and stay in high quality jobs locally and across London.
That residents can respond to the changing world of work, making and sustaining career progress.
That employers can access a skilled workforce that supports a thriving local economy.
That businesses can respond to the climate emergency with innovations that reduce carbon emissions and create good work.

The strategy aims to address issues for workers in a number of key sectors, such as the burgeoning creative industries, digital and technology, health and social care, digital and construction.

A key target for the council is also to redouble the effort to work with residents and businesses to reduce their impact on our climate.

Full details of Waltham Forest's Think Work strategy will be available from the autumn.

Business stories

Leyton Fashion Studios

Leyton Fashion Studios is bursting at the seams with brilliant local businesses, each one with a fantastic story behind it.

The facility on Leyton High Street, which opened last autumn, is made possible thanks to the Council leasing the space to Arbeit Studios to develop the creative hub in partnership with London Fashion District.

As we look to build on being the first-ever London Borough of Culture in 2019, it is vital we provide the necessary space to help creative businesses thrive.

Watch the video to hear Humeera Dar, Nadine Duval, Nwaego Muoma and Olivia Weber tell their stories and discuss what they make of their new studios.

Blackhorse Lane breweries

As 2020 gets under way, we're excited about the emergence of the brewery quarter in Blackhorse Lane. We spoke to Exale, Signature and Wildcard about their operations and what they're bringing to an area set to become a food and drink destination in its own right...