Positive energy was flowing at sixth Expo

10:05am Thursday 2nd October 2008

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THE sixth annual South Wiltshire Business Expo, held at the City Hall in Salisbury last week, generated a great deal of positive energy, despite the gloomy economic outlook.

The 50-plus exhibitors reported a steady stream of visitors and an increase in enquiries for their products and services.

The exhibition, which is organised by Salisbury and District Chamber of Commerce & Industry, offers businesses the chance to showcase what they do to one another and the public.

This year, as well as the regulars - the hotel and catering sector, colleges and training providers, recruitment agencies, financial services, charities, Government organisations, and IT companies - there was a haulage contractor, a dentist, a cleaning company, a plumbing and heating engineer, a barber, and a furniture company. Salisbury City Football Club was taking part for the first time, as was Wiltshire Police, which teamed up with Salisbury District Council's community initiatives department.

Chamber president, Ian Hudson, said that while the number of visitors was down, more business had been generated.

The "more casual atmosphere" of this year's show had resulted in "a propensity to do business", he said, and there was certainly a wider variety of firms represented.

"I am delighted to see businesses from North Wiltshire," he said, "the old favourites' who are always welcome and the new faces who all add to a very much evolving Expo."

• For more pictures from Expo, see the next issue of Journal Business magazine.