A SMALL business from Salisbury was one of 100 from around the country invited to Downing Street on Thursday for a reception to mark the UK’s fourth annual Small Business Saturday on December 3.

Pure Punjabi co-director Safia Hothi-Bellamy joined other small business owners at a reception at No 10 attended by the small business minister Margot James.

She represented her company which which promotes, produces and teaches traditional north Indian cuisine through its cookery school, pop-up restaurants and artisan spice products.

Prime Minister Theresa May said: "Small Business Saturday is an opportunity for us to celebrate the success of the UK’s 5.4 million small businesses - from family run restaurants, to innovative tech start-ups, to local corner shops.

"I’m delighted that we had such a great representation of firms here in Downing Street to mark this event and recognise the prosperity they bring to the UK.”

Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Greg Clark, said: “The UK’s 5.5 million small businesses are the backbone of our economy, creating millions of jobs in communities across the country and helping to build an economy that works for all.

“I am proud to be joining Small Business Saturday in championing them, and would encourage as many people as possible to get out to their local high street this weekend to do the same.”

Small Business Saturday, a grassroots, not-for-profit campaign, places small, independent businesses in communities across the country in the national spotlight.

Its aim is to encourage people not only to spend money with small independent businesses in the run-up to Christmas, but to support them all year round.

“We were absolutely delighted to receive this invitation to attend No. 10 Downing Street as part of the chosen 100 U.K. small businesses selected for the Small Business Saturday campaign”, said founding-director, Surinder Hothi-Bellamy.

“We hope it’s an incentive to all would-be entrepreneurs and girls in particular, that with hard work and dedication, they can create their own employment and opportunities."

Co-director, Safia Hothi-Bellamy, said, ”It’s hard to believe that we put on our first pop-up restaurant in June 2013 and we hope we can encourage everyone to support small business and even set up their own."