From the first of its 100 editions, All Things Business Northamptonshire has grown into a publication that provides businesses across the county with the platform they need.
It’s also grown into the team behind Northamptonshire’s most prestigious business awards ceremony; education awards in the county and in Milton Keynes; and a successful podcast.
Here, we take a look back at how All Things Business Northamptonshire reached its 100th Birthday.
The publication
The first edition of All Things Business Northamptonshire landed on desks of key business owners and decision makers across the county in January 2017.
The editorial team of Ben Thomas and Dan Harding, complemented by Chris Burton’s creative and intelligent eye, and supported by designer Alex Tite, came up with a plan and a design that is little changed – if possibly a little more refined – in 2025.
All Things Business has always been about celebrating the business community in Northamptonshire, showcasing the fantastic work that goes on here and celebrating the achievements of countless companies from a wide variety of sectors, all contributing in their own way to the lifeblood of the county’s economy.
All was pretty straightforward until March 2020 when it became clear the country was going to need to rethink the way it went about its day-to-day life.
Ben Thomas said: “When the pandemic struck, I was devastated, I didn’t know what was going to happen to the business or my staff, which by that time numbered around 10 people.
“It was a difficult decision to carry on publishing, but in a strange way I felt we owed it to the local business community to keep going. We had to remain positive. We moved heavily into digital content, with a number of different digital initiatives during the pandemic, including video interviews and #WhatsInYourFridge… we even launched the ATB Arms, where anyone could join us every Thursday at 4pm for a drink and a pub quiz. We wanted to work with our clients, give them a chance to carry on promoting themselves despite the challenges we were all facing. We’d launched the Milton Keynes edition at the end of 2019 and combined the two areas for a few months so that both publications remained there for clients throughout.”
All Things Business ended lockdown with a new editor, Judith Halliday, whose experience as a journalist, in the Northamptonshire business community in particular, brought a new focus to the production team. Ben said: “I worked with Judith when I was at Business Times, and had tried to persuade her to join us before, but failed. When Business Times closed at the start of the pandemic, Judith was available and I jumped at the chance, because I know how important she would be for us in the future, even though I did not know exactly what the future was.”
By September 2021, and thanks to continual growth, All Things Business London was launched, giving an exciting new platform that saw firms in the capital benefiting from the wealth of experience now available from the All Things Business team.
Today, two print editions, Northamptonshire and Milton Keynes/Bedfordshire, continue to highlight the companies, organisations and services for which this region is known.
Judith said: “What I love about editing All Things Business is, without doubt, the people I get to speak to each month. Over the past few years, when there has been so much uncertainty and negativity generally, just sharing the stories of those businesses who are still successful, still proud of what they do, and still determined to ride out whatever challenges they might face, is a privilege.”
Education
Behind the Business needs Education, Education needs Business message that features so heavily within everything All Things Business Northamptonshire has achieved, is the knowledge that the two sectors are tightly intertwined.
Without the schools, colleges and universities and their amazing staff , young people would not become the capable, knowledgeable and confident adults our business community needs as the workforce of tomorrow.
Similarly, without support from businesses, from feeding into what’s needed from the curriculum and which skills are necessary for the county to carry on doing what it’s doing, to working with schools to hold talks, workshops, offer work experience and internships, our schools would not have the focus they do.
Ben Thomas said: “My mum was a schoolteacher for 25 years and I have childhood memories of her at home, preparing for lessons and marking work in the evenings, at weekends and holidays, but also the ‘extras’, taking in clothes and shoes that my brother and I had grown out of to pass on to disadvantaged children.
“Then, during the pandemic, it really hit home how amazing our schools were as they coped with home schooling. We played ourpart with TechTogether, our laptops appeal, teaming up with Nene Education Trust and Bechtle, then ACS, to gather unused or unwanted devices from the business community, clean them and pass them on to children who had no other means to work from home.
“We’re proud to organise the Northamptonshire Education Awards each year, supported by business sponsors, and recognising the fantastic people who guide our children through their education.”
Awards
Launching a business awards event had been an aim for Ben Thomas for many years when, finally, he achieved his ambition. Th e inaugural Northamptonshire Business Excellence Awards took place in 2018, with comedian Jimmy Carr as the host.
Over the years, hundreds of businesses have entered the comprehensive list of categories, and over 4,000 people have enjoyed glittering ceremonies to celebrate together just how special this county is.
Stephen K Amos joined in the fun in 2019, and although every effort was made to get the awards organised ‘in-person’ in 2020, it was not to be, and they were held online.
Delayed by one year, but finally making an appearance in 2021, was journalist and broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald, followed by Paddy McGuinness in 2022, Rob Beckett in 2023 and Alex Horne and The Horne Section last year.
Ben said: “Seeing so many people come together each year, not just to find out if they’ve won, but to recognise the work that goes on in Northamptonshire and help all the finalists and winners celebrate what this county has to offer, is just brilliant.
“We’ve presented something like 60 trophies over the years, including the ICON Award to Courtney Lawes, and the Contribution to Northamptonshire Award to Amarjit Singh, John Harley, Gavin Warren and Rachel Mallows.
The first such award went to the Lord-Lieutenant of Northamptonshire David Laing, who wasn’t too impressed with Jimmy Carr’s language, but despite that, he forgave me and became a good friend – so much so that last year we renamed the award Th e David Laing Award in his memory.”
The Northamptonshire Education Awards began in 2019, presented by Matthew Burton from Educating Yorkshire, and they have gone from strength to strength ever since. Hosts in subsequent years have included choreographer Louie Spence and TV presenters Eammon Holmes and Iain Stirling.
All Things Business – The Podcast
The podcast was launched in 2020 with BBC Radio Northamptonshire presenter John Griff in the chair for the first episodes.
Episodes have ranged from the light-hearted – a game of Mr and Mrs featuring Ben Thomas and the then All Thing Business Sales Director Frazer Arnott, and hosted by Connor Slasberg from Bechtle – to the heart-rending story of rugby legend Steve Thompson’s battle with early-onset dementia. Topics have included inclusivity and diversity, menopause, further education, the Employment Rights Bill and the four-day working week.
Other guests have included marketing legend Rory Sutherland, Northamptonshire music sensations Billy Lockett and Faryl Smith, and Olympian Derek Redmond.
All have shared their stories, and answered that famous final question from Ben of their choice of four imaginary dinner guests – with some surprising results.
Ben said: “I always felt The Podcast would be a great way to add value to our existing audience, but also grow our audience, and it’s thanks to Frazer, how he and I ended up hosting it, and the feedback we had as a duo was really positive. I love hosting the podcast, it’s a chance to really dig deep and get to the bottom of someone’s story.
“Sometimes it’s useful advice or analysis, and sometimes it’s the story behind a business. Either way, it brings a different dimension to what we offer and the listening figures suggest that people agree with us, and enjoy tuning in to find out what’s on the agenda this time. The figures for The Podcast are growing year on year, and across all platforms we are averaging over 10,000 listens per episode.”
To find out more about any aspect of All Things Business call 01604 250900, email news@allthingsbusiness.co.uk or visit the website here.
