Portsmouth vinyl manufacturer says council coronavirus grant gave their business 'much more freedom'

Portsmouth City Council received £1.9m to dish out for small companies across the city – but this must be spent by August 17.

Any money that isn’t handed out by August 17 will be given back to the government, so businesses are being urged to come forward.

One of the companies that has already benefitted from the funding is Lathe to the Grave, a vinyl manufacturing shop in Victory Business Centre, Fratton.

Business partner Adam Martin says the money received from the city council has encouraged the company to grow, despite the challenging economic climate.

He said: 'We received the full £10,000 grant from the council, which was great.

‘Put simply, we applied for the money and four days later we got it – the whole process was very easy.

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth City Council in desperate race against time to hand out £800,000 to struggling city businesses

‘We had taken a few weeks off at the start of the pandemic and really weren’t sure what was going to happen.’

For Adam and partner Tasha Trigger, the money has kickstarted a major expansion for their firm.

A new location and new hardware means they can do much more during a working day.

Adam said: ‘We’ve moved to a bigger warehouse in the business centre and also bought a new laptop for graphic design.

‘Since no gigs have been taking place bands are coming to us to get their music out there, so we’ll certainly be making use of the equipment.

‘This has been a huge help and given the business much more freedom.’

Adam has a simple message to small businesses that haven’t applied for the grants.

He said: ‘If you haven’t applied then you really should do so, especially when the council still has so much to give away.

‘For us it was a real weight off our shoulders.’

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