Small Business Saturday: Yorkshire bookshop owner hailed as she attends Downing Street reception with Keir Starmer
A Yorkshire bookshop owner has taken part in a breakfast reception with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves in advance of today’s Small Business Saturday initiative.
Diane Park, owner of Wave of Nostalgia in Haworth, was one of 100 specially selected small UK businesses who joined a reception at the House of Lords on Monday to celebrate Small Business Saturday this weekend.
She was also asked to represent small UK businesses at a select breakfast reception with the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer at No 10 Downing Street where she had the opportunity to showcase her personal choice of the best from her shop.
Diane said: “I was delighted to be able to have the opportunity to be a voice for the small businesses who work hard all year round giving the best personal customer experience at this important gathering.”
Wave of Nostalgia was selected in this year’s SmallBiz100, a line-up of 100 brilliant small businesses from all over the country.
It was chosen following the business, which also sells clothes and presents, growing by 200 per cent in the last four years while winning multiple awards and recognition in best bookshop lists published by the likes of The Times and The Guardian.
Michelle Ovens CBE, Director of Small Business Saturday UK, said: “Small businesses like Wave of Nostalgia deliver incredible value across their local community and the wider economy, so it is wonderful to have celebrated their contribution at the House of Lords.
“Public support is absolutely vital for small businesses across the UK, so we urge everyone up and down the country to get behind them on Small Business Saturday and beyond.”
A not-for-profit campaign, Small Business Saturday was originally founded by American Express in the US in 2010. American Express remains the principal supporter of the campaign in the UK.
Dan Edelman, General Manager, UK Merchant Services at American Express, said: “With the festive period fast approaching, it’s heartening that public support for small businesses remains strong. Small Business Saturday is a campaign which remains as important now as when it first began.
"That’s why American Express is proud to champion the nation’s much-loved independent businesses as principal supporter, encouraging the nation to shop small.”