Places for London, Transport for London (TfL)’s property company, is joining small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the country in celebrating Small Business Saturday on 7 December 2024.

As a landlord to more than 1,500 businesses including hundreds of SMEs across London, Places for London prides itself on being a home where small businesses can thrive, and is encouraging Londoners discover the many small businesses providing great options for gifts, services and leisure over the festive season.

This year, several small businesses have joined the Places for London estate for the first time or expanded to new units, bringing vibrant new options to their communities. These businesses include Jamaica Patty, a new food retailer coming to Farringdon; Flowers on the Hill, a florist near Harrow on the Hill and Zie Coffee, a small business with three shops in Rayners Lane, Hillingdon and South Ruislip.

This year’s Small Biz 100, an annual celebration of 100 of the thousands of small businesses all over the UK includes Active 360, a longstanding Places for London tenant in an arch at Kew Bridge. They’ve been featured due to their work to bring the fun of watersports such as paddleboarding, canoeing and kayaking to Londoners while organising canal and river clean ups and working with charities to help fundraising and outreach work.

In addition, Places for London has partnered with BOXPARK, another company proud to help small businesses. The new BOXPARK Camden opened in September, with dozens of small independent businesses bringing exciting food, drink and shopping options a short walk from Camden Town station. A further BOXPARK venue will be opening on Places for London’s estate close to Liverpool Street station in 2025.

Places for London estate includes more than 800 railway arches. Many of these have been converted into modern spaces that house art studios, retailers and more, and the landlord is investing £300 million into its properties to make them thriving commercial and social destinations.

Joy! Collective is a great example of a multidisciplinary creative production house, which creates colourful artworks and murals for public spaces including schools from a railway arch on Geffrye Street in Hoxton. They have since worked with international companies such as Disney and Burt’s Bees, while also hosting workshops and using the railway arch as an event space for hire.

Turning Earth Ceramics
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Samantha Bain-Mollison, Head of Retail at Places for London, said: “We are extremely proud to have so many small businesses on our estate, and hope Londoners will look to their local areas to find new places to discover, things to do and places to go.

“We are dedicated to working with our current and prospective tenants to help them grow, and look forward to celebrating Small Business Saturday with the thousands of shoppers helping small businesses this year.”