MORE than £20,000 has been awarded to three small businesses from the West Devon community to aid their growth in the retail market.

The amount has meant that these small businesses have been able create jobs to aid their growth and provide new equipment.

Funds have been awarded to Flapjackery in Tavistock, Olive Grove Organics (Bere Brewery), Bere Alston, and The Empty Box Company in Milton Abbot by the Greater Dartmoor Local Enterprise Action Fund (LEAF).

The funding programme for LEAF is managed by the DR Company. Sophie Price, project advisor for the DR company, said: ‘It is really great to see how the introduction of some capital funding to these businesses has resulted in the growth of the businesses and more job opportunities for people in the area.’

Flapjackery was awarded £6,500 for kitchen equipment to help them increase production and at least three new jobs have since been created.

Olive Grove Organics was awarded £8,500 for it to be able to convert a garage into a new microbrewery and in order for it to purchase various equipment — conditioning tank, boilers, fermenter, pumps, bottling equipment and more.

The Empty Box Company Project spent £5,500 funding on installing a new mezzanine floor to increase production and storage areas as well as a few new items of equipment. And as a result 1.5 new full time equivalent jobs were created, an increase in productivity and everyone in the company was delighted with the results.

Sophie added: ‘Since the current Greater Dartmoor LEAF Programme opened in 2015 there have been many successful applications from both new and existing rural businesses — including farming and forestry based projects.

‘With non-repayable grants ranging from £2,500 to in excess of £100,000 it is amazing to see how these funds have given businesses just the support they need to develop and grow, creating local employment and benefitting the rural economy as a result.

‘Since completing their project, Flapjackery has continued to grow at a rapid pace creating more local employment opportunities and has recently expanded into adjoining workspace;

Bere Brewery’s project will help to retain money locally and help this business grow and become more sustainable. This small business is thriving and now has at least six different named beers on offer – made using their own organically home grown hops and crafted without any chemical additives; the Empty Box Company met the GD LEAF objective “developing and enhancing premises”. This established company is firmly looking to the future and the additional space created through this project has provided opportunities to expand and develop the business further.

‘The programme is currently closed to new applications, but we have a waiting list in case additional funding becomes available.’

James Teague from the Empty Box Company said: ‘As part of an expansion programme we needed to create more production space and applied for a grant through GD Leaf — and after a successful application we were awarded a significant proportion of the work we have now completed in installing a mezzanine floor in our workshop in Milton Abbot. This has allowed us to rationalise stock and storage as well as increasing production capacity by 20 per cent. Not only has this now allowed us to move into new markets and expand the existing business in manufacturing wedding dress boxes, the reorganisation of the workshop has already resulted in an increase in productivity of five per cent — which is a hugely significant percentage bearing in mind the size of the facility and the length of time we have been in business.

‘So hats off to GD LEAF — we couldn’t have done it without them!’

Jeremy Rickeard, partner of Bere Brewery, said the grant had enabled the business to convert its packing shed and diversify the business into a brewery.