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SME Safari Leighton Buzzard: a market and manufacturing town

This month’s SME Safari was to Leighton Buzzard and, alongside a delegation of civil servants from the Business Department and HM Treasury, we were delighted to welcome the newly appointed Small Business Minister, The Lord Leong CBE, on the day.

And what a day it was; starting out in the town’s bustling market, we then visited a steel welding site, international re-seller of specialist geological kit, a community run co-working space and ended up in the town’s local hair salon! Here are the key take-aways:

High Street at the heart of the community: this is a topic that comes up often on SME Safaris but felt particularly pronounced in Leighton Buzzard where we heard clear views from traders who have been on the market for 30+ years and a Mother & Daughter-run fashion retailer with a presence in the town for over 40 years. Traders and retailers were united in their desire to see more footfall and spoke of the challenges of competing with online commerce and out of town shopping centres, plus the sad reality of retail crime. There were requests for free parking to attract residents, recognition that locally organised events and activity prove effective in attracting shoppers, yet some frustration on the time it takes to fill empty shops. This is where High Street Rental Auctions could play a role, an idea which has strong synergy with devolving power and responsibility to a local level. There should be a template or model for how councils ‘and’ communities can work together to achieve at pace the change they want to see. Power to Change is starting to look at this with its Civic High Street Collective.

When opportunity knocks: One company told us how they were benefiting from US policy creating a spike in demand for their product, whilst another was being offered contracts on account of their competitors going out of business. What was clear from both is that they are scanning the business horizon and have positioned themselves to respond at pace when opportunities arise. Their businesses are stronger for it.

Mind the support gap: One constant on SME Safaris to date in 2026, and one that always makes me rather glum, is the low-level awareness amongst founders of the business support available. The Government has programmes, like Help to Grow: Management, which could be ideal for one of the businesses visited, and for another, the BICS programme I covered last week. I understand this gap; business owners are busy people and don’t have the time to actively look for support on offer. The Government is looking to solve this through the Business Growth Service but there is more to do. If we can ‘serve’ the right support and resource to businesses at the right time, it could be a game-changer for growth.

Thanks to all the amazing businesses we met (see below), to civil service colleagues for attending, and to the Minister who is certainly showing his intent to get out and listen.

Emma

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