Bath & West Society to Open Rural Enterprise Centre

The Society’s former office building at the Bath and West Showground is currently undergoing a £520k refurbishment in order to transform it into the new centre. It is due to open in January 2018, with the Society planning for it to become the hub of rural enterprise across Somerset and the South West of England.

The centre is set to feature a conference and seminar area for up to 80 people, a modern commercial test kitchen, a number of meeting rooms and commercial office space for agri-tech, food and drink or rurally focused businesses. The Society’s Rural Enterprise Centre will be a valuable facility in supporting the development of agricultural businesses, land–based skills training and micro food and drink companies.

Rupert Cox, chief executive of the Bath & West Society said, “Since 1777, the Society has been working tirelessly towards the improvement and encouragement of agriculture, manufacture, commerce and the arts. Over 240 years later, we remain committed to ensuring our rural community continues to thrive in today’s modern society.

“Education, knowledge transfer and business growth is at the heart of the Centre and the facility will provide the perfect venue for farmers undertaking knowledge transfer projects, higher education graduates completing research projects, further education students gaining farming knowledge and skills, the rural workforce learning vocational skills to increase their employability and micro food and drink businesses looking to expand and grow.

“Our aim is to cultivate rural advancement, and we want to do this by creating a living-breathing community for rural businesses to collaborate and learn, share insight, develop products and help one another to advance enterprise across the region.”