A new co-working space has opened in Railway Street, Chatham in what is hoped to be a welcome boost to young entrepreneurs and small business owners.
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00:00At more than 100 years old, this building has been transformed with hopes of breathing
00:05new life into the town, with endeavours of encouraging companies into Chatham.
00:10It nearly wasn't this way. The building was set to become flats until the owner's mindset
00:17was changed.
00:18When I saw this building and I knew it's in the family all hundred years, I was like,
00:23oh no, please don't make it flats. That's my instant reaction was like, I think it's
00:27better for community, businesses. I thought you should do this, it's central, look at
00:32the car park, look at the station, look at the bus station, everything's here. You can't
00:36turn it into flats. So yeah, and he said, how about you put a business plan together
00:40and we'll do it.
00:42Across four floors, the hub has multiple units to hire, a cafe and a podcasting studio. At
00:48the opening, Medway politicians say they hope this will transform the town.
00:53It's vitally important. It's incredibly difficult to open up businesses. It's really, really
00:59hard to sort of get that passion and drive and actually sort of place it in a business
01:02like this. So when we've got that, when we've got someone who could actually drive it into
01:06a town centre, then it's like gold dust.
01:10But companies are reporting trouble staying afloat. With current economic pressures, they'll
01:15be looking for support further than just a collaborative working environment.
01:19We also need to do some more work around encouraging markets for these businesses,
01:23getting the economy growing again, getting people spending their money again. That's
01:27really critical. And just lastly, this location in Chatham is a key area of focus for the
01:32council as well as me as a member of parliament, because we need to get people back into a
01:37high street. If people work here, they shop here and they live here. And that is something
01:42which we're trying to promote for Chatham.
01:44Platform 26 has only just opened, a new venture for an old building. But will the business
01:49owners be right, proving flats were not the answer?
01:54Gabriel Morris in Chatham.