Business Celebrates a Quarter of a Century With 25 Acts of Community Kindness

A flexible office space and co working provider with four locations in Stoke-on-Trent and the Northwest is celebrating 25 years in business.

Business Lodge launched their first flexible office space in Bury a quarter of a century ago, when flexible working and hot desking had rarely been heard of and Harry Potter’s Sorcerer’s Stone was the highest grossing film of the year.

The company which started out in Europa House in Bury, now has four buildings on the same site as well as one office in Widnes and two in Stoke-on-Trent (one in Fenton and one in Heron Cross, which was officially opened in January after a £1.5 million investment.)

Now a special celebratory party has been held with a DJ and band to mark the occasion where the team pledged to carry out 25 individual acts of community across the group. The first of which is supporting Homeless UK with food donations.

As facilities have grown, millions of pounds have been invested over the years in improving office space and ensuring facilities are both contemporary and meet client demand. When it first opened Europa House had space for 170 workers, it now accommodates more than 1000 workstations and more than 2,000 across all sites.

BusinessLodge founder Antony Meier took the plunge into flexible office space after being approached by the council. He had previously operated in the town as a weaving company employing many local people. The company launched by offering flexible 24-hour office agreements and working space, computers and serviced internet, which were all unheard of at the time.

Now across all sites, BusinessLodge employs a team of 35, offers full serviced office accommodation, co-working spaces, meeting rooms, gym, kitchen and parking facilities as well as dog friendly working arrangements. Offices vary in space from one person offices to spaces big enough for teams of 100.

The company prides itself on not only providing high quality, affordable, flexible working space but a business community too. Pop up and community events to help support local businesses are held regularly across all sites as well as networking events, designed to get companies working together to help grow their businesses.

“We are extremely proud to be celebrating 25 years of Business Lodge. What started as a vision to create supportive, flexible workspaces has grown into something much bigger than any of us could have expected - business communities that have helped hundreds of entrepreneurs start, grow and succeed.

Over the past quarter of a century, BusinessLodge has played a vital role in supporting local businesses and strengthening the local economy in each of the areas we operate. Seeing companies develop from early ideas into established employers has been incredibly rewarding, and it reinforces why creating the right environment for businesses to succeed really makes a difference. I can’t wait to see how BusinessLodge continues to grow and support businesses in the future.”

— Kate Holt, BusinessLodge Managing Director

Although the space is flexible and can and is used as short term space BusinessLodge prides itself on creating an environment where businesses can stay for longer too. A number of companies have been with them for more than 20 years.

Since opening in 2001, they’ve housed more than 2000 companies across their sites and have won multiple awards, including winning the Excellence in Customer Services award at the 2022 Flexible Space Association (FlexSA) awards and gaining runners up in 2024.

To find out more please go to:https://www.businesslodge.co.uk/