Simply Special move to Baillie Street

Councillor Richard Farnell, Leader of the council with Samantha Collins

Samantha Collins and her business partner Stacy Cummins, owners of Simply Special, have moved into a dedicated unit in Baillie Street.

The entrepreneurial hairdresser and beautician took advantage of the council's business rates discount scheme, which offers businesses moving into selected empty units in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton town centres 80% off their rates in their first year of trading, with further reductions in years two and three.

The business also benefitted from a £5,000 grant towards building improvements, including a new roof, a damp proof course, new toilets and a new sign.

Samantha, who lives in Heywood, said: "Baillie Street is a great thoroughfare and close to a lot of the town centre's regeneration projects, like the river re-opening and the planned new shopping centre, so it's a great spot. We've had a number of new customers coming in to enquire about our services, as they hadn't seen us before, so we're already looking at taking on two new members of staff.

"The rates on this unit were really high, so we would have had to look elsewhere had we not got council support. We've spent around £25,000 renovating our new shop too, so the £5,000 grant also made a big difference.

"We're really committed to Rochdale. We've bought our new unit outright and spent a lot of our own money doing it up.

"We've already been here [in Rochdale] for a decade and expect to be here for many more years to come."

Councillor Richard Farnell, Leader of the council, said: "Our rates sale, the most generous of its kind in the country, has been a great success. Now, to make it even easier for people to invest and create jobs, we've added our shop improvement grant, and the new businesses keep coming.

"The fact that companies like Simply Special want to stay in Rochdale when they expand is a mark of how optimistic they are about Rochdale's future.

"This shop makes a great addition to Baillie Street and I wish them every success for the future."