Thatcham wins Google award
The West Berkshire town is recognised as an "eTown" owing to businesses' use of internet to generate growth
THATCHAM has been crowned one of the UK's eTowns in Google's first award to recognise areas where businesses are generating the highest rates of growth through the Internet.
The internet search engine giant says it has assessed the strength of online commercial activity in the UK and specific areas showing which had the biggest commercial growth.
Its research showed that Thatcham had a growth over the past year of 30.2 per cent, placing it seventh out of the 700 areas looked at.
The town was only topped by such places as Scunthorpe, Hartlepool, Lymington, Lewes, Middlesbrough and Frome, also given eTown status.
Newbury MP, Richard Benyon (pictured), who accepted the eTown trophy on behalf of Thatcham businesses, said: "The internet is playing a key role in Thatcham's economic growth, helping local businesses and entrepreneurs thrive, and contributing overall to the wider British economy.
"I hope this award encourages other local businesses to get online and grow online.”
The managing director of Google UK, Dan Cobley, added that Thatcham had much to be proud of, with local business owners turning to online opportunities to drive growth and boost their bottom lines.
Simon Hunt, who owns Thatcham Removals, said he believed internet usage was the way forward, adding that it generated business because it was used by people every day.
He added that they advertised more and more online and said that over the past four to five years there had been an increase in online working relationships, adding: "It's about the convenience, everything is done online now."
Graeme Landau, of Thatcham-based tree surgery business Opus Tree Care, said the internet had made a massive difference to his business too, adding that many of his calls were as a result of Google or Yahoo searches.
Meanwhile, Iain Wallace, from the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre, also known as Thatcham, said that virtually everyone they dealt with had some kind of online presence, whether customers or suppliers, adding that a large amount of opportunities would be missed without an online presence.
He said: “It's imperative that local business use all the tools at their disposal – the internet is an extremely cost effective way of generating enquiries and will certainly contribute to a vibrant local economy."
Mr Wallace added that the online environment was constantly changing with social media and mobile devices, adding that the challenge for the business, as a research centre, was to make sharing up to date information as easy and relevant as possible to its key stakeholders and customers.
