Portsmouth-based Bishops Printers has advocated the importance of community and supporting other local businesses throughout the pandemic period and into the future.
The company, which calls itself the largest commercial printer in the South of England, says that it was hit particularly hard by the the cancellation of sports, arts and business events, with its business shrinking by around 70% overnight.
Sports was of singular important to Bishops, which produced matchday programmes for leading football clubs including Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Portsmouth, however managing director Gareth Roberts says that it wasn’t the glamour of these contracts that helped the company through a difficult year.
‘We might be known for the programmes we do, and most notably our long association with Pompey, but in reality, it is the local business from right across the Solent area that has helped us survive the last twelve months,’ the MD said.
According to official labour statistics from Nomis one in 10 households across the South East of England, and an incredible 18% in Portsmouth itself, were classified as ‘workless’ in 2020 and Bishops is calling for increased community activity to help reduce these figures.
Mr Roberts acknowledges that Bishops, which employs over 150 people in the Portsmouth area, has had ‘a painful year’ for but says that he is delighted to report that the 35-year-old firm is once again ‘on the up’. ‘We’ve been recruiting again in all areas of the business, but the fact that we’re still here and able to do so is in no small part due to the support we’ve had from the local business community, and I’m personally very grateful for that,’ the MD concluded.
