Southampton: Harbour Hotel opens with firm's drinks reception

Growth companies in the South have gathered for the first corporate gathering at Southampton’s newest luxury hotel. Nearly 200 business leaders attended Smith & Williamson’s annual drinks reception at the superyacht-styled Southampton Harbour Hotel.

The event celebrated the success of the professional services’ firm over the past year - and underlined the importance of scale-up support for expanding companies.

Guests included mayor of Southampton Les Harris, Southampton Itchen MP Royston Smith and Gary Jeffries, chairman of Solent LEP, a key interface between the government and local business when it comes to economic development.

Andrew Edmonds, managing partner at Smith & Williamson in Southampton, referring to the nautical feel and look of the hotel, welcomed guests to the “high seas of Southampton”.

He said: “We are delighted to be holding our annual drinks reception here in the highly anticipated Southampton Harbour Hotel – and what a fantastic place it is.

“How time flies. It’s hard to believe that many of us were sharing a glass of wine in our brand new Southampton office in Cumberland Place, celebrating our commitment to the city for the next 10 years.”

Edmonds outlined 10 achievements for the firm, including seven scale-up events in the port city.

“Many of you will be aware that this is a key initiative for the firm, taking businesses through crucial growing pains of ‘middle age’ and something we will be doing significantly more of as time goes by.”

Guest speaker Gary Jeffries, chairman of Solent LEP and managing director of independent commercial property consultancy Hughes Ellard, spoke of the importance of firms such as Smith & Williamson in supporting growth businesses.

 

Smith & Williamson is a corporate founder of the ScaleUp Institute, helping to influence and improve the ecosystem for entrepreneurial businesses and facilitating their development and growth.