BUSINESSES from all over the country flocked to Swindon for an enormous expo that did wonders to promote the town.

The South West Expo offered Swindon firms and initiatives a chance to show off and spread the word about the work they do to hundreds of other companies from around the region and beyond.

Organiser Alec Jones-Hall said: “This is like an annual Mecca for business in Swindon. Now that Honda is going, shows like this are really important because they demonstrate that we can be outward-looking and find new routes to create more employment and investment opportunities.

“It was a brilliant day. We had visitors from Bristol, Chippenham and Gloucestershire along with exhibitors from Manchester and London. Many people came here who didn’t previously know about the Steam museum and what the town was like so this really puts Swindon on the map.”

The extensive multi-million pound redevelopment of the town’s historic Carriage Works hopes to create a thriving hub for small businesses right next to the train station. The Workshed’s assistant manager Nicola Watts said: “The renovation is still quite new and we want people from the town and further afield to come see it. It was wonderful to promote our upcoming events and showcase the building’s unique selling point at the expo.”

The event attracted visitors which were new to the Swindon area and seemed to make a good impression on them.

Reading-based cloud connectivity company Amito’s development executive Olivia Cavey said: “I’d never been to Swindon before, it’s a really pretty town in a great location, and this expo was much busier than the first one we did in Ascot.

“We hoped to meet people and see if they have problems with their IT infrastructure, it went really well and we had lots of interest but we’ll have to follow-up with people we’ve spoken to and see how many become new clients.”

Company director of Gloucester-based data protection consultancy firm Beacon Consultant Services Jamie Swan said: “This was my first time here and I was impressed by the range of businesses, talks and workshops, and the speed networking sessions were a great idea.

“I wanted to see what other businesses of different sizes were doing and it was a fantastic opportunity to meet new people, I’m very glad I came – maybe next time, I’ll set up a stall.”

Hotel-restaurant chain Campanile returned to the expo for its fourth year. The company has many branches across France and the UK.

Deputy manager Cecile Raffy said: “I love this expo, it’s always really good fun, we get a lot of people asking to use our hotel for meetings and things, and it’s great to highlight what Swindon can offer.”

Swindon-based good causes benefitted from the increased exposure given to them by the expo, including the Swindon Night Shelter, which launched its business partnership scheme there.

Chairwoman Becky Davison said: “It was really encouraging to have lots of businesses offering their services, and the organiser gave us a stand there for free, which was lovely.

“As we don’t receive any funding, this was a great chance to sign businesses up for regular donations.

“The charity had never done anything like this before and I didn’t know what to expect, but everything we needed was all under one roof and I almost lost my voice from talking so much.

“There were lots of familiar faces and it was great to see what they were up to as well as meet new people and make contact. It was a really worthwhile day and we would love to do it again.”

So many tech-focused firms networking together at the event could be good news for Switch On To Swindon’s TechSwindon campaign which aims to attract new and developing talent in the town while building up to a two-day business summit next year.