‘Many people will be disappointed’: Pop-up business hub set to close

A pop-up business hub in town is set to close at the end of the month.The Place, based on New Conduit Street in Lynn, will be closing its doors for the last time on March 31.Funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and run by Discover King’s Lynn – Lynn’s Business Improvement District (BID) – the converted retail unit, which was formerly an Ann Summers shop, was set up in 2022 as a pilot to test demand for pop-up space and hot desking facilities.

Vicky Etheridge, manager of the BID, said she knows many people will be disappointed to see the premises close, but she is amazed at the run that it has had.“We opened in April 2022 with funding from the Community Renewal Fund and only anticipated being open for six months,” she said.“Along came the UK Shared Prosperity Fund which allowed us to keep running with the concept. In the end, we have supported over 150 micro businesses and entrepreneurs, hosted tens of events, made new connections, and connected even more people through our hot desking facilities. “We have learned a lot along the way. It has been an incredibly busy couple of years on top of our usual work running the BID.”“The Place was only ever intended as a short-term, pilot project that could be used to inform future, longer-term funding programmes and ideas around town centre usage,” she added. “The new pop-up units on Purfleet Street provide a great next step for many of the small businesses that have used The Place, and when the new library opens in the autumn it will provide a fabulous new facility for community information events, hot desking and meetings.”The former retail unit on New Conduit Street will continue to be used for a short period of time as an office, meeting spot and training space for BID activities.