Haughton Honey crowdfunding bid creates a buzz

More than 100 investors have backed an £80,000 crowdfunding investment campaign from premium honey brand Haughton Honey to support the next stage in the company’s growth.

Due to the high number of inquiries and strong demand for information, the timescale for investment has been extended slightly until midnight on 27^th May to allow potential investors to get involved.

More than four weeks into the campaign, around £52,000 had been pledged for investment, said Haughton Honey founder Crispin Reeves.

“We’ve had a flood of inquiries from potential investors seeking more details and in order to process them and allow them time to consider the investment, we’ve extended the deadline for investment by two weeks,” he said.

“I’ve been delighted to see so much interest in investing in Haughton Honey and in helping us to expand and meet the growing demand for our pure, raw honey.”

Cheshire-based Haughton Honey hopes to recruit more bee farmers and move onto the next stage of growth by attracting investors via crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube, in return for shares in the business.

Since launching in 2014, the firm has steadily expanded and recently began supplying the fine food retailer Booths, as well as The Protein Works, a large sports nutrition brand owned by Alliance Boots, which has just launched a co-branded Cashew Nut Butter Luxe product containing Haughton Honey.

The honey market within the UK is worth £119.5m per annum, with healthy annual growth. UK sales of jams, spreads and honey grew 5.9% in the year up to October 2015, with growth in honey sales alone between 2014 and 2015 increasing by £9.8m year-on-year.

During 2015 Haughton Honey packed and sold over 8,000kg of English honey and anticipates requiring more than double that amount during 2016. The honey is sold online and via more than 70 regional sales outlets across the North West and Midlands, as well as through premium supermarket Booths, who started stocking Haughton Honey at the beginning of April 2016.

The company, based at Radmore Farm, Haughton, bottles raw honey which comes straight from the hive, is cold extracted and never pasteurised which means that it retains all of the natural enzymes and proteins that make English honey so special. It is also 100% natural and pure and features traces of dandelion, chestnut, blackberry, clover and other wildflowers.

Any investment in Haughton Honey through the Crowdcube project will attract Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS) tax relief.

A series of rewards is on offer for those who invest in Haughton Honey, including discounts, honey, bee farming experiences, and hotel, restaurant and cookery school vouchers.

To find out more about the Crowdcube investment opportunity visit www.crowdcube.com

For more information about Haughton Honey visit www.haughtonhoney.com

Investments of this nature carry risks to your capital. The availability of any tax relief, including SEIS and EIS, depends on individual circumstances. You should seek independent tax advice.

Approved as a financial promotion by Crowdcube Capital Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 620205). 

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk 

Kickstarter appeal launched for Nottingham-based Lisa Lemon hands free bags

Creative entrepreneur Lisa Robertson has been inspired to design a collection of hands free bags after years of fruitlessly searching for an attractive replacement for the ugly belt bag she had worn to keep her valuables safe during travelling. 

Now Lisa has quit her job as a commercial director in IT and is concentrating full time on her Lisa Lemon hands free bag venture. And she’s just begun a £5,000 crowd funding appeal to launch her first collection. 

“For many years when I’ve been out and about travelling, when I needed to either keep my hands free or keep my precious belongings close by, I used a rather ugly old belt bag,” said Lisa, from West Bridgford, near Nottingham. “After looking around for an alternative I found there was nothing on the market and that’s how Lisa Lemon hands free bags was born.” 

Her initial design, in two different colours, is now available, but Lisa has just started a crowd funding appeal to launch her collection, with two new designs added to the range, plus accessories. She hopes to raise £5,000 from the Kickstarter appeal which has just gone live and will run for 30 days. 

“You need more than one design for a collection and I am delighted to have added two more to the range, plus some accessories,” she said. “With the help of backers, I hope to produce my first collection of bags and accessories for both men and women.” 

The stylish bags are made in the Midlands, from luxury Italian vegetable tanned leather, and are designed for the savvy traveller, the fashionable festival-goer or anyone who’s out and about and needs to keep their personal possessions safe. 

“Lisa Lemon hands free bags are gorgeous, expertly crafted, leather bags which fit snuggly around the waist,” explained Lisa. “They are not designed to be discreet or hidden away. They are statement bags, happy to be in the limelight. 

“Each bag has an internal phone pocket and clip to keep your keys and Lisa Lemon accessories safely attached inside your bag.” 

Recent statistics show that each day over 400,000 incidents of pick pocketing occur around the world and the internal clip and accessories ring will give some peace of mind when you're out and about, added Lisa. 

After studying graphic design in Derby, Lisa worked for a number of design agencies in Nottingham, including a spell co-running her own agency with a partner. She has also mentored design businesses and graduates from creative courses at Nottingham Trent University. More recently she has been on the commercial side of business, working in IT as a commercial director. 

“I always had this yearning to go back to doing something creative,” said Lisa. “Someone said to me ‘you need to do something that feeds your soul’ and that resonated with me.” 

Lisa has had some excellent feedback from those who have already used Lisa Lemon hands free bags. 

“A group of girls from West Bridgford took one to Leeds Festival and they thought it was great,” she says. “A friend took one to America and said it was invaluable. She described it as being like her third hand. I used mine on a visit to Australia and it was perfect. I wasn’t stressing about having my bag stolen. All my valuables, like my purse, passport, phone and tickets were attached to me, which gave me peace of mind.” 

The first bags in her range, in orange and purple, are described by Lisa as statement bags. Of the three new bags, two, in blue and tan, are smaller and softer, and can be worn in a variety of ways. The third is large enough to carry a mini tablet. It’s made from soft brown leather and can be purchased with or without the belt. 

Kickstarter is a way to fund creative projects, which allows people to pledge money to project creators to help support their ventures. The idea behind the initiative is not new – Mozart, Beethoven and others used similar schemes – but now crowd funding is being given a boost by the internet, with thousands of projects launched every year. Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing and projects must reach their funding goals to receive any money from those who have pledged to help. 

Lisa’s Kickstarter appeal for Lisa Lemon hands free bags offers pledges from £5 which will entitle backers to a thank-you and exclusive discounts on future products, up to £123 for a textured brown leather bag, with internal phone pocket and clip together with a textured brown leather belt with smooth leather inside, which can be worn with the brown hands free bag or as a belt.  

To find out more about Lisa’s Kickstarter bid visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/224065690/lisa-lemon-hands-free-bags-launch-the-first-collec 

She has worked with a range of creatives in Nottingham to compile a video, which was shot around Nottingham Trent University, and to create a portfolio of photos. Video production film and edit was carried out by Julius Ayodeji, Nottingham Trent University course leader in BA (Hons) Art & Design Media Practice, third-year BA (Hons) Art & Design Media Practice student at Nottingham Trent University Matt Mahjouri, with studio product photography by Honey Read Photography, Nottingham. 

Lisa’s website is http://www.lisa-lemon.com/

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk