FAQs

Because the Indie Durham City project is funded by the City of Durham Parish Council, we can only support businesses that are based or have premises within the Parish Council area.

If you are unsure whether your business is within the parish boundary, you can check the map here.

To be eligible for potential support, you also need to be an independent business – a small, privately owned enterprise, often owner operated, that isn’t part of a large chain.

The project’s main focus is on “indie” shops, as well as hospitality businesses such as cafes, restaurants and bars. While most of the businesses we are helping have premises that customers visit, we are able to help home-based businesses within the Parish Council area too.

If you run some other type of small business in Durham city, get in touch and we’ll let you know whether we can help.

The project offers a range of support, particularly focused on helping businesses build an effective online presence to market their services.

You can read more about the types of support available here.

Yes – thanks to funding from the City of Durham Parish Council, any support offered to businesses via the Indie Durham City project is free of charge.

In some cases – for example, if a business we work with requires a new website, or wants someone to manage their social media for them on an ongoing basis – we may refer those businesses to other trusted companies that can help them further.

It will then be up to those businesses to decide whether they wish to make use of other services that are outside the scope of what the Indie Durham City project can offer.

To apply for support from the Indie Durham City project, get in touch with us using the application form.

For any other enquiries, contact us here.

After we receive your submission, we’ll check that you’re eligible for support and then get in touch to arrange a chat!

We would normally come and visit you in your premises, but during the Covid-19 pandemic we are being flexible and also holding consultations via video chat.

We will want to understand more about your business, and where you think you need help, so that we can come up with a plan of how to work together.

No, not at the moment.

Independent businesses in the City of Durham Parish Council area can sign up for our free marketing and mentoring support at any point during the duration of the project – which began in May 2020 and is continuing throughout 2022.

However, the sooner you sign up, the sooner we can start helping!

If your business is not eligible for support from us – because it’s not based, or doesn’t have premises, within the City of Durham Parish Council area – there are still other ways you can access help or promote your business.

For example:

• #indiehour is a weekly Twitter hour for independent retailers, which takes place nearly every Tuesday at 8pm. Its focus is “informal chat and collaboration”, and it’s a great way to make connections, share ideas and find support – while helping spread the word about your business, too. You can follow the hashtag here.
• #NetworkNorthEast is another useful, friendly and supportive Twitter hour that brings together people from across the North East business community, every Tuesday at 2pm. Check out the latest tweets here.
• For bespoke or in-depth support, CannyInsights.com – who manage Indie Durham City – may be able to help. The CannyInsights.com website includes full details of the services that the business offers.

If your business is not in Durham, but is within the neighbouring area covered by Chester-le-Street AAP – including places like Sacriston and Kimblesworth – then you can potentially access help via the Shop Chester-le-Street project instead.