The Workshop Folkestone – Inspiring the Business Community

Folkestone is fast becoming a place for that perfect work/life balance.  Many people have moved to the town to escape the stress of commuting, and to work nearer home. One of the main players in facilitating this has been The Workshop Folkestone – a venue for office space for sole traders and small businesses.  It’s been described as having that ‘Google vibe, a Shoreditch away from London’. And who could resist exiting via the slide on your way out to lunch?

Manager Lisa Highton says the success of The Workshop has been flexibility. “We have 32 desks and 24 offices upstairs over 3 floors. Our space allows for tenants to move around if their business needs change. The high-speed internet is a great selling-point.  We have a lot of creative businesses working here and the ability to send large files across the internet at high speed really makes life easy!  We’re now opening a new space on our ground floor that has 32 hot-desk areas.  We know that there are many people in Folkestone who want to get some work done, but do it in a place that has reliable internet and is a bit more business-like than a coffee shop.  So, we offer free tea and coffee, internet and a desk for £5 per hour. 

“This new facility has been partly funded by the Folkestone and Hythe District Council to promote remote working in Folkestone.  Since Covid, the number of people we’ve had needing a quiet space to work has increased beyond anything we were seeing before.  This space gives you the flexibility to use it as much or as little as you like.  There’s also a new audio room off this area that can be used for recording podcasts, video or any other audio needed for your work.”

A place for small businesses to grow

“We have lots of creative professionals, from producers, presenters, copywriters, video editors and more.  We’re creating a business space here where people can support each other and build a good business community.  It’s been great to see them getting to know each other and starting to work on combined projects.  The Workshop is all about collaboration.  You don’t find that in other business office spaces.  The fact that you can usually find someone in the building who can help you is great.  However, I’ve spent 6 years previous to this job as a virtual assistant in Folkestone.  If we can’t find someone here to help, I know the right person is not far away!”

The term of contract is 6 month for tenants, but with this flexibility, there’s the opportunity to move around within that term to suit your business needs.

Variety breeds creativity

“Our offices vary in size; our biggest can seat 12.  You can have an office for one person, or share the desk space and get to know others working here.  The Workshop is fast becoming the first point of contact for all businesses growing here in Folkestone.  We can help bring you into The Workshop community to build essential relationships for your business.  This is the reason why people chose to work here, it’s not just that this is where your desk or office is, you are part of something bigger.”

Great Work/life balance

There are financial and legal clients in The Workshop with each business having a creative edge.

New companies grow from this space, take a look at NetAnAgent.com.   If you want to sell or let your house, this company helps you compare all the agents available in your area to find the best deal for you.

Tim Richards, an employee of NetAnAgent says that “Working for this company and in this building has been the best life-move I’ve made.  It’s resulted in me meeting hundreds of people whilst still working for a small company, and that’s great.  Because The Workshop is so relaxed, it gives me a great work/life balance.”

Live by the sea and work on the Beach…

The Workshop offers fantastic business space for anyone wanting to adjust their work-life balance.  If you live by the sea, why not work by the sea?  Take your lunch on the beach, and have a meeting there too!  

Lisa Highton took over from James Avery as Manager of The Workshop in October 2019.