Clanfield clinic named Best Local Business in national entrepreneur awards

A Clanfield healthcare business which has spent a decade building what its owners describe as “more than a healthcare clinic” has been named Best Local Business in the National Entrepreneur Awards.

Advance SRM Therapies, founded by husband-and-wife team John and Jess Hughes, took the title at the annual awards hosted by Entrepreneurs Circle as part of its National Entrepreneurs Convention at the ICC Birmingham.

The Hampshire clinic was recognised after judges heard how the family-run business has combined helping thousands of local people with creating opportunities for other businesses and supporting its wider community.

It is a remarkable result for Advance SRM Therapies, which had never entered an award in its ten-year history before this year.

Advance SRM Therapies specialises in soft tissue therapy, rehabilitation and scar therapy and has grown from a team of three to six, delivering 2,557 appointments in the last 12 months alone.

But its winning entry focused just as heavily on what the business has built beyond its treatment rooms.

That includes The Village Network, created by Jess after she struggled to find the kind of affordable and collaborative local business networking group she wanted to join herself. It now connects around 55 businesses, generating referrals, collaborations and a support network for local entrepreneurs.

The clinic also supports schools, charities and grassroots sport, including initiatives designed to increase girls' participation, and created its own Local Heroes scheme to recognise people making a difference in the community.

John and Jess have also provided hands-on clinical support to local fundraising efforts.

When Maddy's Mark CEO Simon Lawrence took part in the charity's gruelling 100 Rhino Challenge, involving 24 hours of bench pressing, Advance SRM supplied recovery equipment and helped prepare participants for the event.

Then, when Lawrence developed serious back problems at 5am during the challenge, John and Jess responded to the call for help, treated him and helped get him back on the bench.

Lawrence later said the challenge could not have been completed without their “expertise, kindness and generosity”.

Jess said:

“To win the first award we've ever entered is incredibly special, particularly because this award recognises something we've believed from the very beginning: a successful local business should leave its community stronger than it found it.

“We're obviously incredibly proud of the clinic and the thousands of appointments we deliver, but Advance SRM has become about much more than what happens in the treatment room.

“Whether that's helping another local business find a customer through The Village Network, supporting grassroots sport, helping somebody with a fundraising challenge or simply being there when somebody needs us, we've always tried to make a useful contribution.

“Winning Best Local Business after ten years gives us a chance to stop for a moment and appreciate just how much has grown around the business. We're enormously proud of our team and very grateful to the clients, businesses and community that have supported us along the way.”

The award also comes after a significant period of investment for Advance SRM.

The clinic has expanded its team to five therapists and a business administrator, creating new employment and self-employment opportunities for local practitioners, while investing in further qualifications and new technology.

That has included developing its scar therapy service and offering six local people free places on a case study programme to document their treatment journeys.

Around three quarters of new clients come through personal recommendation, while the clinic reports an 83 per cent rebooking rate and has received 126 public five-star reviews and recommendations.

John added:

“We've spent most of the last ten years concentrating on doing good work, looking after people properly and saying yes when we think we can make a useful contribution.

“What probably means the most is when clients tell us that Advance SRM feels like an extended family or when another local business tells us an introduction we've made has created an opportunity for them.

“If Advance SRM disappeared tomorrow, we'd hope people wouldn't simply miss a clinic. We'd hope they'd miss a business that listened, supported, connected people and genuinely cared about helping its community thrive. To have that recognised nationally is something we'll remember for a very long time.”

Nigel Botterill, founder of Entrepreneurs Circle, said:

“Best Local Business is about far more than having lots of happy customers. We were looking for a business that genuinely makes the place around it better, and Advance SRM Therapies is a fantastic example.

“John and Jess have built a thriving clinic, but they've also created opportunities for other local businesses, supported grassroots sport and charities and repeatedly rolled their sleeves up when their community needed them.

“I love the fact that this was the first award they've entered in ten years. They've quietly got on with building something very special in Hampshire and I'm delighted that we can now make a bit more noise about it.”

Run by Entrepreneurs Circle, the National Entrepreneur Awards are now in their 14th year, celebrating the entrepreneurs who build, inspire and transform the UK economy.

The awards were presented at the ICC Birmingham as part of the annual National Entrepreneurs Convention.