Some reasons to be positive - and other top business news from Hampshire and Dorset

There's no shortage of troubling news around - and we don't shirk from reporting what you need to know on that front. But business people tend to know how to seize an opportunity even when things are difficult, so there are always positive stories around.

Some examples this week:

• National Express and a string of its local operators unveiled a new coach holiday business which will offer day trips and breaks in the UK and abroad.
• Poole-based Lush had its best ever month for sales in December - and a large part of it was down to a return to physical shopping.
• A Dorset firm which runs dry cleaning outlets and the country's biggest domestic laundry service (as well as providing the stiff collars you see on shows such as Downton Abbey) has invested nearly ￡1m in the business. "No recession lasts forever," its boss says.
• Plans for a new frozen food store and a coffee shop in Bournemouth have been approved. (Story by Jason Lewis.)
• And independent traders in Romsey reported a successful Christmas. (Story by Ellie Dickson.)

Other top stories this week

• The move to working from home is profoundly changing workplaces and town centres. The insurer Vitality, which has embraced hybrid and remote working, is leaving its Bournemouth office and moving across the road the HQ of Nationwide - another business which has adopted a "work from anywhere" approach.
• Are retailers too generous with their returns policies? A Southampton academic has argued that taking goods back too freely costs businesses billions and encourages waste.
• A Dorset perfumery business has been sold and restructured after going into liquidation. (Story by Andrew Goldman.)
• A builders merchant is giving staff a cost of living pay rise that will cost the business ￡700,000.
• After a Hampshire-based bus business announced it was pulling out of its routes in Dorset, schools have been trying to find alternative providers.
• A survey by NatWest found that business activity in the region declined in December for a fifth consecutive month.
• The Bournemouth loan business Amigo, which has a plan for returning to lending, revealed that it has so far been unable to find the "cornerstone" investor it was seeking for a capital raise, and that an "orderly wind-down" of the business is a possibility if enough investment cannot be found.
• A clothing store in Bournemouth town centre has closed, citing "astronomical" rises in costs. (Report by Andrew Goldman.)
• The costs crisis has prompted a family-run Bournemouth restaurant to cut its opening hours, while a vegan venue in the town is doing something similar. (Reports by Alexander Smith and Georgia Revell.)
• The pool temperatures at several New Forest leisure centres have been turned down in an effort to control energy bills.
• An underwater robot from a Hampshire firm is being used for vital work in crocodile-inhabited waters in Africa.
• A cafe that was hit by a wave of fake one-star reviews has thanked supporters for rallying round. (Story by Maya George.)
• And Christchurch's Regent Centre came out of the Covid crisis in good enough shape to go ahead with its plan for a new ￡60,000 screen. Audiences today (Friday, January 20) will be the first to see it.

Enter now

There has been so much interest in this year's South Coast Business Awards that the event has been opened for entries even before the official launch. If you're a business in Hampshire or the Isle of Wight, click here to find out how to enter the event, organised by Daily Echo and by Newsquest's digital marketing arm LOCALiQ.

What ￡2 will buy you

￡2 doesn't go far in times of rampaging inflation. But it does buy you the first two months of a subscription to your local Echo title, giving you ad-light access to an unlimited number of news, sport and nostalgia stories.

For details, visit the "subscribe" page of the?Southern Daily Echo, the?Daily Echo Bournemouth?or the?Dorset Echo.