Free business support in Chester: who to ask, and what’s worth your time

If you run a small business in Chester, or you’re about to start one, there’s plenty of free help, but most of it is advice. We’d start with two things: getting in touch with Let’s Talk Business, the council’s free business support service, and, if you have premises, checking whether you qualify for small business rate relief. That second one can take your business rates bill to nothing.

We’ve no connection with any of the organisations below.

Don’t plan around a grant

Chester had a few years of grant-funded business support, and that money ended early in 2026. There’s no replacement scheme yet. What’s left is free advice, and people who’ll tell you where to go next. That’s worth having, but it won’t cover the deposit on a shop or a van.

So if you’re writing a business plan, make the numbers work without a grant. If a new scheme opens later, treat it as a bonus.

If you’re starting out

Let’s Talk Business is the council’s own service, so it’s the place to start with anything the council has a say in, like premises or licences.

The free Start-up Club is the one we’d put in the diary. It’s run with the West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce, and you don’t need to be a Chamber member to go. It’s for anyone thinking of starting a business or in their first two years of trading. Dates are on the Let’s Talk Business site.

For a general question that isn’t really about Chester, such as tax or taking on your first employee, ring the government’s free Business Support Service for England. It’s on 0800 998 1098, weekdays 9am to 6pm, and there’s a webchat if you’d prefer to type. If your business is on the Welsh side of the border, ring Business Wales on 0300 060 3000 instead.

The Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub has an online Support Finder for matching your business to schemes that fit. What’s on offer changes, so it’s worth five minutes every few months.

If you want to cut your costs

If you rent or own a shop, office or workshop, small business rate relief is the one to check first, and you have to apply for it. If it’s your only business property and its rateable value is £12,000 or less, you get 100% relief, so there are no business rates to pay. Between £12,000 and £15,000 the relief tapers off, and from £15,000 up you don’t get it.

Look up your rateable value on GOV.UK first, so you know which band you’re in. Then apply on the council’s rate relief form, and keep paying your bill while they look at it.

If you’re thinking about a first shop, look at the council-run Chester Market, in the Northgate development, before you sign a lease. A stall is a smaller commitment than a shop of your own, which makes it a sensible way to find out whether Chester will buy what you sell.

If you want to meet people

The West Cheshire & North Wales Chamber of Commerce covers both sides of the border and runs plenty of events. If most of your customers are other businesses, that’s where you’ll meet them. If you’re in your first two years, the free Start-up Club is a way to meet Chamber people before you decide whether to join.

If you trade in the city centre, get your business into Chester BID’s online directory. The BID (business improvement district) is the group that promotes the centre. A listing on a real local site is the kind of mention that helps you get found locally.

Quick practical help

Chester Library at Storyhouse offers one-to-one help, up to an hour at a time, with basics like setting up email or getting to grips with an iPad. If the business email on your phone has never quite worked, book an hour on 01244 409 113, option 3.

If you’re opening a food business, register with the council at least 28 days before you start trading. It’s done online, so do it as soon as you’ve set an opening date.

Where a website fits in

Once you’re trading, you’ll want a website customers can find. That’s the part we do. We’re a small studio in Ruthin, just over the border from Chester, and every site we build has a fixed price, agreed in writing before we start.

If your business is less than 90 days old, our New Business Starter is £420 including VAT for three pages, with your first year of hosting and a .co.uk or .com domain. That’s a fixed figure you can put straight into the business plan. Every other price is on our pricing page, and our Chester page has more on what we do for businesses there.

If you’d like a price for your own site, get in touch and we’ll reply within one working day.