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Welcome to the Thursday edition of the Kent Business Newsletter…
Discovery Park welcomes 12 ambitious health startups to Sandwich, while award-winning Rainham illustrator Esther Johnson brings Charles Dickens’ story to life through a new giftware collection.
We also look at two important warnings for local businesses. Hospitality venues planning World Cup screenings are being urged to check their licences and safety arrangements, while new data protection duties coming into force on 19 June could catch unprepared organisations out.
Finally, we meet Emma Jones, the UK’s Small Business Commissioner and founder of Seaside CEO. Emma explains why she is using her experience to support Ramsgate’s entrepreneurs, strengthen local connections and help Thanet’s business community grow with greater confidence.
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In this issue: Kent Business News | Kent Business Spotlight | In Brief | Kent Business Events | Kent Business Radio
This Week’s Kent Business News
➡️ Discovery Park Backs Twelve Health Startups In New Spark Cohort
Discovery Park has opened the seventh edition of its Discovery Spark accelerator, bringing 12 health-focused startups to its Sandwich campus for a month of investor readiness support. The latest cohort spans women’s health, food allergy, microbiome science, antimicrobial resistance, digital health, genomics and supply chain technology. Through June, founders will attend specialist sessions in Kent and London covering tax, finance, legal and governance, risk, performance and communications before a pitch day on 8 July in front of investors and health specialists. Since launching in 2023, the programme has supported 62 companies and 96 founders, with alumni securing £5.5 million in UKRI funding so far.
This year’s intake shows the breadth of health innovation building around Kent’s life sciences cluster. Four of the 12 startups are focused on women’s health, including businesses tackling chronic pelvic conditions, hormonal health and delayed diagnosis. Others are working on food allergy treatments, vaccines for drug-resistant infections, DNA damage detection, secure patient data systems, equine welfare technology and biologically sensitive supply chains. Discovery Park says applications were particularly strong this year, and the selected teams will now be pushed to sharpen their commercial case as well as their science. For Sandwich, it keeps early-stage health companies, investment conversations and specialist talent firmly on the local map.
➡️ Dickens Gift Range Puts Medway Illustrator In The Spotlight
Rainham illustrator Esther Johnson has launched a new Charles Dickens giftware range, adding a fresh local chapter to a writer long tied to Medway. The 29-year-old founder of Designed by Esther has built a business around bespoke illustration for museums, heritage sites and cultural organisations since launching in 2017 with support from The King’s Trust. Her work is already sold in gift shops across the UK, with commissions from major names including the Natural History Museum, the House of Commons, Canterbury Cathedral, Bath Abbey and Historic Environment Scotland. She has now worked with more than 60 heritage organisations, giving her latest collection strong backing from a growing national profile.
The new Dickens range includes 10 products, from tea towels and magnets to postcards and packs of playing cards, and is shaped by research that took Esther from Portsmouth to London, Broadstairs and Higham, as well as across her home patch. The collection explores Dickens’ life, work and personal interests, while bringing to life the places that influenced his novels and performances. That link runs deep in Medway, where Dickens lived after his family moved to Chatham in 1817 and where he returned throughout his life. Esther’s latest launch follows a run of recognition, including a 2026 Kent Women in Business Creative Award, 2024 Kent Young Businesswoman of the Year and a national design win with Nescafé Azera and The King’s Trust.
➡️ World Cup Warning For Venues Facing Costly Licensing Mistakes
Kent pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants are being urged not to treat World Cup screenings as simple last-minute trade boosters, after licensing specialists warned that poor planning could carry serious legal and financial consequences. With the FIFA World Cup 2026 expected to draw huge crowds into hospitality venues and UK spending forecast to reach £898 million, the pressure to cash in is clear. But Birketts LLP partner Julie Gowland says venues that run events without the right permissions could face criminal prosecution, up to six months’ imprisonment and unlimited fines in serious cases. Even where a live match shown on television does not need a specific licence under the Licensing Act 2003, venues may still need a TV licence and the correct commercial sports subscription.
The risk does not stop with fines after the final whistle. Gowland says authorities can close venues on the spot for up to 48 hours, trigger a full premises licence review, tighten trading hours or revoke a licence altogether where safety, noise, crowd control or child protection rules are breached. That raises the stakes for hospitality operators across Kent already working on tight margins during a busy summer. Monster-Mesh founder Mark McLennan said rushed layouts often miss the point where crowd management, branding and revenue meet, with barriers, fencing, signage and outdoor setups all playing a part in both compliance and takings on match day.
➡️ New Data Law Deadline Could Catch Businesses Out
UK businesses face a fresh data protection duty from 19 June 2026, with legal advisers warning that many may not realise the rules are about to tighten. The change comes under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in June 2025 and is being introduced in stages. Thomas Swann, Associate Solicitor at Furley Page, said staggered start dates often make it harder for firms to keep up, raising the risk that an important compliance step is missed. This latest phase centres on how organisations deal with complaints from data subjects, adding a direct route for people to raise concerns with the businesses handling their personal information.
From 19 June, every organisation must provide a clear way for people to make a data protection complaint, acknowledge it within 30 days, investigate properly, keep the complainant updated without undue delay and confirm the outcome. At the same time, the Information Commissioner’s Office has wider powers to investigate and act against organisations and individuals that collect, use and retain personal data, including audit, enforcement and criminal prosecution. Swann said businesses should now put a complaints procedure in place and review their policies to reflect the new law. He also noted that firms relying on EU GDPR wording should be careful, as these UK changes do not appear in the EU version.
Kent Business Spotlight
Meet Emma Jones, the Seaside CEO: Find Out How Emma Is Backing Ramsgate’s Business Community
Emma Jones has spent much of her career helping small businesses start and grow. Now, alongside her role as the UK’s Small Business Commissioner, she is bringing that experience to Ramsgate through Seaside CEO.
Launched in 2026, Seaside CEO runs monthly events for business owners across Ramsgate and the wider Thanet coast. Each event combines practical advice, experienced speakers and opportunities to build useful local connections, with topics ranging from sales and funding to recruitment, AI and business resilience.
Emma has built and sold two businesses, including Enterprise Nation, and knows first-hand how valuable mentors and trusted advisers can be. Her ambition is to give local founders access to that same support.
In our full interview, Emma explains what inspired Seaside CEO, why Ramsgate has strong business potential, and how she hopes to help build a larger, more confident local business community.
Other Kent Business News In Brief
➡️ Shepherd Neame renews backing for Kent creative sector
Faversham-based brewer Shepherd Neame has renewed its sponsorship of the Contemporary Kent Artists exhibition series in Whitstable for a second year. The partnership will promote independent artists, bring activity to venues around the town and place the brewer’s Duke of Cumberland pub at the centre of the programme. Read more.
➡️ South Kent Energy Park Plans Reveal 2,100-Acre Development Area
A June scoping report sets out an approximately 859-hectare boundary for Low Carbon’s proposed 500MW solar and battery development on Romney Marsh, significantly larger than the area presented in earlier public material. The scheme could power the equivalent of 140,000 homes, but its planning case must address farmland loss, flood risk, drainage, grid connections and the combined effect of nearby energy projects. Read more.
Looking for business networking events in Kent?
Find them all here:
www.KentBusinessEvents.co.uk
Kent Business Radio Show
On the show this week Paul and Jules was Lucy Ellis from Includes Us 2.
Includes Us 2 is a local parent-driven charity providing information and support to disabled children, young people and their families in the areas of Ashford, Folkestone and Hythe and Dover.
To listen to this week’s show in full visit Kent Business Radio
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