Indulge in a Christmas drink on Small Business Saturday

The Gin Wagon will be opening a pop-up bar at Miss Samantha's Vintage in Walkley from 10.30am-5pm so customers can indulge in a Christmas drink while they shop.

Small Business Saturday, now in its sixth year, is a nationwide event which celebrates the UK's 5.6 million small businesses and encourages consumers to shop local and support their communities.

Taking place on the first Saturday in December it is the UK's most successful small business campaign which last year saw an estimated £748m spent.

In 2017 the #SmallBizSatUK campaign trended at number one in the UK on Twitter, reaching more than 115 million people globally. The Prime Minister and the Mayor of London were among those publicly supporting the campaign as well as more than 87 per cent of local councils.

Miss Samantha's Vintage opened on South Street earlier this year, offering a variety of vintage clothing including sought-after brands Hell Bunny and Collectif. The Gin Wagon is a mobile bar in a converted vintage horse wagon which is stocked with more than 20 different gins.

Fran Arnold from Totley has been running The Gin Wagon since September 2017. Fran met Sam Parsonage from Miss Samantha's Vintage through Business Sheffield, which supports local start-up businesses.

Sam said: 'We've been planning to bring our two businesses together for an event for some time now, as the vintage styles of both really complement each other. Small Business Saturday provides a brilliant chance to do just that.

Fran said: 'We absolutely love the style of Miss Samantha's and jumped at the chance to get involved with them. Unfortunately, we can't bring the Gin Wagon itself along, as there's no room to set it up outside the shop '“ but our pop-up bar has a great vintage look and feel, too.

'And, most importantly, we'll still be able to offer all the gins we normally have on the bar! Since it's a Christmas event, we'll also be bringing our warm mulled gin and Ginglebells cocktail, which is made with Prosecco and plum gin liqueur.' 

Small Business Saturday was originally founded by American Express in the Us in 2010.   

The financial services company remains the principal supporter of the campaign in the UK, as part of its on-going commitment to encourage consumers to shop small.

A bus is touring the country profiling local businesses and offering free mentoring sessions to small businesses. It will travel more than 3,000 miles across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, visiting 30 locations over 25 days. 

The official countdown to Small Business Saturday includes a daily celebration of the '˜Small Biz 100' through social media.

These are a selection of some of the best small businesses in the UK and have been chosen to help spotlight the success of such companies to raise awareness about the positive impact they can have.