Plain answers to what business owners in and around W4 ask us most, from meeting other local owners to business rates. Every fact links to where it came from.
Chiswick Business grew out of the Chiswick Business Network, which has been bringing local owners together since 2016. It runs coffee mornings, breakfast networking and co-working meet-ups, and you do not have to be a paying member to come.
Dates and booking links are on the events page.
Start with the Chiswick business directory. It is organised by category, from accountants and solicitors to trades, designers, photographers, salons and cafes, and there is an A to Z of every business if you already know the name.
Listings are local businesses in W4 and the postcodes next door, not national chains or lead generation sites.
Three things make the biggest difference for a small local business.
A free listing on Chiswick Business adds one more local page that points to your website. The marketing support page goes into more detail.
Chiswick (W4) first, then the districts around it: Hammersmith (W6), Shepherd’s Bush (W12), Brentford (TW8) and Isleworth (TW7). The areas page has a map and a page for each one.
Businesses in Ealing, Acton and the rest of that borough are covered by our partner site, Ealing Business.
Usually not. GOV.UK says you do not usually have to pay business rates for a home-based business if you use a small part of your home for it, such as a bedroom as an office, or if you sell goods by post.
You may need to pay if your property is part business and part home, if customers visit you to buy goods or services, if you employ people who work at your property, or if you have altered the property for the business. The Valuation Office Agency decides. See business rates when working at home on GOV.UK.
If you occupy business premises, possibly. Chiswick, Brentford and Isleworth are in the London Borough of Hounslow, and Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush are in Hammersmith & Fulham, so you apply to whichever council sends your bill.
Both councils describe the same national scheme: 100% relief for an eligible property with a rateable value of up to £12,000, reducing on a sliding scale to nothing at £15,000. The rules on second properties are on each council’s page: Hounslow business rate relief and Hammersmith & Fulham small business rate relief.
More than most people expect.
Our local support and startup support pages keep the full list.
W4 has eight workspaces in the directory, including Chiswick Park, the Barley Mow Centre, Voysey House, x+why Chiswick Works and Venture X. They are all under office and coworking spaces.
In Brentford, Hounslow Council runs Digital Dock, an affordable coworking space for small businesses, freelancers and home workers.
Go to add your business, enter your postcode and follow the steps. It takes about five minutes. If your business is already listed because we added it from public information, claim it instead and the listing becomes yours to edit.
Yes. A Free Member listing costs nothing and stays free. Verified is £12 a month or £99 a year and adds photos, a full profile and more. Spotlight is £25 a month or £199 a year and puts you at the top of the directory and in the homepage spotlight. The membership page compares them.
Verified and Spotlight members can. The post your event page explains what to send, and we add it for you, usually within two working days.
The guide to Chiswick Business covers how the site and membership work. For anything else, get in touch and we will answer, and add the question here if others are likely to ask it.
