Have Your Say on Peak District Networking in 2026

For the past three years, our Managing Director as an FSB volunteer and as a Board member of Business Peak District, we’ve run networking for the local business community. But the provision is changing in 2026, so the 21^st of January is your chance to have your say.

For the past three years, FSB Bakewell networking has been a familiar and much-loved fixture for the local business community. Hosted from our office base at Aldern House, these monthly sessions have brought together small business owners, freelancers and community organisations to connect, learn and share ideas.

More recently, our monthly networking sessions at the Peak District Business Hub have become an expected part of the local business calendar. With a published programme of speakers released quarterly, many attendees like to plan ahead, and that enthusiasm has been unmistakable.

In fact, we lost count of how many people asked us for the January 2026 date as we neared the end of 2025. The question came up time and again, including at our Christmas get-together at the end of 2025. The message from the group was clear: don’t let January go by without a meet-up.

So, we listened.

A January Session Shaped by the Community

While the format of FSB Bakewell networking will be evolving over the coming year, we’ve agreed to kick things off in January with a session that reflects exactly what our local business community has been asking for.

Rather than a traditional speaker-led event, January’s session will be a facilitated discussion focused on small business support in the Peak District.   We will take a lok at what’s working well, where the gaps are, and what support local businesses actually need.

Nick Brand of Peak Thinking will join Debbie Porter to facilitate the discussion, creating space for open and honest conversation. This will also give us, alongside our colleague Dr. Peter Dewhurst from Business Peak District, a valuable opportunity to hear direct feedback from those on the ground.

Your experiences, insights and ideas will help shape future provision and ensure that support across the Peak District is relevant, accessible and genuinely useful for small businesses.

Join the Conversation

If you’d like to be part of this important conversation, we’d love to see you there.

📅 Wednesday 21 January
⏰ 5.00 – 6.30pm
📍 Aldern House, Bakewell, DE45 1HZ

👉 Sign up here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/networking-in-bakewell-21-january-2026-tickets-1977486490325

Places are already filling quickly, and this is only our first post about the event! Capacity is limited, so we recommend booking your place as soon as possible to avoid missing out.

We’re really looking forward to starting the year by listening, learning and shaping what comes next for Peak District networking – together.

Contact Us

If you’d like to talk to us about this news piece, or you’d like help with digital marketing strategy, content marketing, SEO or anything else digital, please email us on info@destination-digital.co.uk or give us a call on 01629 810199.