Last week as part of Small Business Saturday I was one out of only 100 businesses in the whole UK to be chosen to be invited to Downing Street:

James McBrearty invited to Downing Street

When we arrived, Downing Street had been transformed into a Christmas Fair to celebrate Small Business:

Downing Street Small Business Christmas Fair

There were carols outside number 11 to begin the event:

Small Business Saturday 2014 Carols outside 11 Downing Street

And the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, joined us afterwards and spoke of his support for small business:

George Osborne outside Number 11 for Small Business Saturday

Chancellor Osborne welcomes small businesses to Downing Street

While networking with the other businesses to be chosen, I also enjoyed a spiced hot chocolate and some fresh popcorn on Downing street thanks to a couple of the Small Business 100 members.

Of course, there was the opportunity for the 100 small businesses to be photographed outside both Number 10 and Number 11 Downing Street:

James McBrearty outside Number 10 Downing Street

James McBrearty outside Number 11 Downing Street

There was extensive coverage on the actual Small Business Saturday event the day afterwards, with features on both BBC News and Sky News.

While Small Business Saturday occurs one day each year in December, it exists to promote the value of small business throughout the year and how money spent in your local community stays in the community to support other local businesses.

There is also an increasing amount of support available for people looking to start or grow a business, and I will be covering this in the coming months.