A new guide to help start-up businesses in Elmbridge has been launched.

The free guide gives tips and online links which new business owners may find useful, as well as advice and words of wisdom from people who have started their own businesses.

Jane Attard, who owns Hopscotch Shoe Boutique in Walton Road, East Molesey, is one of the business owners to contribute to the guide.

She said: “I gave a few comments regarding my set up and how it has gone from strength to strength and the reasons I thought this had happened.

“I think the guide is a brilliant idea as it features completely different businesses, serving different markets. Opening a business is a huge step especially if it’s your first, and the first year is quite scary.

“I believe having a partner is definitely the way to start as you can share the ups and downs, and things are never as bad as they seem if you can talk it over with your partner.

“I was lucky to open Hopscotch with a friend, we worked fantastically together. So by the time she left me I was super confident and happy to make decisions alone.”

The guide has been launched as part of Elmbridge Council’s aims to support local businesses.

Other ways Elmbridge Council helps independent business across the borough includes measures to support local shopping, free business grants, support for the Elmbridge Business Network and working in partnership with other organisations.

Councillor Christine Cross, portfolio holder for community development, said: “Elmbridge already has a high level of entrepreneurship, with more businesses starting up here than the UK or south-east average.

“We want to use this guide to inspire more local entrepreneurs to turn their great ideas into businesses and further develop the Elmbridge economy.”

For more information and to download the guide, visit elmbridge.gov.uk/business.