Business
Business and the economy
Holloway Biscuit Company to expand its Eastmoor factory, creating 220 jobs
The family-owned baker will add two production lines and a new packing hall, in what it says is the largest single investment in its 94-year history.
Port of Wrenhaven handles record container volumes as Asher Point deep-water berth opens
The port moved more boxes in the past quarter than in any three months on record, helped by a new 400-metre berth that can take the largest ships now calling in the region.
Wrenhaven Credit Union opens counters inside branch libraries
Members in four neighbourhoods without a bank branch can now pay in savings, ask about loans and get help with budgeting on the same visit as borrowing a book.
Fishing boats in harbour: bright hulls and patient nets
From the Mediterranean to the Baltic, frames from the colourful world of boats moored in small harbours.
The quiet bill of a dozen subscriptions
Small automatic payments rarely feel like spending, yet together they have become one of the least examined lines in the household budget.
Up close with offshore wind turbines
Turbines rising from the open sea show the sheer scale of renewable energy projects.
Asher Valley villagers club together to buy their own wind turbine
More than 600 residents of Holloway and two neighbouring villages have bought shares in a single community-owned turbine, with stakes starting at €250 and profits promised to stay in the valley.
Asher Valley dairy cooperative builds its own cheese plant
Forty-one family farms have pooled €9.5m to turn part of their milk into hard cheese and butter, aiming to earn more per litre than selling it to large processors.
Cruise calls to Wrenhaven double, but residents ask for limits
The port expects 64 cruise ship visits this year, bringing an estimated €14m into the city, while Old Quay residents want a cap on the number of ships on a single day.
Harvest season: rice pours into a waiting trailer
Paddy streaming from a combine’s unloading auger quickly filled the trailer at the edge of the field.
Forestry harvester at work in a winter woodland
A timber machine working through a snowy birch wood stacks felled trunks by the track.
Combines side by side in a wheat field: the harvest from above
Drone footage shows two combine harvesters unloading grain into a moving tractor trailer.
Second-hand is no longer a sign of need. It's a sign of sense
Buying and selling used goods has become one of the soundest routes through the household economy, and one of the greenest.
Old Quay fish auction goes online as inland restaurants join the bidding
Buyers can now bid for the morning catch from a phone or laptop, and fishers say prices at Wrenhaven's oldest market have become noticeably less volatile since the switch.
Saltings shipyard wins order for three electric harbour ferries
The contract, worth around €27m, will keep the yard's slipways busy until 2029 and replace the diesel boats that cross between Old Quay and the Saltings.
Empty Harbourside office blocks to become 600 flats as remote work reshapes the docks
Three office buildings that have stood largely vacant since staff began working from home are being converted into homes, the biggest scheme of its kind the city has approved.
Coastal guesthouses fill quiet months by bundling walks and food breaks
Small hotels and guesthouses around Greyling Bay report a rise in out-of-season bookings after joining forces to sell guided walks, cookery sessions and harbour suppers as short-break packages.
Asher Valley grain growers lock in prices with millers through three-year contracts
A shared online platform run by the growers' cooperative has matched more than 80 farms with regional mills on fixed-price deals, offering both sides shelter from swings in the commodity market.
Tea gardens: green terraces on the hillsides
From Sri Lanka to Vietnam, Rwanda to Japan, the rhythmic green patterns of tea plantations.
Pop-up shops push Wrenhaven high-street vacancy rate to a six-year low
A scheme offering empty units to start-up traders on short, cheap leases has filled 37 shopfronts, and a third of the tenants have now signed longer contracts.