Barclays Property Insights reveals that global and economic uncertainty is impacting how UK homeowners are managing their household finances. Almost one in five UK adults (17 per cent) say their housing plans have been affected by the conflict in the Middle East, with many taking action to protect against interest rate and cost‑of‑living pressures. To safeguard against future rate rises, over a quarter of homeowners (27 per cent) say they are overpaying on their mortgage, and a fifth (20 per cent) of those remortgaging are looking to lock in a new rate as soon as possible in case of future volatility. Early signs of this behaviour appear in Barclays’ mortgage data from March, which shows that the share of customers borrowing for a remortgage – compared to other reasons for borrowing, such as a first-time purchase or a home move – rose 9 percentage points year-on-year1. However, it’s important to note that most of the remortgages completed were initiated prior to the escalation of the conflict in Iran, so this increase is more likely driven by the high numbers of people in the UK rolling off five-year fixed rates taken out during the low-interest rate environment in 2021. Movers adapt to macroeconomic conditions Existing homeowners cited a number of factors which could delay or prevent their next move. The top barrier was economic uncertainty, with three in 10 (29 per cent) saying this could change their plans. Other factors include stamp duty (27 per cent), moving fees (28 per cent), mortgage rates (24 per cent), and the price gap between their current home and available properties (24 per cent). Nearly half of adults in work (45 per cent) say their wages are not keeping pace with rising costs, so many may find it harder to take the next step up the ladder. Facing these barriers, Barclays Mortgage data shows that existing homeowners increasingly gravitate towards cheaper properties and larger mortgages. The proportion of home purchases below £500,000 rose to 73.2 per cent year‑on‑year (up from 70.5 per cent in March 2025), while the share of next-time buyers putting down a deposit of less than £20,000 increased to 56.7 per cent from 43.2 per cent over the same period. Second‑steppers face the largest financial leap on the housing ladder Two-in five (41 per cent) UK homeowners say they are living in the first property they’ve ever owned, but moving up to the next rung of the property ladder can be challenging. First-time owners looking to move to their next home – also known as ‘second-steppers’ – estimate needing to save an average of £75,648 to fund the purchase, on top of any proceeds from the sale of their current home. That figure breaks down into £41,751 for a deposit, £28,112 in stamp duty, and £5,785 in third‑party costs such as legal fees. In contrast, third‑steppers and beyond – i.e. homeowners buying their third or subsequent primary residence – estimate needing to save just £52,651 on average. This includes £19,835 for a deposit, £26,860 for stamp duty, and £5,996 in third‑party costs. That is £22,998 less than second‑steppers, reflecting the greater equity this group has typically built up in their current home. Over two in five (43 per cent) of those further along the property ladder say they would not need to save anything for a deposit at all. Jatin Patel, Head of Mortgages, Savings and Insurance at Barclays, said: “Periods of geopolitical and economic uncertainty inevitably place greater focus on household finances, and we’re seeing homeowners and potential buyers respond in pragmatic ways. Borrowers are demonstrating resilience by overpaying where they can, reassessing their mortgage options, and thinking carefully about timing to maintain flexibility and control." “For those moving from their first to their second primary residence, the challenge is more structural. Buyers at this stage often face the widest gap between properties, while still needing to fund deposits, stamp duty and moving costs largely from savings rather than equity alone. That makes second‑steppers particularly sensitive to economic pressures, even as they take considered steps to keep their housing plans on track.” Barclays has solutions for homeowners at every stage of the property ladder, from Mortgage Boost for first-time buyers, or additional borrowing if customers need to fund a large purchase, renovation, or to consolidate debt. Find out more here.

A Lake District spa resort is striking a soothing new chord for guests with the introduction of a musical relaxation experience designed to calm both body and mind. Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa has launched its new ‘harp sound bath’ service, inviting guests to unwind in its tranquil relaxation lounge while listening to the gentle melodies of a live harpist. The restorative harp sessions aim to deepen relaxation for spa guests, allowing them to step away from the pace of daily life and reconnect with a quieter, more restful state. After using the spa’s indoor and outdoor thermal facilities, participants in the sessions can lie back, close their eyes and settle into the immersive atmosphere of live harp music. The spa’s sound bath experiences are being led by Lakeland musician Gareth Wilkins, performing on a traditional Scottish clarsach harp known for its warm, resonant tone. During each session, Gareth creates a continuous flow of music, intuitively composed to support deep rest and the gradual release of physical tension. Guests are encouraged to settle comfortably and effortlessly relax to the gentle tones of the harp. The experience brings together the calming presence of live acoustic harp music with the restorative atmosphere of the spa environment, creating a tranquil space in which guests can fully switch off and unwind. Annabel Berry from English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues explains: “Our aim is to provide something extra and distinctive that enhances the overall wellness journey for visitors to the Spa at Low Wood Bay." “We’re always looking for ways to elevate the spa experience and help our guests truly switch off. The harp sound bath is incredibly calming because the instrument produces soft, resonant tones that naturally slow the body and mind." “The soothing vibrations of the harp can help lower stress levels and encourage a more restful spa experience. When people lie back and let the music wash over them, their breathing often slows and physical tension begins to ease. It’s an intimate experience offering a special way to unwind, disconnect from everyday worries and nurture a greater sense of calm.” Gareth adds: “The emphasis of the sessions is on rest rather than any particular technique. The live harp creates a calm, receptive atmosphere where they can simply arrive, settle and unwind." “The sound of the clarsach is naturally gentle and immersive too. Its resonance fills the space in a way that encourages the body to soften and the mind to slow.” The harp sound bath sessions have been introduced as part of the spa’s wider wellness offering, which includes a range of thermal experiences and relaxation spaces overlooking some of the Lake District’s most scenic settings. The spa plans to run regular sessions so that more guests can experience the calming acoustics of live harp music as part of their visit. For further information, visit here. Photo: Annabel Berry from English Lakes Hotels with harpist Gareth Wilkins.

Barclays US Consumer Bank released its fourth annual Travel Rewards and Loyalty Report, showing that today’s travellers are approaching vacations with a sharper focus on control, value, and confidence. This year’s findings point to a timely travel lens Barclays calls the “Three A’s”: anxiety, affordability, and AI. Travelers are feeling more pressure to plan around uncertainty, stretch budgets without sacrificing experience, and use digital tools to reduce friction throughout the trip. Based on a national survey conducted by Burson of 1,002 US adults with a rewards credit card, the report finds that travellers are using rewards to make trips feel more attainable and more rewarding, while planning more intensely to manage uncertainty, rising costs, and day-of-travel obstacles. One of the clearest signals is the continued popularity of the “upgrade economy.” Over three-quarters (76%) of respondents say they would be more likely to select upgrades if they could use points or miles instead of money, reinforcing how rewards can unlock premium moments without requiring additional out-of-pocket spend. Doug Villone, Head of US Cards and Partnerships at Barclays US Consumer Bank said: “At Barclays, we’re focused on understanding what travelers want as their expectations continue to shift. Our 2026 Travel Rewards and Loyalty Report highlights how people engage with rewards programs in unique ways, and a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t deliver the same impact. Our goal is to provide value that feels relevant at every stage of a customer’s journey and helps them travel with confidence and ease, through the brands they know and love.” Key findings from the report include: Affordability: Flexibility from Rewards and the “Aspiration Gap” 86% enjoy finding ways to maximize the value of their travel budget. 71% say getting “a great deal” is very important when planning a vacation. 76% would be more likely to select upgrades if they could use points or miles instead of money. 59% redeem rewards for statement credits or everyday expenses, even though many prefer travel-related uses such as reducing trip costs, upgrades, or covering unexpected travel expenses (43%). Among those who would like to use rewards differently, 72% would use them for travel expenses compared to 28% for everyday expenses. Anxiety: Travel stress is influencing how people plan and where they go 55% say they tend to over-plan vacations to avoid surprises. 64% worry about personal safety and security at their destination, and 58% worry about the safety of their belongings. 32% say news and current events about a destination influence their final vacation decision. AI: Planning tools are becoming a practical part of travel 46% use AI to find the best deals on flights and accommodations, 44% use it for advice on local customs and etiquette, and 43% use it to create personalized itineraries. Parents are particularly AI-forward: 79% find AI helpful for travel and vacations (vs. 58% of non-parents), and 57% are comfortable using AI to resolve unexpected travel issues (vs. 28% of non-parents).

A Poole-headquartered storage company has passed an internationally-recognised standard for self-storage. The BS EN 15696:2008 certificate for Store and Secure covers both business and domestic customers. The standard covers the handling of customer enquiries, contracts, vacation processes, after sales service, insurance and risk management as well as operations and human resources. Store and Secure is based in Hamworthy and includes a variety of storage units as well as serviced offices. The family-run firm prides itself on customer service and has a manned office from which it sells boxes, tape and other essentials for storage and house moves. Lucy Maidman said: “This certification examines all aspects of the business and is widely-recognised within the industry and beyond. It states that we meet or exceed all the standards." “We work hard to provide a friendly and efficient service and we put an emphasis on transparency. Customers appreciate this and they also like the fact we have staff on site who can answer enquiries and offer advice." “As well as being physically secure we also have the Cyber Essentials certification that provides a level of cyber-security." “We have a clean, secure and friendly business and we have exciting plans looking ahead.” Photo: Lucy Maidman, Kavan Wood and Sophie Maidman

From Autumn 2026, subscription businesses will need to operate under significantly stricter rules about how they sign customers up, remind them before renewals and let them cancel. The changes, introduced under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (“DMCCA”), are designed to tackle what the Government sees as a structural problem: too many consumers staying subscribed, not because they actively want the service, but because they forgot, missed a renewal date, or found cancellation harder than it should be. This is not marginal reform. The new regime places clear obligations on businesses at the three moments that matter most in a subscription lifecycle, and it does so at a time when the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has been given direct enforcement powers and the ability to impose substantial financial penalties for breaches of consumer law. For businesses that rely on recurring revenue from subscriptions, the question is not whether to comply, but how soon preparation needs to start. Why The Government Is Intervening Now Subscription models have become one of the most powerful commercial tools of the modern economy. They create recurring revenue, help manage cashflow, and allow businesses to build long-term customer relationships. But they also rely, to some extent, on consumer inertia. People forget what they have signed up to. They overlook the moment a free trial converts to a paid plan. And when they try to cancel, they sometimes find the process buried in account settings, designed with too many steps, or only possible through inconvenient channels. The Government's view is that too many consumers end up continuing by default rather than by informed choice. The policy intention behind the DMCCA is to reset that balance, ensuring that ongoing subscription payments are supported by active decisions rather than accidental retention. What Changes At Sign-Up Under the new regime, businesses must give consumers clear and specific information upfront, before they enter the subscription. The consumer should not have to hunt through long terms, click through separate webpages or make assumptions about what "membership" or "subscription" means in practice. Key information such as the price, how often payment will be taken, whether the subscription renews automatically and how cancellation works should be presented in a way that is difficult to miss and easy to understand. This matters particularly for services involving free trials, introductory pricing or annual billing cycles, where consumers are more likely to overlook what happens later. In practice, this means businesses should be reviewing their sign-up journeys now, not waiting until the regime is in force. If key terms are currently tucked away in linked documents, or if the consumer has to scroll past several screens to find out how to cancel, this will risk non-compliance. What Changes At Renewal For many businesses, the biggest operational shift will be the requirement to send reminder notices at key points in the subscription lifecycle. These are not optional courtesies. They are intended to ensure the consumer has a timely prompt before being charged again, so they can actively decide whether to continue. Reminder notices will matter most where free trials convert to paid subscriptions, where discounted periods end or where contracts renew annually and are easy to forget. The challenge is that reminder notices only work if the business's systems can trigger them at the correct times, send the right content and link clearly to cancellation routes. This is where compliance becomes a structural business issue rather than a purely legal one. Businesses using third-party billing systems, subscription management platforms or customer relationship tools may need to consider whether those systems are capable of supporting the reminder structure the regime demands and whether processes across departments are properly aligned. For businesses operating at scale, this is not something to delay until the final weeks before commencement! What Changes At Cancellation The regime is designed to ensure subscription businesses cannot retain customers simply because leaving is difficult. The expectation is not that businesses must make cancellation attractive or refrain from offering retention incentives. Rather, it is that consumers should be able to bring the subscription to an end without unreasonable obstacles, delays or confusion. A cancellation pathway that requires phone calls, lengthy web navigation, restricted hours, or repeated steps that do not relate to ending the contract, is likely to become increasingly risky. In broad terms, the cancellation journey should not feel meaningfully harder than the sign-up journey. Businesses should test cancellation from the consumer's perspective and identify friction points now. Common issues include cancellation options that are only available during office hours, processes that require multiple confirmations without clear purpose, and systems that present retention offers in ways that make it unclear whether the consumer has actually cancelled or simply declined an offer. Why Enforcement Risk Has Changed This reform matters not only because it introduces new consumer protections, but also because it sits within a tougher enforcement landscape. The DMCCA strengthens the CMA's powers to take enforcement action directly for breaches of consumer law, including imposing substantial financial penalties. That changes the risk profile for subscription businesses. It is no longer simply a question of whether consumers might complain, leave negative reviews or seek refunds. Non-compliance becomes a regulatory exposure that can carry serious commercial consequences, particularly for businesses operating at scale or with large customer bases. How To Prepare Although the regime is not expected to come into force until Autumn 2026 at the earliest, businesses should start planning early. Subscription compliance is rarely something that can be solved purely by updating terms and conditions. It requires businesses to examine how their sign-up journeys are designed, how their automated billing and customer communications are structured and how quickly and easily a consumer can bring payments to an end. Those changes often take time and sometimes require input from third-party platforms or internal product teams. A sensible starting point is to identify which products and services operate as subscriptions in legal terms, including those that might not be labelled as such internally. The next step is to review how subscription commitments are presented to consumers at sign-up, and whether key information is genuinely being brought to their attention. Businesses should then examine whether their renewal cycles are supported by systems that can deliver compliant reminder notices at the right time, with the right content. Finally, they should test cancellation from the consumer's perspective and remove friction that creates unnecessary risk. For many businesses, the aim will be to ensure that the subscription model remains commercially sustainable while meeting rising consumer expectations of transparency and ease.

Succession is often spoken of as a single moment - the passing of the baton from one generation to the next. In reality, for family businesses it is much more complex, a process that spans years and demands foresight, negotiation, and a degree of humility. At the heart of this process lies a fundamental question: how do you preserve a business that carries both financial and emotional weight, while accommodating the shifting needs of a family whose members and priorities will inevitably change? Trusts offer one answer to this question. They are not new, nor are they the only option available, but their enduring appeal lies in their ability to balance continuity with flexibility. By interposing trustees between the business and its beneficiaries, a trust ensures that ownership is not fragmented or destabilised by individual circumstances, but held in a way that preserves the business as a long-term asset for the family as a whole. This shift from personal ownership to collective stewardship is what makes trusts such powerful vehicles in the succession process. The Role Of Trusts For many families, the greatest threat to succession is not external competition or even tax burdens, but what happens within the family itself. Divorce, creditor claims, disputes between siblings or cousins - all can disrupt ownership and undermine stability. Once shares are in trust, they are no longer at the mercy of an individual’s personal circumstances. No single individual owns the shares outright, but rather the Trustees hold the business for the family collectively, with instructions that it is not to be divided up at the whim of events, making it harder for personal disputes to spill into corporate governance. But protection is only one part of the story. There is also a governance benefit. Trustees, unlike family shareholders, are bound by fiduciary duties. Their responsibility is not to one person but to the beneficiaries as a group, across the generations. This is an important distinction. While individuals may be swayed by short-term financial needs or interpersonal conflicts, Trustees are charged with preserving the business’s value and direction over time. The practical impact of this structure is significant. It prevents short-term pressures from pulling the business off course, and in a way, acts as some kind of ballast. It allows families to separate wealth from control, ensuring that younger or less experienced generations can benefit economically without immediately influencing strategic decision-making. At the same time, it creates space for those who are capable and committed to play a meaningful role in management, regardless of their precise shareholding. Flexibility Versus Certainty Of course, the effectiveness of a trust depends heavily on how it’s structured and who the Trustees are. Discretionary Trusts (often known as ‘Bloodline Trusts’)are often the more favoured model, precisely because they allow Trustees to adapt to changing circumstances. With no fixed entitlement, beneficiaries can’t treat the trust as an automatic source of wealth, and instead, distributions are made at the Trustees’ discretion, guided by Letters of Wishes and family constitutions. This flexibility is what enables a trust to respond to the shifting demands of both family and business life over time. Yet, this kind of flexibility brings its own risks. Families generally want certainty, and assurances that one child will inherit control, or that the wealth will be distributed evenly. Trusts do not always sit comfortably with these instincts. If not carefully explained, discretionary powers can be perceived as unfair or arbitrary, particularly if some members feel excluded from decision-making. The very features that make trusts resilient, such as their capacity to adapt, can become sources of tension if governance and communication are not robust. The Tax Dimension For decades, one of the strongest arguments in favour of using trusts for family business succession has been their interaction with inheritance tax reliefs. Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) have traditionally allowed families to transfer significant business and farming interests without incurring an Inheritance Tax (IHT) charge that might otherwise force the break-up or sale of the enterprise. That landscape, however, is beginning to change. From April 2026, both BPR and APR will be subject to new restrictions, with relief capped and reduced in ways that will matter to many business owners. For the first time, the scale of relief available will not be open-ended. Families relying on these reliefs will need to think carefully about whether their existing structures still achieve what they were designed to do. The effect of these changes is twofold. First, they make early planning even more important: arrangements that once seemed generous may, in the coming years, leave parts of an estate exposed to tax in ways not previously anticipated. Second, they highlight the continuing value of trusts as flexible vehicles. While reliefs are becoming less predictable, a trust can provide a stable framework for ownership and succession, giving trustees the ability to adapt the family’s approach as rules and circumstances evolve. What this means in practice is that succession planning can no longer be treated as a one-off exercise. Families who put structures in place even a few years ago will need to revisit them in light of the reforms. The coming changes do not diminish the usefulness of trusts, but they do make the advice that underpins them more critical. Professional input will be essential to ensure that trusts continue to deliver both protection and tax efficiency in the new environment. Alternatives It would be misleading to treat trusts as the only solution. Other models are gaining ground, reflecting changes both in tax policy and in how families think about the purpose of their businesses. One of the most significant of these is the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). Introduced in 2014, an EOT acquires a controlling interest in a company and holds it on behalf of its employees. Instead of shares being passed through family lines, ownership is transferred to the workforce collectively. Employees then share directly in the profits and often have a greater say in governance. For founders, EOTs can provide a dignified and values-driven exit while protecting the ethos of the business. For employees, they create loyalty and alignment. And there are tax incentives too: the transfer to an EOT can benefit from Capital Gains Tax reliefs and deferrals, and certain employee bonuses can be paid tax-free. But EOTs will not suit every family business. They work best where there is already a strong employee culture and where the family is comfortable stepping back from direct control. For others, this is too radical a shift. Alongside EOTs, other structures offer different balances of control and flexibility. Family Investment Companies (FICs) have grown in popularity in recent years. At their simplest, they allow parents to set up a company, hold shares in it, and then gift shares to children or into trusts. Unlike a Discretionary Trust, a FIC can retain profits at lower Corporate Tax rates, giving scope to reinvest wealth. They also allow families to define voting rights and dividend rights separately, creating granular control over who has influence and who receives income. FICs can, however, attract scrutiny from HMRC, and their tax treatment may not always be as favourable as originally intended. Partnerships, often structured as LLPs, are another option. They are flexible, transparent, and allow families to bring different generations formally into the ownership and governance of a business. The partnership model can work well where collaboration is valued, but it does mean that partners are directly exposed to tax on their share of profits, whether or not those profits are distributed. Finally, foundations are a structure more common in civil law jurisdictions but increasingly used by internationally-connected families with ties to multiple legal systems. A foundation can look similar to a trust but has its own legal personality. This can make it easier to operate across borders, particularly for families with assets and beneficiaries in Europe or further afield. What these alternatives demonstrate is that there is no single template for succession. Each structure comes with trade-offs - EOTs prioritise culture and continuity of ethos, FICs offer tax efficiency and control, LLPs create transparency and collaboration, and foundations provide international flexibility. The choice depends less on law in the abstract than on the family’s own objectives, whether that is preserving control, releasing capital, involving employees, or managing cross-border complexity. The Human Element Whatever the structure, no succession plan can succeed without careful attention to the human dimension. A trust can protect shares from external threats, but it cannot eliminate the need for dialogue and engagement. Letters of Wishes, family constitutions, and regular family councils all play a role in making sure that Trustees’ powers are understood and that beneficiaries feel connected to the enterprise. Engaging the next generation early is particularly important. Too often, succession planning is treated as an exercise in drafting documents rather than building relationships. But the latter is what determines whether a family business thrives or fractures once control passes. Trustees may hold the legal authority, but the family itself must supply the cohesion and sense of purpose that makes succession sustainable. Choosing The Right Path For Succession Trusts have endured as succession tools not because they are perfect, but because they strike a rare balance. They provide protection without paralysis, flexibility without chaos, and continuity without ignoring change. Used wisely, they can help families navigate the most difficult transition any business faces: the shift from one generation to the next. Yet the trust is not a panacea. It is one instrument among many, and its success depends as much on governance, communication, and shared values as it does on legal drafting. The real art of succession planning lies in weaving together structure and substance, law and family, in a way that preserves not only the business’s assets but also its meaning.

It all starts with your family legacy. Your stories, thinking patterns, what you stand for or wish to innovate. All these hold their foundations in your family legacy. Family Chronicle Galaxies & Rainy Recollections In the world of a multigenerational business and legacy families, all stories are in an intertwined and perpetual flux with each family member clicking through thousands of layered puzzle pieces that are fidgeting within their world, spanning through different cultures, environments, and generations. Thousands of tales are happening in close or distant successions, and break out into new ones even mid-sentence. It’s a continuation of lineages, dynamic memory recollections, evolving family identities, and thematical individual and collective cataloguing. Certain historical events or business milestones may fit into a time-line, however, these connected accounts and colourful characteristics can’t be arranged in a chronological order. Each timeline of accomplishments needs tracking, however, due to their complex nature, legacies are not traceable, only mappable. Everything is fragmented in the family cosmos and the task is to purposefully decrease fragmentation, map, understand, learn from, and connect relevance points that engage and inspire everyone within the family, and beyond, for generations to come. All family truths hold a coherence of ideas, and coherence systems are composed of quantitative and qualitative multiplicities. Family members hold stories within stories and these can be mapped, understood, interpreted, and reordered in different ways by everyone within the family. Memories are not static images but ever-changing interpretations, re-interpretations, and recalibrations of past events holding different meaning for everyone. Any rupture point can destabilise the framework that is the result of a series of co-creation and co-composition processes of your ancestors. How can a multigenerational business family decompress, map, understand, and interpret their complex marbling, as well as embrace all its moving parts? In addition, to understand what the clinging and adhering properties between these are, and how families can separate or fuse the different narrative points and thematic zones of contact to offer a solid re(-)presentation from which their family members can learn, families require a bespoke transformational legacy curation. Multigenerational storylines and family members’ understanding, evaluation, and conciliation of their complex and multi-layered legacy and impact expand by the virtue of opening up the various connection points. As families grow, they embrace, understand, and discuss their multiplicitous identities. These different qualities resolve themselves in various intensities, and magnitudes, and may even unveil unexpected revelations. Consequently, families can re-energise their narratives, recalibrate current structures, and form new ones depending on how the present landscape of their different capitals and the revived narrative terrain dictate the enhanced capabilities and capacities of their newly shaping environment. Therefore, it is critical for families to study and understand their origins, semantic network, the evolution of their multi(-)verse, realign on what they hold important, and drive impact purposefully on many levels. It’s about families looking into and engineering their future whilst understanding, reconnecting with, and learning from their past, and building their own legacy and impact upon these in a purposeful way. A Zeal for Legacies Transformational legacy curations also offer a foundational understanding of your roots and where you are on your complex legacy journey. This is especially critical prior to and in the midst of a succession, as with a generational transition, it’s not only the business, your family values, and historical details that you pass on to the next generation. To ensure a successful succession, all your different capitals, as well as your collective family intelligence needs to be transferred; it’s a transfer of knowledge, networks, and your family legacy. Bespoke family legacy curation projects offer a solid social, cultural, family, talent, and historical effective consciousness to families to reconnect with their past, future-proof, and drive their future activities. Such projects also expand family members’ horizon of their thoughts, domain of experiences, and connect their individual horizon with the overall collective family horizon to strengthen and safeguard their family ties, inspire and engage with each other, without proposing to overidentify only with the group identity. The common sense within the family is created by the family, it is a fusion of the family members’ understanding horizons. The multitudinous world of multigenerational family legacies is filled with wonders; invaluable, one-of-a-kind educational, family engagement, and inspirational resources that both foreground family members’ experience with their legacy materials and serve as anchoring tools for the wider family. You have unique personal access to your family’s legacy objects and other curiosities that relate to the inner and outer works of your family. This access may lead you to find comfort and better orientate yourself within and beyond your family. It’s inviting you to serendipitously or intentionally look for pieces, connection points waiting to be discovered, rediscovered (for example, family legacy curations are also powerful ways to celebrate any major milestones or anniversaries that your family wishes to commemorate.) Your family legacy offers unlimited inspiration through relevance points, and portrays a sense of continuity from your ancestors to you, and your next generation. Family legacies constitute the cornerstone of each longstanding and thriving enterprising family. How well you and your family members double-down on your legacy, and how purposefully you leverage it, will shape the trajectory of your future, determining also your legacy’s longevity. We all seek resonance and relevance points, we thrive via relating to stories, characters, and connecting dots of our past and present, and create our future accordingly. Whilst we read chronicles, we turn to footnotes, indexes, or the foreword to gain further insights on specific aspects connected to the storylines, characters, and the different narrative inserts. The same relevance-seeking and connection-finding happens also with your family legacy. Whenever you hold a connection with a story, family character, or event, there is a point of reference, otherwise, you may only rely on the absence of evidence and will be witnessing over the generations how your family legacy may gradually evaporate. Close encounters with your family legacy help you imagine, design, further shape, create your own legacy marks, enrich the family legacy, and continue your joint and individual legacy journey. You can also re-evaluate, re-frame, and articulate your narratives and drive better-informed decisions. Consequently, you can engage, inspire your family and community for generations to come by animating your heritage and family legacy. Become a Connoisseur of Your Family Legacy You are invited to become a connoisseur, a conscious co-guardian and custodian of your family legacy, finding out more, and inspiring others via your family’s and your own legacy. It’s about transcending past to the future, re-inhabitation of family legacies, and re-enchantment with family legacies. You can surround yourself with your ancestors and decrease the distance that you hold with them by pondering on and receiving points of reference on their decisions, how they lived their contextual settings and background. These exercises instantly take you back to the past and bring out memories from your own life, and resonance points to which you can relate. A participatory design in bespoke legacy curations is indispensable, as you and your family members hold the meaning, resonance, and relevance points to your family narratives, different family characters, and events. You can then continue shaping and transforming your heritage and family legacy, articulating your legacy, and bringing it closer to everyone to benefit from. Some families create tangible foundations, some tackle their collective intelligence via stories, some do both in periodically reconstituting their world, retaining and synthesising the previous chapters of their past. Whether you would wish to keep most of your family legacy stories for your family members or are keen to share a few aspects with your community for their delight and further engagement, and appreciation, it’s your decision. Some of the materials could even complement your PR activities. Submerging into your family legacy may feel as a retreat not only for you and your family members. Your community members are also keen to understand and appreciate to learn more about your family, praise, and appraise your and your ancestors’ achievements and any background information behind these, which may further instil the pride and belonging that they hold for your family and legacy. Synthesising the chapters of your family’s past as well as adding your legacy marks, continuing and transforming your family traditions, and giving them current relevance to everyone is a meaningful series of endeavour that propels your family and community to new heights when it comes to engagement, alignment, and inspiration for generations to come. About the Author - Zita Nikoletta Verbényi is the Founder and Legacy Aesthete at The Legacy Atelier, and the 1st PhD Candidate in Family Legacies.

This legacy article covers how a business family legacy does not only serve as a thought garden, an oasis of wisdom for the family, their employees, and community. It is also a critical family education and engagement tool. During the pandemic, ethical or moral philosophy, eg stoicism has gained a renewed popularity. Stoic teaching has been used to help readers focus more on what matters the most in the long-run, learn how to become resilient, find hope, and fight anxiety. Epistemology, the branch of philosophy focusing on knowledge and how we perceive reality, has been less explored. Despite the fact that we are in the midst of an epistemic crisis, surrounded by mere opinions, falsified information, and twisted narratives. In a family business context, it’s about making a better sense of the intertwined layers of complexity and enhance family engagement. This article will be briefly steering into what we can learn from sense-making and meaning-making, knowledge sharing, and knowledge transfer mechanisms, and how these also form a crucial part of the various educational and engagement-related activities. Each multigenerational family legacy is a rich compressed tapestry filled with recurring and moving family patterns, characters, forged and oscillating compound situational identities and alliances within and beyond the family. It also holds a precious collective family intelligence of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, compromises, horizon fusions, memories, laughter, and more importantly, lessons from everyone and for everyone. A condensed knowledge base that serves as a garden of inspiration, primarily for the family itself. How can a multigenerational business family decompress and understand their complex marbling, and keep their legacy alive with all its moving parts? Family Historiography & Rooting Families firstly need to relate and synthesise their intertwined family facets, stories, narratives; their ancestors’ co-created history. The family and their various entities’ long-term success is contingent upon keeping a close contact with their family heritage. Otherwise, their own legacy will be disconnected from it, and they can start building a new one. It is therefore vital for families to share memories, thoughts, and stories, and purposefully co-create a contingent collective family knowledge of their past and present that is agile enough to be recalibrated as the contexts and the family members’ interpretation of them change continuously on all levels. Our thoughts are built from our past experiences and accumulated knowledge, our stories related to these experiences are engrained in us and are in a constant flux also due to our continuous opinion and knowledge transmissions. Consequently, there is need for constant reassessment and reiterations of these stories and experiences too. This is an important element, as the various family, social, emotional, intellectual, business, financial, personal, collective, etc., contexts usually don’t move together and some outpace the others, or prompt families to over focus on a few areas and leaving the others behind. The anchoring tool for keeping a balanced overview on all these knowledge-seeking and changing configurations is the family legacy itself. Preserving and collectively building upon the family legacy despite any types of volatility is an efficient rooting exercise for multigenerational families. These assessed contexts and co-created floating constructs that families pass on to the next generation along with the family’s value framework will become one of their most important family educational tools that they can further shape and navigate with in the future. Especially, now, as generational divides happen much quicker due to the pace of innovation that propel change also in how we think and act. Each family is constantly renewing itself and its legacy, and each revisit asks for a reconceptualization of their key their narratives and legacy traits. It’s not only about further escavating and relating to the past, but observing how the various current and future generations surface and resurface with different additions to the family legacy. Therefore, family constitutions or other guiding documents can only capture a current or aspired status of a business family, once they capture and co-created their current fused and aligned views of their rules of engagement. In the future, these will serve as a backdrop of history for any upcoming generations during their family legacy territory hiking exercises. Family members will try to relate to the indications and any condensed references, unpack and reframe their ancestors’ stories and co-created constructs, hopefully leaving the chapters open for the new generations to formulate and write their own stories. The Legacy Edit – Picturing the Moving Family Fragments Paying attention to not only observe their surroundings and run short-cutting the understanding process in a cultural auto-pilot mode, but carefully evaluating and also interpreting their findings to effectively navigate diverse narratives at all scales and in all shapes is critical. Family members are encouraged to co-evaluate and co-interpret their experiences and thoughts with others, and form as well as fuse their narratives together. Contemplating by the outside needs to be followed by contemplating from the inside. To master this, families should evaluate how they acquire, appropriate, and hold their various understanding landscapes and horizons. Understanding how they are historically, culturally, socially, emotionally, etc., conditioned and how the various conditioning may distort or challenge their interpretation. They may introduce and embrace evaluation processes; explore and develop realistic evaluation activities on the most pressing questions about values, relevance, impact, excellence, then assess, analyse and interpret the evaluation responses, and use evaluation findings to make decisions, increase impact, and demonstrate value. These reasoning and validation processes may result in ontological shifts in the minds and collectively, in the family’s precious collective intelligence. Evaluating Real Duration Of Events And Relationships For better evaluation and validation purposes, the real duration of any story or event needs to be assessed too. Henri Bergson points at the importance of a critical evaluation of time, it’s duration as it holds qualitative multiplicity. Bergson separated how we actually live time and the mechanistic time of science. How we perceive time fundamentally engrains how we perceive all other aspects of our life too, how we rise above the accepted, proposed family facts, narratives, above the convention, traditions for new summits of shared understanding and truths. The Legacy Edit – Picturing The Moving Family Fragments As if we are to watch a directed theatre play based on a “true” story, it’s a collage of different conversations that did not necessarily happen in such particular chronological order, the final editing, condensing of the play, the dramaturgy, and direction all serve to facilitate the spectators’ comprehension, the characters’ relatability, and to enhance the key message points. Also, what we see in most films is a succession of different photographs, freezing memory points that are all framed in different ways. In the decades and centenaries of family legacies, there are many pauses, and often long-standing legacies don’t even have a specific momentum or year that serves as the beginning of their heritage. For some families, it all depends from when they start to count any type of legacy creation; from when they start sketching on the canvas the first layers of family synchronicity. Focusing On Synergies Instead Of Points Of Conflict When we talk about passing on the torch to the next generation, we also talk about transferring knowledge, skills, capacities, ideas, roles, and responsibilities from the current leader(s) to the upcoming one(s), and to all other family members. Translating all these from one generation and cultural system into another is quite a task, it relates to many shades of relation from conflicts to accommodation during the transitioning period, and beyond. Highlighting the fractionality and fragmentedness in our relationships and the lack of shared understanding may lead to further tension and consequently to disintegration. Instead of focusing on the points of conflicts, laying an emphasis on the synergies and synthesising insights and learning points can create a fertile ground for enhanced family engagement and connectedness. This is when families create dialogues and stories of conciliation that help them bond with each other and form deep connections. Each family member goes through endless reminiscences about when they were born, how they fit in, what skillset they deploy, and what their legacy marks will be on the family legacy. Each member remembers stories differently and hold only a fragment of the whole family landscape. They may also examine critical junctions in the history of the family, usually connected family members to whom, or any events to which, they can relate the most. Enacting Participatory Sense & Meaning-Making How well we understand anything and anyone depends on how much we relate and engage with them on any levels. In a multigenerational business family, the collective meaning-making exercise that families embark on to explore their shared values, mission, and vision, might be precedented with a process of collective sense-making and any subsequent collective knowledge-acquiring activities too. The presence of intersubjectivity is vital for the sense- and meaning-making exercises; sharing experiences, expectations, knowledge with others, and fusing understanding horizons with family members. Enacting participatory sense-making is important, as it’s the co-ordination of intentional activity in interaction, whereby individual sense-making processes are affected and new domains of social sense-making can be generated that were not available to each individual on their own. The key is participation, for each family member to show up, and engage in a proactive way. Doubling down on learning from their family legacy also to assess and be able to handle the various interconnected layers of complexity along with their character formations. Legacy-Based Learning Legacy-based learning, a family-related contextual and collective learning method, is a fantastic way to enable and enhance connection points through eg, family portraits, and other heritage artworks that invoke memories, and can create nostalgia, and a shared understanding, and alignment between various family members. Leverage your legacy as your competitive advantage, a complexity premium, build upon it, and preserve it for generations to come. About the Author - Zita Nikoletta Verbényi is the Founder and Legacy Aesthete at The Legacy Atelier, and the 1st PhD Candidate in Family Legacies.

Robinsons Brewery has achieved a turnover surpassing £100 million for the first time (2025: £103.5m, 2024: £97.7m), reporting an impressive 40% increase in Operating Profit (EBITDA) at £8.6m (2024: £6.2m). The record turnover came with further successes: Managed pubs delivered over 10% like-for-like sales growth. Beer volumes also bucked industry trends, with cask beer volumes 5% ahead and total beer sales outperforming the market by 1.5%. Whilst it is a milestone year for the family brewers, business operating costs have also increased significantly with the Chancellor’s budget costing the business £1m more in National Insurance Contributions alone. These factors affecting the industry simply cannot be ignored. Despite rising costs, Robinsons completed their brewhouse relocation to their packaging site, having invested £8.1m in the three-year project. The Company has reported that initiatives across their managed estate have reduced carbon emissions by 18%, further reductions have been achieved in their brewing operations by consolidating production onto one site. Additionally, the company invested a total of £6.9m across 37 pubs in their estate in 2025. Some notable investments include the refurbishment of St Tudwal’s, Abersoch; the Broadoak Hotel, Ashton-under-lyne; the Craven Heifer, Kelbrook; the Tollemache Arms, Alpraham and the Wilbraham Arms, Alsager. Robinsons has also continued to invest in their people, with over 100 colleagues having participated in its apprenticeship program. Focusing on developing and introducing the best talent into the business. Jason Crowder-Barton received an internal promotion to become Director of Managed Pubs, and Beth Anderson joined as Director of People and Culture. Both bring a wealth of knowledge and insight into both the retail operations, and the people function. These appointments coincide with significant retirements in the leadership team over the last twelve months, Managing Directors, Oliver and William Robinson, extended thanks to the entire Executive Team for their contributions in driving the business forward, acknowledged nationally by the recent achievement of ‘Best Brewing Pub Co’ at the Publican Awards and by winning two Gold Awards at the International Brewing awards. The sixth-generation family brewers have continued to move forwards and demonstrated agility in the futureproofing of pubs and brewing, remaining acquisitive in both their brewing and pub estate.

St Austell Brewery is raising a glass to 175 years with the launch of a new anniversary book, A History of St Austell Brewery. Written by the company’s archivist Paul Holden, the book brings together stories, records and personal insight to chart the evolution of one of the South West’s leading independent, family-run brewing, hospitality and wholesale businesses - one that continues to thrive today. The story begins in 1851 with founder Walter Hicks, from his early days brewing at the Seven Stars Inn in St Austell to the construction of the Trevarthian Road brewhouse in 1893, where St Austell Brewery’s beers are still made today. Designed around a gravity-fed system rather than pumps, the Victorian brewhouse reflects traditional brewing methods of the time and remains part of the working brewery - a rare and much-cherished link between past and present. A standout chapter explores the role of Hicks’ daughter, Hester Parnall, who took over the business following her father’s death. At a time when women were rarely involved in brewing or hospitality, Hester led the brewery through periods of expansion and change, travelling across Cornwall and beyond to grow the pub estate and helping to secure the brewery’s independence for future generations. Drawing on meticulously kept handwritten brewing logs and recipe books dating back to the 1800s, the book reveals how beer was once brewed using instinct, experience and taste alone. Many of these rediscovered records have since inspired heritage beers brewed especially to mark the brewery’s 175th anniversary. The book also details how St Austell Brewery adapted through some of the most challenging moments in its history, including both World Wars, when recipes were adjusted during rationing and buildings and labour were repurposed to keep the business running. Readers are also offered glimpses into a time when beer was delivered by horse and cart to local pubs, with ledgers detailing delivery routes, volumes and even the impact of the weather. Alongside this rich history, the book explores the stories behind modern favourites such as Tribute - originally brewed as Daylight Robbery for the 1999 solar eclipse - as well as Proper Job and Korev. Paul Holden, Archivist at St Austell Brewery and author of the book, said: “This book is about the details as much as the big moments - the handwritten notes, the delivery ledgers and the people whose decisions shaped the brewery. It’s a story rooted firmly in the South West, but also one of resilience, change and a long-standing pride in brewing great beer and building a thriving hospitality business across the region. This is a must-have for fans of St Austell Brewery, lovers of history and anyone with a passion for beer and brewing.” Produced to mark the milestone anniversary, A History of St Austell Brewery is available to buy now via St Austell Brewery’s online shop here. About St Austell Brewery St Austell Brewery was founded as a family-owned company in 1851 and has been fuelled by Cornish spirit and independent thinking ever since. Celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, it is the South West’s leading brewing, hospitality and drinks wholesale business. The company operates two breweries, in St Austell and Warmley (near Bath), following the acquisition of Bath Ales in 2016. Its award-winning beers - including Tribute pale ale, Proper Job IPA and korev lager - are available in pubs and supermarkets nationwide. St Austell Brewery owns over 160 pubs and inns across the South West, comprising of 45 managed houses alongside managed operator and leased and tenanted sites that are independently run by business partners. With a network of six distribution centres across the region, from St Columb to Wimborne, the company is the South West’s leading drinks wholesaler. In 2026, it became a majority shareholder in Harbour Brewing Company, expanding Harbour’s distribution footprint and making its high-quality craft beers available in St Austell Brewery pubs and for wholesale customers. Proud of its heritage and inspired by the future, St Austell Brewery is brewing great experiences for generations to come.

Young carers from north Glasgow will get a rare chance to step away from daily caring responsibilities and enjoy time to play and just be carefree for a while, thanks to a three-day countryside residential break delivered by The Honeypot Children’s Charity. Glasgow is home to the highest number of young carers in Scotland, with children as young as five years old providing hours of practical and emotional support to family members each week. These young people often miss out on everyday childhood experiences such as after-school clubs, birthday parties and time with friends as they prioritise their caring responsibilities. The Honeypot Children’s Charity works to change that by offering respite breaks at its Honeypot House. The first Scottish Honeypot House was opened in Ayrshire in 2023 and has since welcomed over 700 young carers from across Scotland, allowing them to relax and make friends in a safe and nurturing environment. The break is part of Honeypot’s wider work to expand its support for families across Glasgow, where demand for respite and emotional support continues to grow. Responding to this, the charity hopes to deliver 10 dedicated residential breaks for young carers from across the city in 2026. The project has been supported by a £500 donation from the Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust, which will help support young carers specifically from north Glasgow. Lyndsay Anderson, Scotland Fundraising Manager at The Honeypot Children’s Charity, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust for their generous donation to The Honeypot Children's Charity. This support will help provide a much-needed countryside residential respite break for young carers in north Glasgow, giving them the chance to relax, have fun, and create lasting happy memories. Together, we are helping brighter futures for Glasgow's young carers.” During the stay, children will take part in outdoor activities, shared meals and group experiences designed to help them relax and connect with others who understand their situation. Gerry Facenna, founder and owner of Allied Vehicles Group, said: “So many young carers in Glasgow take on responsibilities well beyond their years. I am delighted that the Allied Vehicles Charitable Trust can support The Honeypot Children’s Charity in giving local children time away from those pressures, allowing them to enjoy themselves and just be kids for a while, before returning home feeling more confident and supported.” The countryside break will give young carers from north Glasgow a chance to recharge and return home with positive memories that last long after their stay.

A resilient group of walkers from the hospitality industry has completed a gruelling 14-hour hike to raise over £5,000 for a Lancashire charity. The team of hikers from English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues conquered the specially devised ‘Lancashire 5 peaks’ route, a 20-mile trek with over 2,800 metres of climbing. The group, which consisted of employees from Lancaster House Hotel, Wild Boar Estate and Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa, scaled the summits of Gragareth on the Yorkshire border, Ward’s Stone, Wolfhole Crag and White Hill in the Forest of Bowland, and Pendle Hill near Clitheroe. They were joined by an equally determined band of fundraising hikers from Lancaster based firm Chiptech, making a cohort of 20 in all marching the route. The funds raised by the English Lakes Hotels and Chiptech hiking team is being donated to BEE Adventures to support its young people's suicide prevention programme in Lancaster and Morecambe. It equips young people with the tools to cope with the stresses of life and helps them build resilience, specifically by using the outdoors to improve mental health. HR manager at Lancaster House Hotel Faye McGuinness says: “Our incredible team successfully completed the Lancashire 5 peaks challenge just before nightfall. We started out at 6am and got back just before 9pm." “The terrain was brutal at times, with vast boggy sections, uneven ground, and no defined walking paths on the final three peaks. It truly tested everyone’s resilience." "Despite sore legs, tired bodies, and some very muddy boots, the team pushed on together and achieved something really special." “It was an extremely challenging day and I couldn’t be prouder of everyone involved and the effort they put in to keep going right to the final summit." "Every single donation has helped make this challenge worthwhile and will have a meaningful impact on the incredible work the charity is doing.” Co-founder of BEE Adventures Ryan Bond adds: “We can’t thank English Lakes Hotels enough for all the effort they put into this challenge, from training and fundraising to turning up on the day and making it all happen." “The funding will make a truly life-changing difference for these young people. But what’s more is they get so see caring businesses in their local community who will go through all this effort - and struggle - for them. The knowledge that people who they’ve never met care about their wellbeing is priceless.” Minibus photo (left to right): Ken Bussey, Anthony Patterson, Ryan Bond (all BEE Adventures), then Faye McGuinness, Scott Capstick, Lukas Thackeray, Michele Aldridge, Ioanna Stergiaki, Rachel Baines, Lucy Newton and Gabriel Oanea.