Blog and
Events Calendar

From April 2013 Colleagues on Tap coworking days, and the Coworking Events Calendar, have moved to a new home at WWW.COLLEAGUESONTAP.COM.   At Colleaguesontap.com you can find out all about coworking days, book events, and discover a whole range of new services provided by Colleagues on Tap especially…

This week we've seen Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, making a stand against homeworking, requesting all staff to leave their homeworking existence and report back to the office from June.  Much has been said and written about this policy shift, so I decided it was time for me to add to the debate!…

On 28th February 2013 a new type of business space launches in Consett, Derwentside.   Business owners Fran and Simon Williams open their family-owned and run business space 'Perspective Business Centres' at Ponds Court Business Park in Consett.  Facilities at this stage include hot-desking…

People who work for themselves often work by themselves.  In this short presentation, Jayne Graham, Founder and Director of Colleagues on Tap, explains how co-working can be a welcome antedote to the isolation many businesses face when they work alone, and provides some real life examples of people…

Colleagues on Tap welcomes new sidekick, Jo Singh, to its growing team of Associates to host co-working days in Newcastle's West End from February. Jo’s appointment represents yet another stepping stone towards the company's quest to extend Colleagues on Tap across the North East, and…

Our already lively SpoT chat at The Beacon Colleagues on Tap day in late January was lifted further with some great news from regular co-worker Rachel Cochrane.  Rachel, a writer and dramatist, and the founder of website listenupnorth.com that showcases other local writers, has been…

It's great working for yourself. That's a fact.  'Going it alone' means freedom, flexibility and of course plenty of fun, but as we've discovered through Colleagues on Tap a few people around you now and again can help to make running a business much more fun;  working…

Exciting developments are a-foot for small business owners and freelancers in the North East, as Jayne Graham, founder and director of Colleagues on Tap, gets set to launch more ground-breaking new services in the New Year in response to market-demand, as well as stepping up co-working event activity.…

Lynn Carr-Woodward has run her business and people development consultancy since 2004.   Building on her background as a quality assessor and auditor, Lynn prides herself on being able to help people to get organised, save time, and develop their businesses. While she was looking at how to move…

Martin Underhill designs and builds websites for small businesses, and his affable style has brought him regular and long-standing customers from a pretty diverse range of sectors, from travel and tourism to finance.   His website business, Temper Temper, runs from wherever Martin is; being able…

Having held over 60 successful Colleagues on Tap co-working days all around the North East, it's clear to founder Jayne Graham that home-based and freelance businesses see co-working as the way forward.   Jayne explains "Co-working days provide the opportunity for homeworkers to combat…

Space on Tap's Founder & Director Jayne Graham has contributed to development of a White Paper on Co-working and Co-working spaces  written by the EBN (European BIC Network) in partnership with Global Enterprise.  The paper, which was published in October 2012 explores how and why…

Hugh Stolliday, Development Manager for Friends of Summerhill, the Trust that owns and runs Summerhill Bowling Club on Summerhill Terrace in Newcastle, has shared with us his top 5 tips for hiring out space.   Summerhill Pavilion is becoming an increasingly popular venue for both business and private…

    We all love positive feedback that endorses that we're doing a good job!  It was great to receive thanks from Emma Harle, Director of Elrah Consulting, this week; her thoughts on spaceontap.com are below.   Elrah Consulting provides development programmes that help people…

On 4th October Jayne Graham, founder and director of Space on Tap & Colleagues on Tap, exhibited at the Inspire Network North East Open Day which took place at Bede's World in Jarrow.   The great venue was complemented perfectly by an amazing group of business women who attended the event…

Christmas parties, training days, gala dinners, you name it; it's all going on at The Beacon, a great new business and community venue on Westgate Road in Newcastle!  To give you a flavour of what's possible at this great venue, The Beacon is holding a showcase open day on Saturday 22nd…

Let's be blunt.  If you, like me, have had the work flag at half mast over the Summer holiday period, it can be pretty hard to get the pace back to full steam ahead, and it can be even more difficult if you usually work alone, or at home;   there can be a sudden feeling of isolation when…

After over a year of searching, and several months of planning, Helen and Mark Reed will open their 2nd fully serviced business centre later this month.   Building on their success with Newcastle Business Village in Benton, North Tyneside, they will be opening the doors of Clavering House…

A report in The Journal Business News on 30th August 2012 explains that 'business parks remain popular with occupiers despite the recession and concerns over the future economic outlook, a new report suggests'.  It goes on to say  'The research, by leading commercial property advisor…

  Melting the iceberg to release the potential of home-based business   First of all just a quick 'stake in the ground', as it were.  Setting up business from home is a good thing to do.  I, like many other business people, have worked at home for years and have no plans…

Space on Tap users are often on the look-out for somewhere a bit different to hold an event.  Corporate away days, conferences, training courses and meetings can now have a touch of creativity as an added ingredient as arts venues across the North East get into the act.   From Stockton on…

  Is co-working really about the people or the space?   Well of course the answer has to be both, but I think the question deserves some airtime - the term co-working is popping up more regularly, but often in the context of co-working space (the reason that being pretty obvious), so I'd…

Helen and Mark Reed, owners of Newcastle Business Village, will be opening their second business centre next month, at the prestigious Clavering House, Clavering Place in Newcastle City Centre, with an official launch event planned for the evening of 20th September. Newcastle Business Village in Benton…

We all recognise that face to face contact, at least sometimes, is good for you and your business.  But that's not always possible or practical, and with the recent increase we've experienced in global trade, combined with an exponential growth in remote and home-based working, it's…

More and more airtime is being spent on discussing co-working these days.  I'm pretty confident that all of this talk will ultimately translate into action in the North East of England, and the rest of the UK, where I've been extolling the virtues of co-working for the past couple of years;…

It was great to see the success and plans for expansion of Colleagues on Tap reported in Saturday's Financial Times.  See the full article below.  

Space of the Week this week is hosted by MPH Conference, a training and conference centre which is located only a couple of minutes from Heworth metro, just off the Felling By-Pass.   The spaces here are many and varied, and our featured space is a full equipped IT suite complete with Dell laptops…

Let's face it, with so much space sitting empty across the UK, from office premises to high street retail units, it's time for a re-think. Demand for commercial space is probably just as high as ever, but rental fees are a real put-off so businesses are adapting through setting up at home and…

Networking, where to network, how to network, and even whether to network, is a regular topic of discussion amongst small and home-based business, and it's often a hot topic at Colleagues on Tap co-working days. This is good news, as it's generally agreed that networks, in some form, are the…

When Gateshead businesswoman Jayne Graham came up with the idea of setting up a pop-up office for home-workers as a one-off event to promote her new online venue directory business www.spaceontap.com, little did she know that it would lead to yet another great new business opportunity which would be…

Colleagues on Tap co-working days attract a really varied selection of business people from across the North East.  From accountants, virtual PAs and marketing specialists through to photographers, writers and designers. Rachel Cochrane is Founder of listenupnorth.com, which is a spoken-word entertainment…

As reported in the Journal newspaper Space on Tap founder Jayne Graham is teaming up with other female entrepreneurs and networkers to mark 'Take A Businesswoman to Lunch Day' on Friday.   An informal lunch and networking opportunity will take place at the Baltic’s Six Restaurant,…

Did you know that there are well over 3.5 million home-based businesses across the UK?   Homeworkers are often home-based on a long-term basis, with no intention of ever moving out.  They run their businesses alongside balancing their work and life, without the hassle and cost of formal business…

St Cuthberts Hospice provides free care and support to people with life-limiting illnesses and their families in North Durham, and as part of its fundraising efforts is keen for local businesses to discover the purpose-built training centre within their grounds just a few minutes from Durham City.  …

Newcastle Business woman Vicki Stone knew she wanted a venue that little bit different for the launch of her new women’s business network, so when North East space finders Space on Tap suggested a city-based Bowling Pavilion could be the perfect place, she was intrigued to find out more. …

Space on Tap has asked the homeworkers we've co-worked with at Colleagues on Tap co-working days over the past year or so to tell us what feature or features would encourage them to use a co-working space if one was introduced near to them. The answer is clear:  People.   A close second…

Jayne Graham, Founder and Director of Space on Tap, explains why co-working is good for business.

Three self-employed homeworkers who've co-worked several times at Colleagues on Tap co-working days have created short video blogs to give their perspective on Colleagues on Tap, co-working, and why it works for them.   Angela Dawson, Dawson VA Services Dona Skaife, WBS Accountants   Jeremy…

Space on Tap is delighted to be working with Inex, a company located on Newcastle University's city centre campus, literally a stone's throw from Haymarket metro station and all major transport routes into the City. Inex has top quality space for occasional hire and longer term rental (with…

Co-working is nothing new.  It's been happening for centuries;  people working alongside each other, as colleagues, giving each other encouragement, support and ideas.   Co-working has now adopted a new meaning for people who usually work alone or run their business from home. Through…

  We were excited to be invited recently to speak about Space on Tap's social media successes during an event being run by Service Network, a North East network that aims to provide a stimulating environment for businesses in the region's service sector to learn, grow and prosper.…

It's often assumed that businesses are only home-based because they have no other choice.  We're keen to find out if that's really the case.  VOTE HERE NOW!

  Happy@Homeworking, Guest-blogger Jane Anderson of Radio Wellbeing   Jane Anderson, Radio Wellbeing Thank you to Jane Anderson of Radio Wellbeing for providing our first guest blog.  Jane is a consultant and writer in environmental wellness; she helps organisations to create…

A recent survey commissioned by Virgin Business Media to celebrate the 10th anniversary of sitcom 'The Office' found that, within 10 years, the office as we know it could be history.   The study explored the impact of technology on the lives of 1,000 UK workers over the past 10 years, and…

"The growth of social media and the power of e-mail mean that many can work from home, wherever that happens to be" explains Carol Lewis in a Small Business Insights article in The Times, 30 June 2011. The article provides an insight into a handful of home-based businesses, including North…

Coworking Communities Author: Alexander Rood Coworking is redefining the way we do work. With a pretty simple premise that independent professionals and those with workplace flexibility, work better together than they do alone. People love working for themselves and running their own businesses,…

  Cutting the tape on a new place for co-working and collaboration   Potential co-workers find out about what the Hub has to offer Newcastle Business Village launched their brand new initiative, the 'Newcastle Business Hub' last week, supported by the Mayor of North Tyneside, Linda…

The Culture of Success Awards were created by Service Network to shout about the expertise, talent and passion in the North East region.  The judging criteria, unlike many other awards, aren't just about success in monetary terms - they evaluate the company's people and customer service,…

We're collecting lots of information here at Space on Tap about what's hot in the space market at the moment and, as importantly, what's not! Over the coming months we'll be sharing with you what our registered users and people who are searching for space at www.spaceontap.com are telling…

"In north-east England Space on Tap is filling a void that its founder believes nicely complements the Workhub model. The online service started out as a sideline to Jayne Graham’s home-based business consultancy and is increasingly taking up more of her working week. The inspiration…

Pop-up offices are giving home-based freelancers and micro businesses a low key way to network, share skills and enjoy a spot of camaraderie, reports WorkHubs UK.  A new style of pop-up office is making its mark in the north-east, where Space on Tap is bringing together groups of 12 home-based…

At the recent Co-working Europe Conference Jacob Sayles, who runs Office Nomads in Seattle, talks about what co-working is, and what makes a great co-working space. CLICK HERE TO VIEW FULL INTERVIEW (You Tube) 

"What five years ago started unpredictably as a cross-over between a business center, a shared office and a cafe has become its own entity with a unique identity", say http://www.deskmag.com/.  "Coworking spaces can today be found in all cities where one can – or must…

From portacabins to caravans, we’re pretty familiar with the whole concept of shipping in a temporary structure on an ‘as and when’ basis. What has now emerged from today's portable society, however, is the 'POP-UP' culture; the concept of finding a structure that already…

According to a recent survey by Orange, 88% of the company's small and medium business customers have the option to work from home or from a flexible workspace. www.hrmagazine.co.uk reports that "a survey of 1,817 Orange small and medium business customers has revealed 88% of businesses now…

Enterprise Nation helps home businesses to take advantage of Google's Local Listings.  When it comes down to it, working from home is a double-edged sword. You have the perks of having a commute time of 0 minutes, and you can wear sweatpants, if you feel like it. But at the same time you…

Co-working, the getting together of people who normally work alone, or from home, to work as colleagues for the day, has arrived in the North East region thanks to Space on Tap.  'Colleagues on Tap' was launched at Newcastle Business Village on 16th June, when colleagues for the day took…

More and more people are starting businesses in their spare time, according to Emma Jones, author of the new book ‘Working 5 to 9: How to start a successful business in your spare time’. That’s certainly the experience of Space on Tap Managing Director Jayne Graham who came up with…

Alison Freer of Thinkfreer was the lucky winner of a free copy of 'I Wish I Worked There!, by Kursty Groves in Space on Tap's 'Inspiring workspace' competition last month.  Here Alison reviews the book and talks about the elements she thinks are important in making workspace more…