THE Mayor of Maldon had a busy day yesterday (Friday, 9 July) welcoming a new owner at one business and the opening of a new trade counter at another.

Mayor, Councillor David Ogg, is a well-known character in the town with his vintage car Audrey - which shortly after midday pulled up at TDR Computers in the High Street.

There he gave an official welcome to new owner of TDR Steve Atkins, who has recently taken on the shop complete with all stock and existing staff and plans to transform the business.

Steve, who took over at TDR on 1 May, told Mayor Ogg that he had taken on the business - which had struggled in the pandemic - as it has been going for 20 years and has a great reputation.

He added: "It matches what I've been doing myself in the industry for 20 years and now I'm here in the community.

"Everything is a risk when you take a business on, but TDR has a good client base and now we will grow the services available for home users. People can buy through the website and we'll be updating it with more services later this year."

Mayor Ogg said: "I'm really pleased to see Steve take this on. I know him and I know how well he can run a business."

At his next stop, Mayor Ogg went along to the opening of the brand new trade counter at Tec Supplies at Wycke Hill Business Park.

There he mat with manager Luke Scrivener, who had put on a trade event top coincide with the new counter opening.

Luke said: "We have had 19 different trade suppliers here today to show customers the extent of what we offer, covering all plumbing, tiling and electrical needs for the home.

"Boilers, cylinders, air source (which is going to be massive now for new builds and refurbs due to government carbon neutral targets) lighting, electric gate controls, silicon, plastic pipe, hand tools, power tools.

"And something we are very passionate about is tiling – we covered how to properly cover and lay tiles, and then on the next stand we had all trims to really make a difference to any job. We are a family owned, proudly independent merchant, who love what we do!"

After posing for photographs with the Tec Supplies team outside - and paying the new counter a visit himself, Mayor Ogg spoke of his pleasure at seeing such new business development in Maldon as it recovers from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He added: "I'm here to promote new businesses and business expansion in this town. We can't have enough people doing things for business in Maldon and helping to get this town rolling."