Businesses – The Brentwood Buzz

S4Ep31 Move To Brentwood!

Clearly, those of us who live in Brentwood know what a great place it is – The Brentwood Buzz was created to reflect some of the great places and people we have here.

But for those wanting to move here, finding a property in the right price range and in the right place can be tricky. That’s where estate agents come into their own, and one of the newest faces in town is personal estate agent Josh Vaux-Blake from The Agency UK.

Josh was one of the sponsors of Brentwood Pride and we met up with him there for a chat about buying in Brentwood.

https://theagencyuk.com/our-agents/joshua-vaux-blake

2026 S4Ep28 Marines and Martial Arts

This week’s episode of The Brentwood Buzz celebrates what it is to be young, ambitious and ready to – as they say in recruitment – demonstrate transferable skills.

Jon Hegan lives in Brentwood and now runs the Jon Hegan Academy in Upminster, teaching Krav Maga, self defence and martial arts.

But before this he was a cadet in Cranham, joined the Marines, left to set up his martial arts business and spend fifteen years working in secure units for young offenders.

It’s been a fascinating and varied career, and Jon is this week’s guest on The Brentwood Buzz.

⁠https://www.kravmagacombat.com⁠

Self-Defence Classes near Brentwood

Brentwood Business Awards 2026

The Brentwood Buzz was fortunate enough to be a finalist in the 2025 Brentwood Business Awards, and a fabulous night was had amidst the glitz and glamour of an awards evening.

The 2026 finalists have now been announced, and The Brentwood Buzz is very happy to see some previous podcast guests featuring in the awards line up.

Andy Dennis from Meridian Kung Fu is up for the Sole Trader and Community Engagement Awards, while Preen Chakadona from Black and Being Essex is a fellow Community Engagement Award finalist.

The pink cafe, Chantilly, on Crown Street is in the running for the Hospitality Award, while McDonalds and The Lounge, Ingatestone are up for the High Street Impact Award.

If some of these names are familiar to you, or you’ve never heard of them and want to find out more, The Brentwood Buzz has grouped their podcast episodes together so you can have a listen!

S4Ep26 The Lemon Curd Lady of Pilgrims Hatch

Running your own business is no easy task, as we’ve heard many times on The Brentwood Buzz when interviewing some of our local independent businesses.

The Lemon Curd Lady – aka Sandra Harnor – sells her curds and marmalades at local farmers markets, fetes and fairs, having set up the business as part of an unexpected retirement plan.

Brentwood’s celebratory podcast, The Brentwood Buzz has been to meet The Lemon Curd Lady to find out what brought her to Brentwood and, most importantly, to have a look through the goods in her fridge!

https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Lemon-Curd-Lady-61583838793590

Independents Day – Listen to some of Brentwood’s Independent Traders

The weekend of 4th July 2026 is Independence Day for the USA, but here in Brentwood it’s Independents’ Day, when our local independent shops and businesses encourage us to find them and use them!

The Brentwood Buzz has featured many of these independent businesses on the podcast in the last four years – have a listen to some of them by clicking on the Spotify links below.

S4Ep23 In The Cigar Lounge at Shenfield Wine Company with Nish Patel

The latest The Brentwood Buzz is another in our series of podcasts celebrating businesses which are part of Brentwood Connected, the innovative three-High-Street Business Improvement District for Brentwood, Shenfield and Ingatestone.

Nish Patel owns the Shenfield Wine Company, which is the go-to place in Shenfield to pick up a decent bottle of wine, a good whisky and a fine cigar.

The Brentwood Buzz joined him in his Cigar Lounge to talk screw tops, business and Cuban cigars.

https://shenfieldwine.co.uk/

https://www.brentwoodconnected.co.uk

S4Ep18 The Bear in The Room with Artist Jill Busby

Graphic designer and Brentwood mum, Jill Busby, of Hive Art Studios is bringing her artistic skills to the King George’s Playing Fields Pavilion on 14th May with a “Sip and Paint” evening.

Wineglasses are some of the smaller items Jill paints, as The Brentwood Buzz discovered when visiting Jill’s studio.

http://www.hiveartstudio.co.uk

S4Ep17 Alastair Clark – On The Record at Hey Joe Music

Brentwood’s independent record shop, Hey Joe Music, hosted the Essex leg of comedian Alastair Clark’s national tour in which he brings comedy to record shops.

Alastair worked in a record shop for ten years before giving up the glitz, glamour and admin duties of trading vinyl for the glitz, glamour and admin duties of life as a stand-up comedian.

The Brentwood Buzz caught up with him at the end of his gig in Hey Joe’s to talk about the tour, his forthcoming Edinburgh show, and collecting comedy records.

https://www.instagram.com/alastairclarkcomedy/

8th May – Rough Trade, Nottingham, 13th May – The Record Cafe, Bradford, 16th May – Vinyl Tap, Huddersfield, 22nd May – Rough Trade, Bristol, 30th May – The Vinyl Whistle, Leeds, 31st July – DayGlo Studios, St Leonards, 8-30th August – Slow Progress Record and Coffee, Edinburgh, 26th Sept – Rough Trade, Liverpool

S4Ep14 From Feet To Fiction

The Chicken and Frog Bookshop on Crown Street, run by Natasha Radford, is a good friend to The Brentwood Buzz – there’s always something interesting going on and there’s a quiet space for podcasts to be recorded too.

But Chicken and Frog is not just a bookshop; it’s a safe space which encourages writers, illustrators and content creators to come together to talk about their work and share their experiences.

One of those writers is Amanda Claire from Doddinghurst, a foot health practitioner, mum, bad allotmenteer and self-published author of stories for children. Amanda is joining Natasha and others to talk about writing, publishing and illustrating books on 23rd April, so The Brentwood Buzz has been to meet her to find out why her writing takes precedence over weeding.

Sir Douglas Mole and Allot of Antics is available from the Chicken and Frog Bookshop on Crown Street in Brentwood.

If you would like to take part in any of the events taking place at the Chicken and Frog, you can see what’s going on and book tickets here: https://chickenandfrog.com/events/

S4Ep12 The Lounge, Ingatestone – How to Succeed in Business On A Whim

In another of The Brentwood Buzz’s series of podcasts featuring businesses within the Brentwood Connected Business Improvement District, we’re back in Ingatestone to meet Julie Bell, one of the family directors of The Lounge in Ingatestone.

The Lounge has been offering tea, coffee, cake and wine to the good people of Ingatestone since 2023. It’s also a safe space for anyone dealing with domestic abuse, trauma or illness. Business is booming but it’s not been a smooth ride for Julie, as this week’s podcast tells.

https://theloungeingatestone.co.uk/

https://www.brentwoodconnected.co.uk/