Wow. It has been a year since we launched The Accessible Guide! It has been a roller coaster of a ride, by this we mean it has been busy and exciting.

Starting a company, especially one that showcases accessible businesses, is far from an easy. The first couple of years was spent researching what was available and discussing our plans with stakeholders. It certainly gave us an insight to the barriers to inclusion that disabled people face on a regular basis. It also gave us confidence that we could develop a product that could really support disabled people to access goods and services.

Our journey started gathering pace in 2019 when we were awarded funding from The National Lottery Community Fund that enabled us outsource the development of our platform to Cyberfrog Design. It was clear from the first meeting with Cyberfrog that they completely understood what we were trying to do and their support has been instrumental.

The development and launch of The Accessible Guide was delayed by the pandemic, with the lockdown restrictions, it was impossible to gather the information and photographs we required to create a listing.

Since we launched our platform, the feedback has been exceptional and we have developed friendships and working relationships with some influential people and businesses from across the Liverpool City Region.

We have had three interns from Liverpool John Moores University, who have all played major roles in the development and marketing of The Accessible Guide and during the summer of 2021 we joined the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. It was always our intention to join the Chamber of Commerce and it has been thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Our vision is to create more important relationships with businesses and individuals that will help us further develop The Accessible Guide. We have some exciting initiatives that we are working on, that will see us provide more content and include other business sectors on our platform, of which we hope to roll out before the end of the year.

Thank you for the continued support, we hope the next 12 months will be even more exciting!

Phil Peel, founder & Managing Director