Yorkshire Agricultural Society Secures future with £1.5million funding from Barclays

The Yorkshire Agricultural Society (YAS) today announced it has received support from Barclays through the Government backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme (CBILS) in order to maintain the ability to trade through the COVID-19 crisis.

Established in 1837 to help improve and promote agriculture in the Yorkshire region, YAS is a registered charity and is best known for delivering the Great Yorkshire Show along with many other key events throughout the year. Located in Harrogate, the Society supports farming and the rural community year-round, including knowledge transfer and educating future generations of the important role farming plays in both food production and managing the environment.

Nigel Pulling, chief executive of YAS said: “When your business is faced with so much financial uncertainty and income has reduced hugely, you need to take immediate action to improve your cash flow. The CIBLS loan has given us confidence that not only can we survive the current financial uncertainty but that we will be in as good shape as possible to resume our activities as soon as we are able”.

The £1.5million CBIL funding from Barclays means the Society doesn’t need to make drastic cuts to their operations and they can be ready to resume business as soon as restrictions are lifted.

Tim Watson, Barclays relationship director Agri-Food and Landed Estates put together the funding package for the deal and said; “We have a very close relationship with YAS and we keep in touch with Nigel and the Society regularly so we have a deep understanding of their business. We contacted Nigel knowing that the pandemic would have a devastating impact on their income stream and this new funding will help them through these extraordinary times.”