BBC's local business coverage sits at the junction of commerce and community — the story of a high street, a supply chain, a workforce, a town's identity.

This guide gives you the editorial logic, the angles, and the outreach protocol to land coverage with BBC Local Businesses reporters without wasting a newsroom's time.

BBC local business output is public-service journalism first: it explains why a business story matters to ordinary people in a defined geography.

That means closures, expansions, hiring freezes, wage pressures, and regeneration schemes all qualify — but only when tied to visible local consequence.

• Core triggers: job losses or creation, high-street decline or revival, supply-chain shocks, regional investment, skills shortages.
• Core framing: "What does this mean for people in [town/region]?"
• Core evidence: named businesses, verifiable numbers, and a human voice willing to be quoted on record.

There are 13+ active journalists across this beat, dispersed between national business desks and regional newsrooms — so targeting is everything.

Your BBC Local Businesses reporters list should be segmented by geography first, topic second. A London transport-adjacent story and a Scottish manufacturing story are different pitches to different people.

Representative writers in our directory — Insaf Abbas, Mouna Ba, Angie Brown, Mark Bulstrode — illustrate the spread: national business briefs, regional economy, and breaking local trade stories all sit inside one nominal beat.

Build the list around published output — read the last ten bylines and mirror their structure.

BBC Local Businesses journalists respond to stories with a clear protagonist, a clear stake, and a clear "so what" for a local audience.

The strongest angles are comparative: this town versus the national average, this sector versus last year, this policy versus what businesses actually report.

• Jobs math: X roles lost or created, with payroll or ONS-style data to back it.
• Cost pressure: rent, energy, or wage figures benchmarked against regional norms.
• Consumer visibility: price changes shoppers will actually notice.
• Policy friction: regulation or rates reform hitting real operators unevenly.
• Human proof: one owner, one worker, one customer — quotable and identifiable.

Avoid aggregated sentiment surveys unless you can name who was surveyed and where.

Treat BBC Local Businesses journalists contacts as a working relationship, not a distribution list.

The first touch should be a two-line pitch: the news peg, the local consequence, and the asset you can deliver (data, case study, site access). Attach nothing on first contact.

• Pitch by email, subject line = story, not brand.
• Offer exclusivity or first-look where credible — BBC desks value it.
• Never pitch the same angle simultaneously to multiple regional desks.
• Have the case study pre-briefed and available within 24 hours.
• Follow up once, after 48 hours, with something new — not a nudge.

If a reporter declines, ask what they are working on. That question produces more coverage than any follow-up email.

Run this before every send. If you can't clear all six, the pitch isn't ready.

• ☐ Named local businesses or workers confirmed and briefed
• ☐ Hard numbers, sourced and dated
• ☐ Clear geography stated in the first line
• ☐ Consequence framed for residents, not shareholders
• ☐ Reporter's recent bylines reviewed for fit
• ☐ Case study and visuals available on request

Keep the pitch under 150 words. Attach data only if asked, and be ready to turn around an interview the same day.

The teams covering this beat are small relative to demand — precision and speed are your competitive advantage.