The Cycle Tour of Britain is coming through Norwich on Thursday. There is a prize for the best dressed frontage along the route and Norfolk County Council have given out free bunting to those businesses taking part.

We're always looking for ways to help our clients so, as soon as we heard about this at a meeting with Norfolk County Council we contacted all our clients who have frontages along the cycle route - it's a great publicity opportunity with all the press cameras which will be there that day.

It's the week for cycling in Norwich - not only do we have the Tour Of Britain visiting, we also had a visit from Steve Hall.

"Who is Steve Hall?" you may ask.

Well, Steve is cycling to all 92 football grounds in the UK to raise awareness of the plight of the 45 million refugees in the world.

Steve has been reliant in many cases on local people offering him accomodation on his tour around the UK.

Imagine going to a different place each day after a gruelling cycle ride, not knowing the people you're due to meet or where you're staying that night.

Steve has tapped into national business networks such as the BNI and thebestof, who have arranged contacts and accomodation along the way.

After some crossed wires between the two organisations, Steve stayed at the Maids Head Hotel, commenting:

"It was quite clearly one of the very best hotels I have stayed at this year. Out of 50+ that is quite a feat! The reception I received made me feel like a prodigal son returning home (rather than a first time visitor!), the room was superb and, all in all my stay was simply 10 out of 10."

After a very early start to attend the BNI, Steve came to Carrow Road football ground with us for a photoshoot by our bestofnorwich board with Norwich photographers Ignis Photography.

From the football ground we strolled to Costa Coffee at the Nelson Premier Inn, where we were met by for a photoshoot by, guess what......

A plastic yellow duck - you've seen the adverts?

Steve enjoyed his time relaxing in Costa Coffee and having a chat with the manager.

Steve said of Costa:

"What sets it out are the staff. They seem to love what they are doing and realise that the customer is king. I spent a very pleasant hour or so here and would happily have spent longer. An obvious "Best Of"..."

At thebestof, we aim to feature independent businesses, so it is unusual to feature a national business, but this Norwich venue is different. The managers come to networking events, so you get to know them as people, and the Nelson is different in that it has fantastic cubby holes where we can meet clients. With free meeting rooms, free parking, and being just across the road from the station, we spend more time in meetings here than we do in our office - much more relaxed and comfortable.