Month: July 2024

The ballot result to renew the Business Improvement District (BID) until 2030 was announced earlier this month and although I hope our member businesses are already aware of the outcome, I’d like to again thank everyone who took the trouble to vote. We had the highest number of businesses voting this time than in any of our previous ballots with over 78% voting yes. This means of course that it is business as usual for the next five years and Our Bury St Edmunds BID will continue to deliver support to improve the trading environment in the town centre.

Our ballot result was announced just hours after the general election count finished in Bury St Edmunds and I’d like to thank our former MP Jo Churchill for her service to the town and her support of our businesses – especially the independents. I look forward to working with our new MP Peter Prinsley for the benefit of our town centre.

Every year in July Our Bury St Edmunds BID celebrates our independent businesses on July 4 – Independents’ Day – and the few days around it. So I am naturally delighted to see that we are also welcoming some new independent businesses to the town at the moment too. The first of the commercial units in The Old Post Office will be a new café, Amici, opening before the end of the year. We’ve also welcomed a number of others including Pommodoro Italian restaurant at the bottom of Abbeygate Street overlooking Angel Hill. Phase Eight which has been on Abbeygate Street for many years has moved to larger premises as one of a number of new openings at arc Shopping Centre. Its former shop is already under offer.

The changing environment and new businesses emphasises the vibrancy of the town centre. Units become available for a number of reasons and in Bury we have seen some well known names announce their owners’ retirement recently including Sneezums, who we have worked with since the early days of the BID and know how much the shop is loved by its customers.

We are now only a month away from the Our Bury St Edmunds Food & Drink Festival over the August bank holiday weekend. This is one of our flagship events and celebrates the town as Suffolk’s foodie capital. This year we will be showcasing a number of local chefs on stage with cooking demonstrations and welcoming back Michelin-starred TV chef Galton Blackiston who has been hugely popular in our theatre kitchen at previous festivals.

Finally I, and all the team at Our Bury St Edmunds BID, would like to express our thanks and good wishes Bury Free Press Deputy Editor Graham Turner who’s recently stepped down. His support over the lifetime of the BID for many different initiatives that we have collaborated with the paper on has always been very much appreciated.

By Mark Cordell, CEO, Our Bury St Edmunds BID.

Businesses in Bury St Edmunds have given another resounding vote of confidence in the work of the town’s Business Improvement District (BID) with more businesses than any previous ballot using their vote.  Our Bury St Edmunds BID has been elected for a fourth term of five years with 146 or 78.5% of those who took part voting yes.  The rateable value of those who voted yes was 87.8% of the votes cast.  The number of those voting (186) was a significant increase on the 2019 ballot at 43% compared to 35%

Chairman of the BID’s Board of Directors David Marjoram who owns The One Bull and Damson and Wilde said: “This will only be beneficial for Bury St Edmunds and I’d like to thank the businesses in the town centre for this show of support.  The BID is run by a small team who have worked incredibly hard for the town centre – especially this term given the challenges of the pandemic – to increase footfall, run some excellent events and work with partner agencies on issues that affect all who have a business here.”

Chief Executive of Our Bury St Edmunds BID, Mark Cordell, added: “This result means we can progress plans to achieve even more for the town and our businesses by building on the last three terms and working collaboratively with other key stakeholders. Although Bury St Edmunds has been doing comparatively well against other towns with increased numbers of people coming here, we must continue to carry this momentum forward because there is no room for complacency as prosperity in the town increases.” 

Just over 400 businesses in the town centre were eligible to vote in the ballot.  Since it came into effect in 2010 the BID has provided additional services and support to businesses, beyond those supplied by public authorities.  These have included major events and marketing Bury St Edmunds and all it offers through traditional and digital campaigns.  It’s kept the town centre looking good by partnering other agencies to provide free training courses for businesses, more hanging baskets, more litter bins and a free graffiti removal service for its members.  The official tourism brand for the town, Bury St Edmunds and Beyond is now fully integrated into the BID, ensuring more visitors are aware of all the town has to offer which is resulting in more visitors to the town centre.

The BID organises some of the town’s biggest events including the Spring Fayre, the Food & Drink Festival and the Christmas Lights Event.  It has recently launched a new marketing brand for independent businesses and a marketing campaign to promote the BID Ale Trail.  Additionally, the BID previously negotiated on parking initiatives including pay on exit and free from three.

Independent businesses are displaying their pride in their work as Our Bury St Edmunds BID launches a new brand for the town’s unique shops and smaller companies. ‘Proud to be an Independent Business’ is at the heart of a new marketing campaign launched this week to coincide with ‘Independents Day’ (July 4).

It’s the 14th year that the Business Improvement District (BID) has backed ‘Independents’ Day UK’, a national campaign supporting and promoting Indies across the UK all year round. This year the annual focus on Thursday (July 4) extends across the whole weekend.

Papaki’s Deli, Buy The Light, and Beautiful Beers, are just some of the businesses taking part in this year’s Our Bury St Edmunds BID indies marketing campaign which starts on July 4 and runs until Sunday July 7.

Our Bury St Edmunds BID Business Support Manager Mike Kirkham said: “Independent businesses are what makes Bury St Edmunds such a wonderful place to live, work and shop and are the reason many residents and visitors cherish our town centre.

“In launching this new brand we’re featuring a range of marketing opportunities including a new window sticker distinctively highlighting which town centre businesses are independent so that people can make a clear choice to shop local. And as part of the campaign, a number of independent businesses have been interviewed for a video and a blog. These highlight how special indies are to our town, but also offers people a chance to get to know a little more about the business and find out about the people behind them.”

With almost 300 independent businesses in Bury St Edmunds town centre, they play a critical role in the local economy. There’s at least one indie on every street making up nearly 60% of the town’s businesses.

Mike Kirkham added: “As a BID, we do of course support the independents all year round with a number of different opportunities for their businesses. But ‘Independents’ Day’ and the few days around it is the time to remind everyone that shopping local is one of the easiest ways to help our town centre economy – whether it’s buying a takeaway coffee or lunchtime sandwich from an independent cafe instead of a big chain or popping down St John’s Street for something for your home instead of heading to an out-of-town retail park.

“When speaking to the businesses who’ve opted into our ‘Independents Day’ promotion they tell us that the independent business community is the heart of the town and the support and energy it generates influenced them to base their businesses here. The feedback about the town that we’ve been getting from these​ indies include words like ‘friendly,’ ‘approachable,’ ‘beautiful,’ and ‘supportive’ and long may that continue.”

Research has shown that for every pound spent in a small or medium sized business, around 63p stays in the local economy compared to only about 40p per pound at a big brand store. And according to the Federation of Small Businesses it’s these enterprises that provide around 60% of the employment opportunities in the UK private sector.

Details of all the independent businesses, a number of whom will have special deals and offers can be found at ourburystedmunds.com with offers also available on the LoyalFree App.