As half term comes to an end it’s been good to see people out and about in the town centre this week – many of them clearly making the most of the school holiday. Of course on Sunday and Monday we were pleased to see so many enjoying the Our Bury St Edmunds Spring Fayre and my thanks to all who made this free-admission event another success. I hope those businesses that were open – and indeed those who got involved in the event itself – benefitted from the extra numbers in town. We didn’t have a weekend of brilliant sunshine but at least it didn’t dampen people’s spirits too much.
The next bank holiday weekend will be at the end of August of course, when the Our Bury St Edmunds Food & Drink Festival returns. We’re putting some finishing touches to the line up of cooking demonstrations at the moment and will be making an announcement about a celebrity chef for the event soon – but for now, do save the date. In the meantime, the reputation of Bury St Edmunds as Suffolk’s foodie capital continues with Bellota already seeing great reviews since opening just a month ago in Churchgate Street. It’s also been good to see work progressing at what used to be Gastrono-me too and I am looking forward to its reopening as a modern Italian Trattoria.
Meanwhile it looks like there could be some progress for some of our other units that are currently empty. The former Starlings shop which was on Cornhill and The Traverse has now been divided into two units and a new toy shop is opening in the one on The Traverse side soon. It’s always good to hear that despite challenging times for some, Bury St Edmunds is an attractive town centre for new businesses.
Our major events and others such as our VE Day 80th Anniversary Commemorative Trail, which bring people into town and showcase what our businesses offer are just one part of the work of the Business Improvement District (BID). We continue to source free training courses for skills that help businesses meet their statutory requirements including first aid and fire training. And we are currently looking to build on that to offer courses that develop various customer service skills too.
I’d like to thank all the businesses who’ve participated in the VE Day 80th Anniversary Trail. The deadline to submit an entry for the competition is Sunday (June 1) and there are Our Bury St Edmunds Gift Cards totalling £150 to be won. The card is accepted by more than 70 town centre businesses including shops, restaurants and salons and so we are not surprised at the number of entry forms that we’ve been receiving since the competition launched. If your business is participating do remind your customers that this is the final weekend of the trail.
