September has been a busy and, on the whole, a very positive month in Bury St Edmunds town centre. The vacancy rate for town centre business premises is the lowest I have ever known it at 6% and I anticipate it will fall further still next month as we see a number of others opening. Hopsters have opened their doors in Short Brackland this week and it’s likely there will be tenants in the two former Post Office units soon as well as in units close to Parkway Cinema. We have a couple of businesses relocating to new premises in the town including Alema Coffee and before too long Adnams as well. The other half of the former Starlings shop on Cornhill is now under offer and Burnt Mill Brewery hopes to open in St Johns Street. It’s good to see so much investment here.
Last year we were delighted when Bury St Edmunds was crowned the most Dog Friendly Town or City in the annual Dog Friendly Awards, which are decided by a public vote. We really want to retain the title and voting is open until October 12 with the winners being announced in November. Just visit the dogfriendly website and vote for Bury St Edmunds, it takes less than a minute to do so!
As well as the town centre itself, a number of our dog-friendly BID members are nominated in their own sector categories including: The Masons’ Arms, The Angel, Waterstones, Queens Bar and Grill and Midgar.
We’re approaching the fifth anniversary of the Our Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Gift Card. This has been a great success for businesses and customers alike. More than 70 businesses in our town centre accept it, and purchasing a card locks spending into our businesses. If you run a business – even if you are out of town and thus not eligible to accept the card – and like to reward staff or clients at Christmas, the Our Bury St Edmunds Gift Card is a great way to do so. Please contact me in the BID office if you’d like to know more about this opportunity – or indeed if you are a BID member and would like to accept it – www.ourburystedmunds.com.
Our VJ Day 80th anniversary commemorative trail was a great success over the summer holidays and we were delighted that so many people engaged with town centre businesses to take part. The winners also received Our Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Gift Cards and we hope they enjoy spending them.
If your business is a BID member you can find out more about our work at our AGM which takes place on the evening of Tuesday 7 October – parking of course is free in much of the town centre after 3pm on a Tuesday. We are grateful once again to The Guildhall for hosting this event.