Author: Sue Warren

Work starts next week on a beautiful new mural in the town centre, inspired by the town’s floral heritage.

The mural will be completed on Friday 24 April and is a joint project supported by Bury in Bloom, The Subversiv Collective and Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District (BID).

Street artist Nathan Murdoch, of Peterborough, who was recently featured on BBC Look East, working as a contracted artist under the Subversiv Collective, will create the mural on a wall in Market Thoroughfare, which connects the Cornhill with The arc Shopping Centre. The passageway was widened as part of West Suffolk Council’s project to create two retail units at the former Post Office site.

The project has been funded using money allocated to West Suffolk Council by Central Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

Mark Cordell, CEO of Our Bury St Edmunds BID, said: “Street art can be a powerful way to tell the story of a place, and it’s something our town centre has been missing. When Market Thoroughfare reopened and I saw the long blank wall opposite the new shops and apartments, it immediately struck me as a canvas waiting for a fantastic piece of art. I’m delighted that, working with The Subversiv Collective and Nathan, we’ve been able to bring that vision to life.

“We’re very grateful for the financial support from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and West Suffolk Council, which has helped make this project possible. I hope the mural becomes another reason for people to visit and enjoy our town centre — and that it’s just the first of many more artworks to come.”

Bury in Bloom enters into Anglia in Bloom annually, and achieved a Gold Award from Britain in Bloom in 2025

Chris Wiley, Coordinator of Bury in Bloom, said: “As we look to further enhance the town, we are incredibly excited to see the floral element of Bury St Edmunds recognised in a large-scale floral mural, connecting two key parts of the town. Included in the design are plants associated with Bury St Edmunds; Oxlip (flower of Suffolk) and St Edmund’s Rose, alongside the words ‘A Jewel in The Crown of Suffolk’. Anything to celebrate the town’s successes should, in my opinion, be showcased like this for residents and tourists alike.”

Ian Dance, the driving force behind The Subversiv Collective, an international community of collaborative street artists united by a shared belief in the transformative power of public art, said:  “We were genuinely delighted to be invited to contribute to such a historic and culturally rich town.

“Partnering with Our Bury St Edmunds BID and Bury in Bloom felt like a natural fit, as both organisations share our passion for creating beautiful, welcoming public spaces that bring communities together.”

The Subversiv Collective is committed to making street art more accessible, supporting artists in developing sustainable careers and championing freedom of expression as a vital cultural force. Ian believes art should extend far beyond gallery walls and into the public spaces where people live, work and connect — transforming streets, buildings and everyday urban landscapes into powerful expressions of identity and place.

Cllr Cliff Waterman, Leader of West Suffolk Council, said: “Bury St Edmunds is such a great place to live and work. It’s a town of culture, history and heritage, and of beauty. This mural celebrates all of these things. It also celebrates the collaborative community effort behind Bury In Bloom. It celebrates our Western Suffolk identity and of course the central role of St Edmund. As well as doing all this, in a practical way it builds on our own work to widen Market Thoroughfare and encourage footfall between Cornhill and the arc. I am delighted to support this fantastic project.”

The start of the year is always a good time to look at the ‘health of the high street’ and see how Bury St Edmunds town centre is faring against the bigger economic picture. While the weather may be grey and gloomy, I’m pleased to report that Bury St Edmunds has a brighter outlook than most UK market towns.

It’s always good to see new businesses opening up – whether that’s new to the town or relocating within the town. Recently Taco Bell, Adnams, Trespass and Play Café have all opened and in the pipeline we have dental practices, a brewery bar and a coffee shop. I understand that some of our larger vacant units may soon be in new ownership so I’m hopeful this will lead to new tenants in due course too. The number of empty units continues to fall and currently stands at 5.2% – the national average is just over 13%.

Footfall has remained steady too – we saw a negligible change in 2025 to the previous year, down just 0.2% – again comparing very favourably to other town centres nationally and in the East of England. It does appear that people looking to shop and socialise like to visit Bury St Edmunds and on behalf of all our businesses I’d like to thank everyone who supports our town centre in what we know are still challenging times for businesses and households alike.

Something that really does help our town centre is the Bury St Edmunds Gift Card. It’s an initiative that we introduced just over five years ago to encourage people to ‘Shop Local’ after the pandemic and it’s gone from strength to strength. It can now be spent in 85 BID member businesses in the town centre and since its launch, cards to the value of well over £200k have been purchased – money that has been locked into our local economy.

Among the places accepting our gift card are restaurants, cafes and pubs – hardly surprising given that Bury St Edmunds is Suffolk’s foodie capital. A great success of 2025 was the Food and Drink Tours that we launched in partnership with the town’s Tour Guides. This two and a half hour food and drink excursion works with 15 town centre businesses to offer a six-stop walking tour with tasters at each one and the chance to learn more about the stories behind their buildings and the history of the town – which, while famous over the years for brewing, was also known for Abbots’ feasts and much more in years gone by.

Of course this is a time for looking forward too. Here at Our Bury St Edmunds BID we are planning our programme of events for 2026 to encourage more people to visit the town centre. We’ll be announcing details of some of these very soon.

Tourism in Bury St Edmunds has seen another bumper year as the historic town grew the value of tourism to the local economy by £4.6million in two years, latest figures have revealed.

The latest 2024 tourism figures from independent research, carried out by Destination Research and commissioned annually by West Suffolk Council, show the value of the town’s tourism economy rose in 2024 to a new record-breaking high of £55.9million.

The number of staying trips, staying nights, total staying spend, total day trip spend, total trip spend are all up on 2022 figures – meeting Our Bury St Edmunds BID’s key aims to drive more visitors, overnight stays and greater visitor spend through marketing via its Bury St Edmunds and Beyond tourism brand.

Key highlights:
• The number of staying trips has risen from 63,000 to 71,000
• Staying nights have risen from 226,000 to 286,000
• Total staying spend is now £15.3 million, a rise from £12.9 million in 2022
• Total day trip spend has risen from £25.4 million to £26.1 million
• Total trip spend has risen from £39.5 million to £42.9 million

The value of tourism to the local economy has risen by £8.7million since the Bury St Edmunds and Beyond brand launched in 2017.

Our Bury St Edmunds BID recently won the Best Heritage Destination Guide 2025 for its Bury St Edmunds and Beyond tourism brand in the Best Getaways Awards. The awards recognise excellence across all areas of tourism – from boutique hotels and glamping sites to local tour operators, cultural gems, and destination marketing teams.

Mark Cordell, CEO of Our Bury St Edmunds BID, said: “We are delighted with the report published today which shows that the value of tourism in Bury St Edmunds to the local economy has grown from £51.3million to £55.9million in just two years and by £8.7million since we launched the tourism brand in 2017.

“The statistics show that stays are up and visitor spending is rising — fantastic news for our tourism businesses and the town centre. But we’re not slowing down; we’re building on this momentum with a digital marketing campaign running until the end of March to raise awareness of Bury St Edmunds as the foodie capital of Suffolk, a Christmas stays campaign launching in November, and a cycling breaks campaign debuting in spring.”

Bury St Edmunds and Beyond, founded in 2017, is the official tourism brand for Bury St Edmunds and the surrounding area and part of Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District.

It promotes the town through marketing campaigns, fresh and engaging content, social media, PR and works closely with other nearby destinations to drive visitors to its website to showcase all that Bury St Edmunds and surrounding area has to offer. The marketing activity is funded by BID members, Bury St Edmunds Town Council, Gough Hotels and St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

The countdown to Christmas has well and truly begun following the Our Bury St Edmunds Christmas Lights Event this month. The magical Polar Bear and Snow Lion were huge hits and feedback from the event has been very positive. It’s lovely to see the town looking so bright after dark now and hopefully this will get everyone in the mood for Christmas shopping and festive get-togethers.

The event this year took place on St Edmund’s Day and it was good to see his flag or bunting displayed by a number of our businesses. Thanks also to the Crafty Foxes who celebrated at the event itself with a children’s workshop about St Edmund and lots wanted to have their picture taken with him and his wolf.

Meanwhile, on the same day our partners in the Dog Friendly Bury St Edmunds scheme were at an awards ceremony in London in which the UK’s most Dog Friendly Town was announced. Bury St Edmunds, which has been in the top three every year for the last three years, was the runner up. Thank you to everyone who voted for us and the recognition for our initiative is much appreciated.

The dog friendly focus continues on our new town map which has just been refreshed for the autumn and winter. They are always available at a number of places around the town including The Apex, but I know that businesses also like to stock them so do please get in touch if you’d like some for your premises.

With so much going on it’s also great to see that the three long term vacant units by Cineworld will soon all be filled and similarly the two units beside Market Thoroughfare. This clearly demonstrates how positively Bury St Edmunds is seen as a location for new businesses, which is a huge compliment considering that so many other places have rising vacancy rates.

Of course, this week we also had the Budget Statement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As ever – despite all the media speculation ahead of it – the devil is always in the detail. I’m sure many businesses will have points they want to make regarding this and – as always – I am happy to listen to them and work with them to raise these matters with our MP and ask him to forward them on to the Treasury.

Finally, it wouldn’t be Christmas without the annual Our Bury St Edmunds most festive window competition. The town centre businesses really do pull out all the stops with their windows and the standard seems to get higher every year. If you are a participating business make sure to tell all your customers and social media followers to visit the Our Bury St Edmunds website and vote before December 14. It’s by public vote only and every vote really does count.

Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in the town centre is something that the BID and our partners take very seriously. It’s not the remit of one organisation alone and in fact all of us have a responsibility to report issues and work together to keep our town as safe as possible for businesses, residents and visitors alike. This month we formally launched the ShopSafe Alert system to BID members which allows them to share information safely and efficiently in real time. It’s available free to all our member businesses and 70 have already been using it for some months as part of a trial. Please do contact the BID office if you’d like your business to join it.

As I have commented here previously, something that I feel Bury St Edmunds does very well is customer service – and any initiatives that we can take to support or improve that are always taken seriously. Once again this year the Our Bury St Edmunds BID-sponsored Customer Service category at the Bury Free Press Business Awards was hotly contested but I was delighted to present the award to The Angel Hotel. Congratulations also to the two runners-up Bellota restaurant and Hestia Clinic which also won the Small Business of the year category.

We’re now less than three weeks away from the Our Bury St Edmunds Christmas Lights Event on the afternoon and evening of Thursday November 20 – which of course is also St Edmund’s Day. Join us in the town centre from 3pm for an afternoon and evening of entertainment on the stage and around the town centre including the wonderful Snow Lion and Polar Bear characters and a chance to have a picture taken with St Edmund and his friendly wolf. Cornhill and Buttermarket will be packed with stalls for those looking to get the Christmas shopping started too.

And as our town centre shops and businesses start to decorate their windows for Christmas, we’ll also be opening voting the week after our Christmas Lights Event for the town centre’s Best Festive Window competition, so if you’re participating do remind your customers to vote.

It’s going to be a very busy few days around that time because as well as the build up to Christmas and the celebration of our town’s namesake saint, November 20 is also the day of the national Dog Friendly Awards. Last year Bury St Edmunds was named the most dog friendly town or city and we are delighted to have reached the final three again this year. Thank you if you voted in the awards to help us get there – we are all keeping our fingers and paws crossed as we await news of the winner.

Finally, earlier this month we also held the BID’s AGM. Many thanks to those businesses who came along – it was a chance to update members on our recent achievements and our plans for the coming year.

A gift card which was launched to help Bury St Edmunds town centre as the nation came out of the pandemic is celebrating its fifth anniversary and going from strength to strength. And as the festive season approaches, it’s a great choice as staff Christmas gifts are on the minds of many workers and employers alike.

Launched in November 2020 by Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District (BID), the gift card has been a popular choice for a number of companies ever since. It can be spent in 80 shops, restaurants, wellbeing and other businesses in the town centre, meaning spending is locked into the local economy. To date more than £180,000 has been spent with the Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Gift Card.

Business Support Manager at Our Bury St Edmunds BID Mike Kirkham said: “Research has shown that in recent years one of the most popular choices for businesses and corporate gifting has been a gift card, above rewards like hampers or even cash bonuses. It gives a level of choice in spending it and doesn’t have to be spent all at once. There is now also a strong demand for e-gift cards because of the widespread use of digital wallets and smart devices.

“We’ve been proud of the way the Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Gift Card has grown in the five years since its launch. Our digital option, introduced last year, presents a new opportunity to reward teams with an e-card that can be delivered on a date or time of their choosing, enabling planning and minimising the administration involved in gifting colleagues a local reward.”

The card is Mastercard-backed and is also a great choice for individuals looking for a Secret Santa gift for a colleague. To buy the card as an individual gift couldn’t be simpler. It can be ordered online either as a card that’s posted out or as an e-card and a number of shops in the town centre also stock the card where it can be picked up free of charge and loaded with the gift amount online.

For more information visit www.ourburystedmunds.com. Businesses wishing to purchase as a corporate gift should contact Mike Kirkham by email at mike.kirkham@ourburystedmunds.com or by calling 07885 990713.

Bury St Edmunds has made the finals of the Dog Friendly Awards 2025 in the Most Dog Friendly Town/City category.

Last year the town scooped first prize and was named the UK’s Most Dog Friendly Town.

The awards run by Dog Friendly Magazine, will take place at The Kennel Club HQ in London on November 20. The three finalists are Bury St Edmunds, Cockermouth, and Keswick.

The town has had its own Dog Friendly Bury St Edmunds scheme for the last five years to let visitors know where you can bring your four-legged pal. More than 150 businesses are signed up.

Wherever the #dogfriendlybse paw print logo sticker is displayed in windows, businesses will welcome dogs in a town-wide and beyond initiative from Bury St Edmunds Town Council, Camp Tails Doggy Daycare, Our Bury St Edmunds BID (Business Improvement District) and Bury St Edmunds and Beyond.

Dog Friendly businesses in the town centre are also marked with a blue paw on the Our Bury St Edmunds BID Town Map.

With dog-friendly accommodation, cafes and restaurants, plus attractions and days out that your pooch will love, the historic town and surrounding towns and villages are the ideal place to enjoy a short break or holiday with every member of the family – including the furry variety!

Jon Kay, Owner of Camp Tails Doggy Daycare, said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that Bury St Edmunds has once again been recognised as one of the most dog-friendly towns in the country — for the third year in a row! This recognition is something our whole community can be proud of, reflecting the wonderful collaboration between dog owners, local businesses, Our Bury St Edmunds BID, the local council, and Camp Tails.

“We’re excited at the prospect of winning for the second consecutive year, but being a finalist alone is already a fantastic achievement. It truly highlights Bury St Edmunds’ deep-rooted love of dogs. From shops and pubs to galleries and even our cathedral, well-behaved dogs are welcome almost everywhere here — it’s part of what makes our town so special!”

The DogFriendly Awards is an opportunity to recognise and reward dog friendly places and pet businesses that go the extra mile for the benefit of the UK’s 12.5 million dogs and their owners. Winners of the DogFriendly Awards in each of the categories are chosen by public vote.

Chief Executive of Our Bury St Edmunds BID, Mark Cordell said: “We were absolutely delighted that we won the UK’s Most Dog Friendly Town award last year and I am very pleased we are finalists this year. The town has always been an authentically dog friendly place to visit but thanks to the dog friendly scheme, started by Jon Kay at Camp Tails Doggy Daycare and Bury St Edmunds Town Council, people can see easily and clearly which venues they can take their dog into.

“It hasn’t escaped my notice that the winners are being announced on St Edmund’s Day this year, let’s hope that’s a good omen.”

The town now also has dog friendly film screenings at Abbeygate Cinema, dog friendly tours of the town, and even an annual dogs of the cathedral calendar for St Edmundsbury Cathedral.

To find out more about Dog Friendly Bury St Edmunds visit www.dogfriendlybse.co.uk

To find out more about the awards visit https://www.dogfriendly.co.uk/awards

An activity trail around Bury St Edmunds town centre that commemorated the 80th anniversary of VE Day has been hailed such a success by businesses and participants alike, that a second one marking the anniversary of VJ day will start next week. As with the earlier trail those who find all 10 themed items displayed in local businesses will be entered into a draw with a £100 gift card as the top prize.

The VJ Day 80th Year Commemorative Trail – which starts on Monday July 21 as the school summer holidays get underway will be open to all ages and involves discovering 10 different objects that have a World War II theme. Participating businesses will each display a poster and those who wish to take part in the competition will only need to find each of the 10 different items once.

The trail and competition are organised by Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District (BID). Its Chief Executive Mark Cordell said: “When we launched the VE Day 80th Anniversary Trail in the spring, so many businesses wanted to be part of it that it was one of our most successful ever. And this time around, all the opportunities to display an item were snapped up within 24 hours, so I’m delighted that our member businesses are so engaged with these activities.

“Once again, we are offering three Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Gift Cards of £100, £75 and £50 as the prizes. It’s a perfect family activity for the school holidays as it doesn’t need to be completed in one visit and you may discover shops and businesses that you’ve never visited before.”

The entry form for the trail can be downloaded from Ourburystedmunds.com and will also be available in every participating business on the trail. It can also be collected from visitor information points at The Apex, Moyse’s Hall Museum and the Cathedral shop. The competition runs until September 7.

Full details including terms and conditions and how to enter the prize draw can be found on our VJ Day Trail Page.

Bury St Edmunds Tour Guides have teamed up with businesses in the town centre to launch a new Food & Drink Tour in Suffolk’s Foodie Capital.

The Tour Guides have worked with Our Bury St Edmunds BID and BID member businesses on the new tour which launches on Thursday 26 June and will run on selected Thursday afternoons during the summer from 2pm to 4.30pm.

Tour participants will enjoy a two and a half-hour food and drink themed tour of the town stopping off at six local businesses to try bite-sized samples of food and drink, hearing about the business and the local history of the building and location.

The tours seek to combine the reputation of Bury St Edmunds as the Foodie Capital of Suffolk, the popularity of the town’s guided tours and the quality of local produce and specialities available in the town.

The tour takes you through the heart of Bury St Edmunds, offering visitors a taste of the town and a chance to discover Bury’s food and drink history including Cook’s Row, the Abbot’s feasts, and how a maltster almost destroyed the town.

Along the way, guests will enjoy bite sized samples of delicious food and drink and meet the people behind the town’s independent businesses.

Mark Cordell, CEO of Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District, said: “I am very proud of the reputation Bury St Edmunds has as the Foodie Capital of Suffolk and we already work closely with the fabulous Tour Guides, who provide a number of informative and enjoyable tours around our historical town. So, I thought, why not combine the two?

“My wife and I have enjoyed many a foodie tour whilst visiting towns and cities abroad and felt that the concept would work well here, and I am delighted that the Tour Guides were happy to add this tour to their repertoire. I am confident that the tours will become very popular and hopefully in due course their frequency and the number of businesses taking part will increase.”

In the first instance the guides will work with six businesses in the town, and they hope to expand this to more businesses who wish to showcase their offer as the

year progresses. The first six are Procopio’s Pantry, Adnams, Nethergate Wines, Marimba, No5 Angel Hill and The Wine Cellar.

Adrian Tindall, Chairman of Bury St Edmunds Tour Guides, said: “We’re very excited to be working with Our Bury St Edmunds BID and its members to offer this first tasting tour of the town. We shall be sharing morsels of Bury’s fascinating gastronomic history, from its medieval marketplace to the fine dining of today, while stopping off to sample some of the culinary delights of Suffolk’s Foodie Capital.”

Tickets for the Bury St Edmunds Food and Drink Tour are £25. To book visit the Bury St Edmunds Tour Guides website: www.burystedmundstourguides.org