Bury Free Press BID Column July 2025
We’re just a month away from the Our Bury St Edmunds Food & Drink Festival – a great showcase event for Suffolk’s foodie capital. Once again a number of BID member businesses will be fully involved across the August Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday. Some will be taking to the stage in the cookery theatre while others will be part of the event with a stall or staying open over the two days to welcome visitors. And we also have our special guest celebrity chef, the award-winning Ching-He Huang MBE who’ll be cooking with us on the Monday.
Now that the school holidays are underway we have also launched our second history-themed trail. There are prizes of Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Gift Cards to be won for those who correctly find all the items that will be hidden in various businesses across the town centre. This time commemorating the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, it follows on from our VE Day anniversary trail. Our thanks to all the BID businesses who have chosen to participate. Entry forms can be found on the Our Bury St Edmunds website or at any participating business as well as the visitor information points in the town centre.
You may have seen in the Bury Free Press or elsewhere that we have launched an initiative aimed at helping businesses with customer service skills training. Our aim is to make Bury a centre of excellence for customer service. Over the last few years Our Bury St Edmunds has sponsored the customer service award at the Bury Free Press West Suffolk Business Awards and I know first-hand from the entries that they receive that standards are generally very high. Now we’re looking to make it something the town becomes as well known for as its range of independent shops, quality of food and drink establishments and stunning floral displays. And talking of those awards they are open now for nominations in 13 categories so do take a look at whether your business could be a contender for one.
It’s not an official award but many media outlets have called Greggs on Abbeygate Street Britain’s ‘prettiest’ Greggs or even ‘poshest’ and it is looking fabulous again now that the scaffolding has come down after two years. A little further along the road it is good to see PrimaVista open now too. Sugartown Toys will open in The Traverse this weekend and we welcome these new businesses to our town.
Finally, throughout August a special promenade performance from Theatre Royal takes place in the town centre. ‘Steve & Steff For Ever’ will see the audience follow the characters to key locations as they walk around town. It’s the first time the town has seen a walking performance like this and I’ve already glimpsed BID member Blend on Abbeygate Street in the online trailer and am looking forward to the full production.
