Bury Free Press BID Column September 2023

Bury St Edmunds has a well-deserved reputation as the foodie capital of Suffolk and the hospitality sector is set to welcome more new arrivals soon. I’m delighted to see that the prominent building on Abbeygate Street that most recently housed Bills is to continue as a restaurant. The Indian Street Food chain Mowgli is moving into the building and has been actively recruiting its new team. Food from all corners of the globe can be found in Bury St Edmunds and soon to join this eclectic mix will be a new Mexican restaurant proposing to open in Risbygate Street, which will be some good news for the street after sadly losing Wilko.

This variety of food and drink offering particularly complements the annual Our Bury St Edmunds Food & Drink Festival, which took place over the August Bank Holiday. The bars and restaurants that showcased their offering on the stage were the stars of the show and thousands of people attended across the two days. The urban beach was another highlight at arc Shopping Centre and keeping it in place for a further week provided some free entertainment for youngsters in the days before their return to school. This is now a major event on the town centre calendar and brings people from far and wide who we hope then return to enjoy some of the places they’ve seen as part of the Festival.

For a couple of weeks during October Our Bury St Edmunds will once again be running a Halloween Trail in conjunction with our partners at LoyalFree which runs the app for the town centre. This will be a free and fun family experience leading up to Halloween and a perfect activity to enjoy during half term.

And then – dare I say it – people’s thoughts will start turning to Christmas. We will of course have the Our Bury St Edmunds Christmas Lights event in November and there will be numerous other activities in the weeks leading up to the festivities. The Christmas in Bury St Edmunds Experience will offer something for everyone and is provided by a number of partner organisations, of which the Business Improvement District (BID) is one. The festive fun will include a synthetic ice-rink in Charter Square and we’re delighted that arc Shopping Centre and Bury St Edmunds Town Council have partnered us at the BID to bring this fabulous free attraction to the town centre.

If your business likes to reward staff or clients at Christmas, don’t forget that the Our Bury St Edmunds Gift Card is a great way to do so and help to encourage spending in local businesses. It’s accepted in around 70 different places in the town centre. Please contact me in the BID office if you’d like to know more about this opportunity – or indeed if your business doesn’t yet accept it but would like to.

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