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New Town Map inspired by local artists’ painting.

Local Suffolk-based artist, Tom Crittenden, is the Bury St Edmunds Adnams store manager that took up painting during the Coronavirus lockdown. He said lockdown ‘fast-tracked’ his art and that it provides a form of escapism from modern-day ‘turbulence.’  Tom continues to paint now, selling many of his pieces online (https://www.tomcrittendenart.com/)

Our latest version of the town map (link to town map) features an image inspired by Tom’s painting, Cherry Blossom on Crown Street. The painting features the well-known cheery trees in blossom on in the town centre – showing off their beautiful colours and focusing on the tranquillity.

Love Your Town Campaign

We’re kicking off our Love Your Town Campaign –  #LoveBuryStEdmunds which commenced on Monday and will run through until Monday, 4th April. The aim is to remind visitors who live, work, and play in our fabulous town of the great choice and range of businesses we have in the sectors of shopping, food & drink, wellbeing, entertainment and professional services.

It will run as a digital campaign on our social media channels. We will invite people to share on Facebook why they love Bury St Edmunds, their special place or building, their favourite street, their favourite business, etc.

We will be using a range of social media infographics to promote engagement, some of which are attached and free for you to use, so it would be great if you used any of these on your social media platforms during the campaign.

After the campaign, we will share some of the visitor comments, and three winners will be selected to receive an Our Bury St Edmunds Gift Card.

If you have any promotions, deals, or offers you plan during this time, please send your details to pr@ourburystedmunds.com. For general queries, please contact mike.kirkham@ourburystedmunds.com

Spring Fayre – End of May Bank Holiday

You may have seen that we are revamping and rebranding what was the Whitsun Fayre this year, and the Spring Fayre will take place over the late May Bank Holiday (Sunday the 28th and Monday 29th). We will have many attractions at the event, including the return of an urban beach and some Virtual Reality games for people to participate in, as well as many other attractions.

At our events, there is the opportunity for BID members to have a 3m pitch at a discounted rate, and if you are interested, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Events Manager, Jackie Regan, at jackie.regan@ourburystedmunds.com

Our New BID Chairman

As you may be aware, our previous chair, Maria Broadbent from Casa, has relocated to the Midlands and consequently has stood down as our Chair. While identifying a suitable replacement, I am delighted that Andrew Speed, owner of St Edmundsbury Wealth Management and Larkbridge Mortgages (both BID voluntary members), has agreed to cover this role until our June AGM at the latest.

Andrew has previously held this position on two occasions, so is well acquainted with the role.

Coronation Weekend

With the above taking place in early May, you may well be planning to commemorate this with events, products or services to celebrate the Coronation of the King.

If this is the case, please let us know, and we will be very happy to spread the word to all of our social media followers to raise the profile of what you are doing. Just contact Mike Kirkham at mike.kirkham@ourburystedmunds.com, and he’ll arrange this promotional activity for you.

Accepting BitCoin as Payment in your Business

As you will know, on your behalf, I speak to many businesses and individuals who want our BID members to be aware of the various products and services they have to offer.

 If I ever consider these opportunities to be inappropriate for our businesses then I choose not to make you aware of them, so your valuable time isn’t wasted.

I want to make it clear that my personal knowledge and awareness of cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin specifically, is extremely limited and therefore this opportunity is one for you to consider based on your own personal circumstances.

As you will see in the attached, the cost to you, as a business, to accept bitcoin as a customer payment is free of charge, and the cost implication only occurs if you wish to convert bitcoin to pounds and pence and if you do the cost, I am informed, is less than you pay for a credit card transaction. The money will also be in your account almost immediately after you accept the payment through the coincorner app. 

I am mindful that this might seem very complicated. You may be concerned about the security of funds and the risk involved, but as you may have seen in last week’s Bury Free Press, Peter, at Procopio’s Pantry (BID member) accepts payments by Bitcoin, and this has attracted new customers, as a consequence of his decision to accept payment by Bitcoin.

You will also see that some other businesses in Bury, outside of the town centre, currently accept Bitcoin.

There is the phenomenon of “Crypto Tourism” where those people who do use bitcoin in their transactions are prepared to travel quite long distances to visit businesses accepting Bitcoin, and I think that is a potential for Bury to be a “Bitcoin Hotspot” if sufficient businesses are prepared to accept Bitcoin as a transaction currency.

This will provide yet another reason for people not living locally to come to Bury and then see all that we have to offer.

I have been speaking to Suffolk Bitcoin, and Jason, from that group, would be very happy to speak to BID businesses about this concept and how easy it is to incorporate it into your business model.

I would be very happy to invite him to speak to a number of you, and if this interests you, then please let me know, and I can make the necessary arrangements.

Attached is a word document for you to read, which includes the proposal for Suffolk Bitcoin to create and market a Bury Bitcoin Trail, and we would feature, on our Loyal Free app, something similar, promoting those BID businesses who accept Bitcoin.

The attached pdf outlines the straightforward process to use the coincorner app and accept Bitcoin as a payment option

Also attached is a FAQ document which hopefully addresses the majority of questions you may have on this subject.

 I hope you find this opportunity of interest, and if you want to know more, then feel free to contact me or Suffolk Bitcoin at suffolkbitcoin@gmail.com.

Free Networking Opportunities

BID member Inc. are part of the Menta family, and the latter are hosting free monthly networking meetings at the Apex on the morning of every 2nd Wednesday and BID members are invited to participate. There is no cost, but there is a requirement to book a place as spaces are limited, and this week’s session is already full.
If you wish to attend, head to the Events For New & Established Business Owners – MENTA to book your space.