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Term Two Newsletter #1
November 2018
It has been a very busy and exciting first few months of our second term at Cambridge BID and this is demonstrated by the number of projects covered in this newsletter.
Board Representation and Governance We have strengthened the board to represent our larger area including the CB1 station development, our closer working relationship with Visit Cambridge, our aims to go for Purple Flag and our continued support of the Independent sector, the following people have joined the board. Emma Thornton CEO of Visit Cambridge, Luis Navarro Owner of Nanna Mexico, Roger Allen, General Manager at Lion Yard Shopping Centre and Simon Wallis Development Director at Brookgate. At our November board meeting we intend to approve the following appointments David Ormrod, General Manager of The Regal and Nick Finlayson-Brown, Partner at Mills and Reeve.
Business Voice We are actively engaged in project groups that include the current Spaces and Movement work from Cambridge City Council, the upcoming Market Square consultation and the ongoing Park Street Car Park refurbishment. We are working with the Combined Authority to ensure the service, hospitality, retail, cultural and retail sectors are recognised alongside the STEM subjects as part of the local industrial strategy, we are working with the Greater Cambridge Partnership to ensure business views are heard as they start to deliver the City Deal and we have begun a dialogue with the various local authority groups to develop a proposal for the recently announced Future High Street Fund.
Partnership with Visit Cambridge and Beyond During our consultation period for our second term in 2017, one of the key wishes of BID businesses was to see greater collaboration between Cambridge BID and Visit Cambridge and Beyond. We are working on this across several projects. Our City Ambassador service was switched to being delivered by Visit Cambridge and Beyond from April 1st. This is delivering a more unified visitor welcome on the street and at key fixed locations in the city. This is also driving increased footfall to the Visitor Information Centre on Peas Hill where visitors can get detailed information on how to get the most out of their visit here. We also have a joint project to review what information is currently offered to visitors, to make this more appropriate and available digitally and this will result in new 'Love Cambridge' materials being developed during 2019.
Christmas Lights Work started in January 2018 on the Christmas Lighting scheme for Term Two. Working with our supplier, we are replacing all the lights throughout the city and introducing a few new schemes also. Some of our installations are new to Cambridge and hopefully go some way to create that wow factor we would all like to see. We are investing in some lights that can be used throughout the year, to maximise our assets and provide the city with greater flexibility when it comes to city dressing and lighting. Part of the new lighting displays include all the lamp columns between the Catholic Church and Station Square, plus an exciting new Christmas tree located at the train station, to give visitors to the area a real festive welcome.
Christmas Magazine Our Love Cambridge Love Christmas magazine has now gone to print and should be available on free pick up across the city. The magazine is a 52-page glossy A5 publication that really showcases what Cambridge has to offer during the festive period. With a print run of 80,000 it plays a huge part in our communication strategy encouraging people who may live on the outskirts of the city, to come into Cambridge to do all their Christmas shopping and enjoy the fabulous cultural offer we have during the winter months.
Independents Grant Fund We are committed to supporting our Independent businesses and as part of this, in addition to benefitting from all our other projects, we have allocated a grant pot specifically to be used to deliver projects supporting Independents. We held our first work-shop in May and since then have held two smaller meetings with those businesses that put themselves forward to be involved in the Advisory Group. We are looking to hold an evening event in the new year for all Independents with will focus on: • An introduction to the new Love Cambridge Indepndents brand • Update on the Independents Map • Social Media toolkit and best practice on how to promote each other • Speed Networking - introduction to other Independents in the city, so you can all cross promote each other • Introduce plans for two Independent specific events per annum More information to follow soon
Street Aid In 2006 Cambridge BID, together with CAMBAC, worked with Cambridge City Council to develop and deliver an alternative giving scheme - Street Aid. Street Aid has two aims, the first to help people get off, and stay off the streets. The second is to give donors an alternative to handing money straight to people - a practise which, however understandable in some cases, runs a high risk of making things worse rather than better. To date, the amount raised has exceeded £35,000 and has received over 100 grant applications. Earlier this year, a contactless terminal was introduced in Mandela House, which had over 70 hits in its first month, exceeding all targets. There are plans to install more contactless terminals across the city.
Street Cleaning The scheduled street cleaning is going well, all streets have now been cleaned at least once since April. The full schedule is available in our project calendar, if you would like a copy please email a member of the team.
Rapid Response The Rapid Response Service usage is increasing but there is always room for more! Operating between 8am - 11am, 7-days a week, we would love to see this service used more. If you are walking through the city on your way to work and see some mess, call it in. We want to encourage everyone to take pride in the city, not just your place of work. Remember, they will clean up bodily fluids, broken glass, pigeon fouling, graffiti and other detritus. Save the number in your phone 07773 369 117
Cambridge BID Performance Monitoring Love Cambridge Gift Card In August we launched the new Love Cambridge Gift Card accepted now in over 180 businesses across the BID area this Gift Card is the gift of choice. It can only be spent in-store, and therefore benefits the BID area by ensuring money stays in Cambridge. Gift Cards can be purchased online via www.love-cambridgegiftcard.com or in person at the Visitor Information Centre. We have so far sold more than ÂŁ8,500 worth of Gift Cards which are being redeemed through the network of participating businesses. If your business isn't yet registered to accept the Gift Card, then please get in touch with Helen (helen.hames@cambridgebid.co.uk) and you can be added to the programme. There are no additional fees attached to getting involved, the gift cards work as a Mastercard debit card so providing your business accepts Mastercard you can accept our gift card. Looking ahead we have numerous advertising opportunities planned for between now and Christmas to increase gift card sales significantly. We are hoping to further increase the number of participating businesses offering the customer with extra choice in how they spend their gift card. Finally, we would like to encourage businesses in the local area to consider the Love Cambridge Gift Card for employee rewards, incentives or bonuses.
Partnership with Cambridge Cambridge China Centre Cambridge receives many Chinese visitors and this partnership will drive forward UK|China relationships for Cambridge city centre businesses and will improve business relationships between Cambridge and China, as well as helping Cambridge BID businesses to make the most of the business opportunities provided by these visitors. We held our first joint event introducing Chinese mobile payment systems to Cambridge businesses in October and we have further events planned in the autumn and new year.
Each month Cambridge BID pulls together and publishes a 'How is Cambridge Performing' report. This brings together footfall data from our high street counters alongside shopping centre data, key transport data and information from the Visitor Information Centre and our on-street Ambassador team. The report is emailed out every month so if you aren't receiving it and would like to please get in touch. We also publish footfall counts on a weekly basis on our website www.cambridgebid.co.uk and these counts are based on information from our five counters on Fitzroy Street, Kings Parade, Regent Street, Sidney Street and Bridge Street. We are working to add in additional counters on Station Road and near Rose Crescent and hope to have these installed by early 2019.
Cambridge BID Mystery Shop & Awards Since April 2018 we have facilitated two rounds of Mystery Shopping across 150 businesses within the BID area - providing these businesses with a detailed report of their mystery shop and an opportunity to discuss in person their results. Linked to our Mystery Shop Programme we have held the 6th annual Awards Evening in September and crowned this year's winners - those businesses that are providing exceptional customer service within our 14 categories. This year we had five business that each scored 100% in both their Mystery Shops and shared the Overall Winner accolade - these were Dr Martens, Ernest Jones (Lion Yard), Burr Bridal, Harriet Kelsall and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
If you are interested in getting involved in our 2019 programme then please get in touch with Helen (helen.hames@cambridgebid.co.uk)
Purple Flag Accreditation Cambridge BID, in partnership with CAMBAC (Cambridge Business Against Crime) are working towards a Purple Flag accreditation submission in 2019. Purple Flag is a national scheme that recognises excellence in managing the evening and night time economy. As we work towards submission in mid-2019 we will keep you updated. Updates will also be posted on our website www.cambridgebid.co.uk If you have a view on any of these initiatives or any of our projects, then email: ian.sandison@cambridgebid.co.uk Ian Sandison, Chief Executive
Social Media Updates & how they affect you We've recently made a few changes to our social media platforms which we wanted to update you on. Love Cambridge As you may or may not have seen, we have re-branded some of our social media channels to Love Cambridge which aims to promote Cambridge BID's consumer facing projects and events, as well as any projects from BID businesses. The objectives of Love Cambridge are to increase digital engagement in the city and become a central source of information for residents and visitors alike. @LoveCambridge_ @LoveCambridge_ @LoveCambs
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#LoveCambridge
Cambridge BID We still have our Cambridge BID channels. These accounts are intended to share B2B messages to, for and on behalf of businesses within the BID area. @CambridgeBID Cambridge BID
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#CambridgeBID
Please follow us on all these social media channels for daily updates on Cambridge BID priorities & projects, how you can get involved and how they impact your business! Lastly, we are more than happy to help promote and share any of your projects and campaigns, if you want to send anything through please contact Kristian Foreman at: Kristian.foreman@cambridgebid.co.uk See you online!