BUSINESS SUPPORT
MAKE YOURSELF AT
HOME A new city-wide initiative has been launched to support Sheffield businesses and build consumer confidence – unLTD found out more
Sheffield City Council has launched ‘Make Yourself at Home’ – a new initiative to help support the businesses and communities of Sheffield. The aim of the campaign is to give confidence to residents as they begin to interact more with various areas of the city and to support businesses in their economic recovery. It will be used to promote the city as a whole, as well as give businesses a toolkit they can use to communicate to their own customers. The Council has consulted with private sector organisations through the city’s Sheffield Business Response Group to help produce ‘Make Yourself at Home’, alongside the council’s own Public Health and City Centre Management in order to align business recovery with essential public health messaging concerning Coronavirus (COVID-19). Councillor Julie Dore, Leader
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of Sheffield City Council, said: “We want to create something that the people of the city, whether independent business owners, community centre leaders, cultural creators, entrepreneurs or individual residents, can understand, get behind and use to create a pride of place for Sheffield. We of course need to move forwards but we must also remember this is more difficult for some groups and individuals in our society. ‘Make Yourself at Home’ allows us to talk to and represent people from all walks of life, which makes it distinct from other, ‘Open for Business’ campaigns.” Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Business and Investment at Sheffield City Council, said: “Sheffield businesses in all sectors need our support, and we are delighted with the positive feedback we have received in sharing this with some of
them in the run up to launch. We are not a city that is just ‘open for business’ – we know it takes more than that because residents need to have confidence in order to get out again – and we hope ‘Make Yourself at Home’ gives them a friendly and genuinely Sheffield way of interacting with each other as we find our way through this crisis.” Co-Chair of the COVID-19 Business Response Group, and Managing Director of Counter Context, Alexis Krachai, said: “This is a really challenging time for many people and many businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic will change many things but it will not change the city’s ability to get through tough times. We are at our strongest when we work together. ‘Make Yourself at Home’ is all about supporting local businesses and communities as life gradually moves forwards –
whilst remembering the safety and comfort of home. The more businesses and organisations that say ‘Make Yourself at Home’, the more we can help every business and every community back on their feet.” Matt Bigland, MD of The Milestone Group who run a number of hospitality venues in Sheffield, said: “We have always said that all our venues need to make people feel as comfortable as they would in their own house – so as soon as we saw the ‘Make Yourself at Home’ concept we just knew it would work in the hospitality sector. It’s going to be really tough for us to match consumer demand with health regulations and still keep afloat, and that’s why something like this that makes us all feel like we are doing it together is really important for us and the city as a whole. And it ties in really nicely with a new app we will be launching very
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