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You may already be aware that Worcester City was awarded £3 million from the Cultural Development Fund. Through the scheme, Worcester’s railway arches are set to be transformed into a major new cultural destination for the city. In addition to this, a Festivals Hub will be established in the arches, delivering festivals and cultural events across Worcester and supporting the creative industries through skills development and volunteer opportunities.
You are invited to attend an open meeting on Monday 4 March to find out more about the project and the impact it will have on the city.
The meeting will take place from 2.00pm – 4.00pm at the Guildhall, High Street, Worcester WR1 2EY. If you’d like to attend, please book your free place here by 28th February.
The Cultural Development Fund is administered by Arts Council England and we are pleased that representatives will attend the meeting, along with members of the project team. We will be providing further information about plans for the area and will answer questions from attendees. For further information about the fund, please click here.
This invite has been sent by Worcester City Council.
HoW College ignites future success following investment for engineering facilities from Worcestershire LEP.
Working in partnership with Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Heart of Worcestershire College (HoW College) is set to embark on the first stage of a major capital project in engineering.
Complementing the government’s ‘Year of Engineering’, the initial £1.2million investment will give HoW College’s engineering students access to new and advanced engineering and manufacturing equipment alongside newly created electrical installation workshops and a Centre of Digital Engineering (CODE).
The project has been part funded following a £600,000 investment from Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership through the Government’s Growth Deal.
Speaking about the investment Nicki Williams, Vice Principal Corporate and Resources, said:
“We are very pleased to once again be working in close partnership with Worcestershire LEP to enhance and improve our facilities. This project will give us an exciting opportunity to invest in new technologies, create world class facilities and outstanding learning opportunities within the area of Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing.”
Gary Woodman, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, added: “We know how important is to provide younger generations with the engineering and wider STEM skills that are needed for the future development of our local businesses. By investing in the latest in modern equipment for HoW College, we are ensuring that our future engineers have the greatest level of education available to succeed within the growing industry.”
In addition, over the next three years a further £8 million will be invested into the College’s curriculum area, commencing in early 2018, with the development of a new purpose built centre for Automotive Engineering and Plumbing and Heating Engineering.
For more information about HoW College’s engineering courses please visit howcollege.ac.uk
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For Further Information, please contact:
Hannah Griffiths
Marketing Manager
Heart of Worcestershire College
t: 01527 572885
e: hgriffiths@howcollege.ac.uk
Notes to Editors:
This Worcester News article is a good read with some positive and practical advice by Jonathan Sutton, CEO from St Paul’s Hostel Worcester.
How you can help Worcester’s homeless people
Worcester BID is proud to be part of the Worcester Cares partnership. Find out more about the project here.
CITY SESSION
The next City Session will be held at O’Neills, St Nicholas Street on Friday 18th January at 8am, where we will be covering several topics such as the 2018 year review and a CityNet update.
You can book your place at the City Session here.
In the meantime, we would like to invite our BID members to join our closed Facebook group, ‘Worcester BID City Sessions’, where we provide often reminders and updates of our ongoing projects and news within the city, ultimately helping you to get the most out of your membership!
An exciting CityNet update…
For those of you that don’t know, CityNet is Worcester BID’s Business Crime Reduction Partnership which includes members from over 150 businesses. It is an intelligence led approach to managing city centre crime through varying schemes and a shared radio network.
Previously, CityNet was focused on the day-time economy whilst the night-time economy was overseen by NightSafe. However, as of 2019 we are happy to announce that CityNet will now look after both of these sectors.
In light of this, we have arranged a CityNet introductory meeting for the night-time economy. This meeting will be a wonderful opportunity for businesses to meet the Worcester BID team, listen to what we have planned for 2019 and feedback any projects or schemes you would like to see from us going forward.
This meeting will be held at the Guildhall, High Street on Tuesday 12th February from 4-6pm.
You can book your place at the meeting here.
On top of this, we are introducing a new and improved website and smartphone app which is available to ALL members. This CityNet software will allow you to report minor incidents to directly the Police, browse prolific offenders and keep up to date with the latest news and events.
Every single CityNet member is entitled to this service, so please contact info@worcesterbid.com to arrange getting you set up.
Are you, or do you employ, an EU Citizen?
On Friday 18th January Robin Walker, Worcester MP and Brexit Minister, will be hosting an information evening for Worcester’s EU citizens, during which he will provide a briefing covering rights after Brexit, the Settled Status scheme and other common queries, followed by an open question and answer session. This is a great opportunity to put your questions forward to Robin Walker as our cities MP and a Government Minister for Brexit.
The event starts at 6pm and will be held at the Guildhall, Worcester.
If you would like to attend please RSVP to tom.cole@parliament.uk.
Worcester high street has bucked national trends, boasting increased footfall when most cities have faced a significant decline.
Worcester enjoyed a rise of 0.3% compared to last year, while cities across the country saw visitor numbers drop by -3.2% on average.
Visitors number peaked at nearly 2.4million during December, thanks to Worcester BID’s popular ‘Christmas in Worcester’ campaign, delivered in conjunction with partners Crowngate Shopping Centre, Cathedral Square and Worcester City Council.
This festive campaign and other popular initiatives, such as late-night shopping and free and discounted parking, combined with a high-profile marketing campaign, enticed visitors from both near and far.
Phoebe Dawson, Chief Executive of Worcester BID, said: “I’m thrilled that Worcester continues to defy the downward spiral that other high streets are sadly facing.
“It’s undeniably a challenging time for businesses and consumers alike, but everyone is pulling together to come up with creative ways to ensure Worcester is an attractive place to visit and shop, and Worcester BID is delighted to support our hardworking traders.
“A lot of work goes on behind the scenes to market the city and its businesses both locally and nationally, and while we instinctively felt that the high street was flourishing, it’s incredibly rewarding to see these efforts reflected in the independent statistics.”
Much of the city’s recent success can be attributed to the excellent working relationship between Worcester BID and its major partners, Crowngate Shopping Centre, Cathedral Square and Worcester City Council.
BID’s ‘Christmas in Worcester’ campaign was an unprecedented triumph and its major marketing campaign, which included a pull out in The Times newspaper, was a strategic success.
For all press enquiries, please contact:
Phoebe Dawson, CEO
phoebe.dawson@worcesterbid.com
07878 083 496
It has been an eventful but rewarding year for Worcester BID. The city has seen some remarkable events and developments throughout 2018 and we are thrilled to be at the heart of it all. The Worcester BID team have been working hard alongside several partners to ensure Worcester remains a safe, thriving and welcoming city through various projects and schemes. We thought we’d round off the year with some our highlights….
Great British High Street
Following our successful joint application, we were thrilled to be invited to London and formally recognised as one of top High Streets in GB. From 200 applications for the Great British High Street Awards, Worcester was one of the top 13 finalists.
The Social
We launched and produced 4 issues of the Worc Social. This lifestyle magazine which has featured 136 different BID businesses over the last twelve months is distributed to thousands of homes and businesses, as well as further afield via social media.
The Food Festival
We once again organised the Worc Food Fest and this year saw a huge 38,115 increase in footfall from the same event in 2017.
Visit Worcester
Working in partnership with the city council we launched the Visit Worcester website which now features almost 100 businesses. As part of this partnership, Worcester BID is responsible for the Visit Worcester social media channels and over the last nine months we have seen enormous increases in engagement and followers. Visit Worcester’s Instagram has increased from under 1000 followers to 1530, Facebook now has 2,100 followers compared to 1,200 this time last year, and twitter has increased from under 3,000 to 4,200. Besides this, Instagram takeovers are now reaching an average of between 3,000 and 4,000 views per business and Facebook engagement per month has increased from 293, to 1,500.
Worcester BID Awards
The Worcester BID Customer Service Assessments were relaunched alongside the inaugural BID Awards, which collectively featured 60 businesses.
Little Book of Independents
We created Worcesters ‘Little Book of Independents’, a guide to Worcester BID’s independent businesses which was distributed throughout the Victorian Fayre and across the city. We will continue to distribute to parties we meet arriving by coach and train over the next twelve months.
CityNet
CityNet, our Business Crime Reduction Partnership now has an enhanced offer which includes an interactive app for our members. This has seen our safer city community grow considerably with over 130 members.
Worcester Cares
Worcester BID, partnership with different agencies launched the Worcester Cares initiative, a text donation service where specific donations are split between the different organisations caring for the homeless in the city.
Lobbying and Business Representation
We represented businesses interests during various happenings throughout the year, including the heavy snow periods, the Severn Trent work on The Shambles and the EDL march.
Footfall
The number of businesses receiving out footfall data grew this year by an exceptional 514%!
Cost-saving
We launched our cost savings initiative with Meercat Associates and other partners. This scheme can save businesses money on several bills including utilities and insurance. 66 businesses are currently in talks to make the most of this offer!
So what is to come?
Worcester BID are excited for the year ahead. We will be bringing Nightsafe under the CityNet umbrella and launching Worcester’s Best Bar None scheme. We will also be rolling out the CityNet app to every single CityNet member.
We’re also excited to announce that Worcester BID will be complimenting Visit Worcester’s social media campaigns by introducing changeable flags across the cities lampposts promoting the cities seasons and events.
These are just a few of the exciting projects Worcester BID will launch in the new year. Alongside this, we will continue to build on 2018’s projects, reaching a much larger audience and having greater positive impact on the city.
All of these projects are available to every single Worcester BID member so please get in contact with the Worcester BID team if any of these interests you!
The team at Worcester BID would like to thank you again for your passion, support and hard work this year and wish you all a Merry Christmas. We can’t wait to work with you again in the new year!
The next City Session will be held on 18th January at 8am at O’Neills Worcester, St Nicholas Street. We will be covering many important topics such as a 2018 year review and a CityNet update.
In the meantime, we would like to invite our BID members to join our closed Facebook group, ‘Worcester BID City Sessions‘, where we provide often reminders and updates of our ongoing projects and news within the city, ultimately helping you to get the most out of your membership!
Please note that this Facebook group is exclusive to BID members and you will be required to state which business you represent upon joining.
Worcester BID are producing a wall planner for 2019, which will set the dates for most of the cities events and national holidays, and all of our City Sessions. These will be delivered to your door at the beginning of January, so don’t go buying one before then!
Alongside this, we are producing a ‘Welcome Pack‘ which will outline all of the services provided by Worcester BID, making sure you don’t miss out on any of the wonderful opportunities we have to offer!
Both of these exciting publications will be delivered at the beginning of January, so keep your eyes peeled in the New Year!
Take advantage of a FREE health check on a wide range of business bills by cost savings specialists Meercat Associates – a simple process, no hassle, no obligation and no cost to you.
Sectors include: Gas, Electricity, Mobiles, Landlines, Broadband, Insurance, Health & Safety, PAT Testing, Pest Control and Card Payment machines.
In addition we have sourced some local deals exclusively for Worcester BID members on local Advertising, Print and Design and promotional material.
Take a look at further details of cost savings opportunities here.
Contact the team on info@worcesterbid.com or 01905 731612 for more details and to register for this service.
Museums Worcestershire (a partnership between Worcester City and Worcestershire County Council) is inviting proposals at this stage, for a catering concession at the Balcony Café at Worcester Art Gallery and Museum.
The Art Gallery and Museum is housed in a historic building on Foregate Street in a busy and thriving area of the city. The gallery runs a lively programme of contemporary exhibitions, events and workshops attracting an audience of over 60,000 visitors per year. The gallery spaces are light, bright and welcoming and all areas of the building are fully accessible. The Balcony Café serves as both a tranquil refuge from the hustle and bustle of Foregate Street and a great place to meet friends and family.
To view the tender document please click here. Proposals must be received by the Museums Business Manager at the Art Gallery and Museum, Foregate Street, Worcester WR1 1DT by 4.00pm on 2nd January, 2019.
