Plans for Food Fest Local 2024 – Christchurch Town Centre – 25th & 26th May 2024
26/10/2023
BCP Business Support – Build year-round visitor business
14/11/2023
LATEST NEWS AND PROJECT PROGRESSION AT CHRISTCHURCH BID
PROJECT/EVENT PROGRESSION:
Since August we have been working on two larger scale projects – Christmas 2023 alongside Christchurch Town Council and a brand new event Food Fest Local 2024.
CHRISTMAS 2023
Christmas is about evoking memories and this year the BID have organised a number of ways for your business to engage with potential customers , increase customer dwell time and help move people through the town. All while making happy festive memories in Christchurch.
You can sign up to have one of our mischievous Elves for your shelves or 
have one of our specially designed Christchurch BID Christmas Baubles for our Big Bauble Hunt. Also our beautiful Christmas Wreath Competition is back again this year so don’t miss out – click here to find out more about how to sign up.
Alongside the above, and in conjunction with Christchurch Town Council, we have created a printed and digital Christmas What’s on guide containing lots of information about events and activities happening during the festive period. Thank you to all our levy payers who submitted their events to us for the guide.
The Christmas publication will be circulated to 7500 local residents in early November and we will of course be delivering them to you to have in your businesses.
Want to be the first to have brochures delivered? please email [email protected] to let me know!
We are also installing another beautiful Christmas tree in Bargates outside the Baptist Church this year. This will be placed before light switch on day on the 25th November and there will be carol singers and no doubt some mince pies to enjoy too!
Christmas Social Media campaign – we will be running a full social media campaign to promote our Christmas activities and your businesses across the festive period. Don’t forget to follow and tag us in @ChristchurchBID with your events, plans and news so we can share them as much as possible. We will be using paid for ads in our campaign which helps shout louder and further to let as many people know that Christchurch has it all for the festive period!
FOOD FEST LOCAL 2024
In January earlier this year we started to put the wheels in motion for a local food festival, to run alongside the main festival, featuring the wonderful hospitality offering that we have right in the heart of Christchurch. Due to unforeseen circumstances we had to postpone this event until 2024. This event will see local eateries and food producers trading across the weekend of the 25th & 26th May 2024. There are plans for live entertainment, seating areas to take in the atmosphere and much more. Excitedly, we are now ready to launch!
If you are interested in finding out more about how to get involved with the event please click here: Find out more about Food Fest Local 2024 and book to attend our open information question and answer sessions on the 14th November at Captains Club Hotel.
Enhancing Our Town
Flower baskets and planters have been a hot topic of discussion across the town this year. Many may have noticed that there were some beautiful baskets on show but not all businesses had them in situ and here’s why. In 2022, Christchurch BID carried out crucial stress testing of the brackets on businesses in the BID levy district. A small number of the brackets passed and were certified safe to hang baskets on which can weigh up to 40kg when watered. There was also a lot of brackets that sadly were not strong enough so we were unable to hang baskets on these brackets for safety reasons.
We believe that the planters and baskets add vibrancy and beauty to our High Street and are part of the overall Christchurch destination brand therefore we are continuing to work in the background to try and contact landlords and managing agents to see if brackets are able to be replaced and stress tested accordingly.
We will keep working on this and hope to see the High Street with more baskets in 2024 and beyond – we will keep you posted.
We are also gathering quotes to have the iron tiered planters located in Bargates and outside the Regent Centre in the High Street planted up as they should be – watch this space!
Weeding, repairs and maintenance have also been highlighted to both us, BCP and Christchurch Town Council. All three stakeholders are in discussion regarding plans to ensure that Christchurch remains a beautiful location for residents, workers and visitors throughout the seasons. Complaints were received regarding the weeding in the underpass area and we immediately opened the conversation with BCP and Christchurch Town Council to find out how this could be promptly remedied. Our thanks go to Christchurch Town Council who took action to have this area weeded and cleared; the conversation about how this is best managed long term for our town continues.
SAFER CHRISTCHURCH
You may well have seen CSAS Officer, Jen Maidment, around the town proactively rectifying anti social behaviour. Find out more about CSAS and Christchurch Police here
Having a CSAS Officer in the town has bought a positive change as businesses are able to report any concerns regarding anti social behaviour directly to her. Jen works alongside Christchurch Police to ensure that our town remains a safe place to live, work and visit.
We have close contact with Jen and the local Police Officers who serve in the area so please do reach out if you are having any particular or ongoing issues.
Don’t forget that criminal activity should always be reported to the police by calling 999 in an emergency or 101. You can also report crime online via www.dorset.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/
The BID have been directly involved in lobbying for not only our CSAS Officer but also increased police presence. The conversation will continue and it is pleasing to see that the Police Crime Commissioner has reducing business crime high on his agenda for the coming year. Workers in the town deserve to be able to carry out their business feeling safe to do so. We will continue to be part of the conversation on behalf of our levy payers.
OTHER BID PROJECTS
We have several accompanying projects which are in development and ongoing, all of which aim to support our levy payers and town centre area. A list of the projects we are working on can be found below:
- Building an image/video library for marketing use by BCP Tourism and our levy payers – we need to showcase our town in the best way possible showing all that Christchurch has to offer. The current image library is limited and adding to this showing how vibrant our community is encourages people to our town, increasing footfall and exposure for your business.
- Current status : ongoing
- Destination marketing – improving how we shout loud about how great Christchurch is – meeting with BCP Tourism has been arranged for November 2023
- Social media campaigning – we have engaged a local social media consultant to work with us going forward
- Improving the landscape of the town – cleaning, weeding, planting and repair work – see above
- Shop Window Vinyl’s to improve the look of long term empty shops in the town – Despite this seeming like an easy project to get going we have to make contact with the landlords before we can begin to discuss having this installed – not as easy as one would think! We are making slow progress on this project but hopeful it will being to happen in the coming months.
As you can see, the BID has been working hard behind the scenes to improve our town and support you, our levy businesses.
Our door is always open and we welcome your feedback, comments and ideas so please talk to us! Here are the ways that you can get in touch:
– drop us an email to [email protected]
– call/message/what’s app Louise our Operations Manager on 07498 999387
– Send us a message on our social platforms @ChristchurchBID
– make an appointment to book a 121 meeting to discuss your feedback and ideas with Louise our Operations Manager via this link:
https://calendly.com/christchurchbid/meeting-with-bid-business
We look forward to hearing from you!
Best wishes
Christchurch BID Operations Manager
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