Worcester waves the Purple Flag

Worcester city centre has been awarded the prestigious Purple Flag accreditation for its evening and night-time economy (ENTE), following a successful application process by the city.

The Purple Flag is a nationwide award; it recognises Worcester as a vibrant destination for dining, entertainment and culture between the hours of 17.00 and 05.00, successfully promoting the safety and wellbeing of visitors and local residents.

The accreditation process in Worcester has been led over the past seven months by Worcester BID, in partnership with other city organisations Worcester City Council, and West Mercia Police.

Sam McCarthy, Chief Executive for Worcester BID, said: “Purple Flag assesses all areas of the night-time economy, looking at safety measures and how partners work together utilising city resources such as CCTV and the CityNet radio scheme. They also look into city enhancements, ensuring a feeling of greater safety.  For example, New Street and Friar Street’s festoon lighting recently added by Worcester BID creates a vibrant atmosphere but also adds additional lighting to the area, making it feel safer.”

Sam McCarthy continues: “Worcester achieving Purple Flag status reassures and builds consumer confidence that our city is a safe and vibrant place. It will also help to put Worcester on the map and encourage prospective investors to set up businesses, families to make Worcester their home, and students to select Worcester University as their first choice to study.”

Councillor Marc Bayliss, Joint Leader of Worcester City Council: “Worcester has a growing reputation as a great destination for shopping, sight-seeing, leisure and much more. Purple Flag status confirms that our city is a great place for a relaxing, enjoyable, and safe night out and provides a great basis for boosting Worcester’s popularity even further.”

A Showstopping trail launches at The Museum of Royal Worcester

The Showstopper Trail has now launched! The Showstopper Trail brings Worcester’s arts history into the modern day. Follow the physical trail and scan QR codes that reveal rarely seen, behind-the-scenes archive material concerning 22 fascinating and extraordinary objects in the museum collection.

For the first time businesses, organisations and individuals have joined the Museum of Royal Worcester in supporting the museum and its preservation of Worcester’s porcelain heritage by sponsoring a trail object. You can even hear from sponsors as you tour the trail. The objects and their stories will also be brought to life on film and social media by trustees John Sandon, Philip Serrell and Museum Director, Sophie Heath. This is supported by the stunning online gallery.

Museum Director, Sophie Heath explains:  “The Showstopper Trail brings together businesses, supporters, art and design lovers and Worcestershire residents, to celebrate 250 years of excellence in quality and ceramic design. We are excited to launch this opportunity for organisations and individuals to become Showstopper sponsors and join with us to share in and support the museum’s work. I am delighted that 22 out of 25 Showstopper objects have been generously sponsored so far from a wide range of sectors. The Showstopper Trail showcases Worcester’s heritage of innovation, skill and ambition as a pioneering centre of porcelain manufacture and international giant of the ceramic industry. We are thrilled to share the special stories of our Showstoppers’ and engage audiences with this fascinating and prized part of Worcester’s history. It is exciting to work together with businesses and partners to recognise their support, draw visitors to our heritage city, and inspire people to get creative.”

 Charlotte Thornton-Smith of Harrison Clark Rickerbys Solicitors explains: “We are sponsoring the Showstopper ‘Angler under a Willow Teapot’ from 1755. The reason Worcester Porcelain became commercially successful was that they included soapstone in the recipe so it did not crack when boiling water was poured into it, so it could meet the demand for consuming tea from China. Royal Worcester is synonymous with our region and its history. We are delighted to support the museum with its Showstopper Trail which is insightful and exquisite, a perfect showcase. People are our passion and we are dedicated to supporting the communities in which we operate.”

It costs £568 a day to look after and open the museum. Funds from sponsorships of the trail items will help to celebrate and engage with a place of regional and national importance.  If you or your organisation would like to take part and support the work at The Museum of Royal Worcester, the museum would love to hear from you.

Find out more at https://www.museumofroyalworcester.org/support-us/sponsor-a-showstopper-pot/

Tackling the Cost of Living

Worcester BID has been supporting the local business community through implementing free monthly bill clinics by teaming up with local bill expert.

These clinics have been provided at no cost to help support our business community and their staff.

Worcester BID members have been able to book to meet on a one-on-one basis with utility bill expert Philip Fowler to look at ways to reduce bills within the business and at home. All BID business team members have also been able to utilise the expert help to tackle the rising costs associated with the home. The free clinics provide the user with a bill review, price checks to see where you can save in the current market, tailored advice on reducing bills and ongoing support and advice.

worcesterbid.com

Reindeer Court becomes a hub for success

Reindeer Court, Worcester, has become a city-centre businesses powerhouse. Over the recent months and year, more and more independent businesses have been moving into the shopping area and trade is undoubtably booming after the effects of Covid-19. The area adds to the fantastic offering of independents in Worcester, with 68 per cent of retailers being independents, Worcester is the perfect place to explore this Christmas season.

Relative newcomer to the city, Izzy’s Ices and Donuts opened their first venue in Reindeer Court, back in 2021, serving up decadent donuts to the city. A year on, they are now moving to a new shop on the High Street, investing in a bigger venue to keep up with the demand for sweet treats.

Steve Arthington, owner of Izzy’s Ices and Donuts said “In October 2021, half the shops in Reindeer Court were empty. With help from Worcester BID, and management changes within Reindeer Court, all the shops are now occupied. Footfall has massively increased, resulting in sales for Izzy's Ices & Donuts going through the roof. This has enabled our business to relocate to the more expensive Cathedral Square on the High Street. We owe our thanks to our supportive customers and Worcester BID." 

 These success stories keep on coming, with new venues opening, investment into the area can be seen around every corner of the Grade II listed precinct. New venues include 2 havens for dog owners, Paw & Co and Hugo and Ted, plant-lovers dream, Plantamamita and Jaks Coffee Shop. These newcomers join long standing traders such as Bottles Wine Shop and Merchants and Fuel Clothing.

 Discover Reindeer Court for yourself and see why Worcester is worth investing in.

Second phase of Redditch Gateway scheme to be delivered

Stoford has secured planning consent for the speculative development of almost 450,000 sq ft of new industrial and logistics accommodation near Redditch.

The leading commercial property developer will build two new warehouse units at Redditch Gateway, a multimillion pound logistics and manufacturing scheme off the A4023 Coventry Highway.

The new net zero carbon units will comprise 160,208 sq ft and 286,328 sq ft respectively and will be developed on the southern side of the 78-acre Redditch Gateway site, which is fully serviced and delivers a 9.5 MVA power supply.

Features will include integral hub and office space, 15m clear eaves height, secure yard space and parking, as well as the creation of an external gym area and upgrades to the existing trim trail. Construction of the new units is expected to begin imminently, with work likely to be completed in autumn 2023.

Redditch Gateway is being marketed by Burbage Realty, Colliers International and Savills.

For more information, visit: https://www.redditchgateway.com/

BetaDen alumni wins ‘Tech Entrepreneur’ Award at Women in Tech awards 2022

BetaDen’s Cohort 5.0 founder, Paula Bedborough of Secure Socialising, has won a Tech Entrepreneur Award at this year’s Women In Tech Awards.

Secure Socialising is a project that Paula took to BetaDen, Worcestershire’s first technology accelerator, to elevate her route to market and gain professional support and funding. The project looks at how technology can be used to promote safe socialising and support outstanding customer experiences. They have developed a keyless smart locker system made for spaces where people meet or socialise, and are currently working on a new app for smartphones to make the Secure Socialising experience even more intuitive. Their smart lockers will help to reduce crime and vulnerability and help people to have a stress-free experience.

Paula said: “I am absolutely delighted to have won the Tech Entrepreneur Award. What an amazing event… A huge thanks to the BetaDen team and all the mentors for all of your invaluable advice and support. It’s been an absolutely incredible few months since I was lucky enough to join you”.

Find out more about Secure Socialising and BetaDen on their website. beta-den.com

Sustainability and Clean energy support for Businesses in Worcestershire

Businesses in Worcestershire can access FREE 1-2-1 business support around sustainability and clean energy thanks to the Worcestershire Growth Hub’s, Professional Advisor programme.

With rising energy costs affecting many households and businesses across the country, this support comes at a vital time to support local organisations with understanding their environmental impact, identifying new sustainable processes and energy generation methods and sourcing potential funding for adopting these processes.

The Professional Advisor programme is open to all Worcestershire businesses and specialises in bringing in professional experts to provide advice and guidance to businesses on an individual basis. This support also compliments the existing portfolio of sustainability support for Worcestershire businesses which includes grant funding, a net zero guideline portal and much more, which can all be accessed via the Worcestershire Growth Hub team.

To find out more about the Professional Advisor programme, or the Clean energy and sustainability support available for your business, please contact Worcestershire Growth Hub on 01905 677888 or email [email protected] 

Worcestershire Business Forum discusses Skills and Recruitment

Over 50 businesses joined the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Worcestershire Growth Hub for the second Worcestershire Business Forum.

Building on the inaugural business forum held in May, this second forum was focused on the skills and recruitment challenges facing many businesses, listening to feedback gathered from the business community.

The structure of the forum focused on asking attendees to share their challenges and where they felt the opportunities were with recruiting and retaining staff. After this, attendees were given a chance to brainstorm what new support programmes could be introduced to meet their needs, and also heard an update on the current skills and recruitment support programmes.

The data and intelligence from this discussion was collected by the LEP and Growth Hub to inform future delivery and decision making amongst public sector partners.

Gary Woodman, Chief Executive of the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, said: “The discussions that took place at the second Worcestershire Business Forum were highly engaging and it was fantastic to have a great selection of businesses in the room to hear from and inform on our current programmes of support. “The team will now work on the intelligence gathered to make sure that the LEP and Growth Hub can work closely with public sector partners to build solutions that can help businesses going forward.”

The Worcestershire LEP and Growth Hub aims to run several Business Forums throughout the year on key business topics to help gather business feedback to inform future delivery.

If you are a Worcestershire business who could benefit from free business support, contact the Worcestershire Growth Hub on 01905 677888 or email [email protected]

 www.worcestershiregrowthhub.co.uk 

Supporting Growth and Economic Development across Worcestershire

worcesterbid.com                                          wlep.co.uk                                              worcestershiregrowthhub.co.uk

https://www.businessinnovationmag.co.uk/worcestershire-in-the-spotlight-with-strong-growth-and-economic-development-across-the-county/