Looking forward to Christmas!

By Anita Bellinger, BID Manager for inSwindon BID which supports businesses in and around the town centre.

What does Christmas 2020 mean for you and your team? 

Christmas is such an important time for the town centre and now more than ever we want to ensure it’s an enjoyable but more importantly, safe experience for both visitors and our businesses. 

It has been a challenging year with many of the town centre businesses having to close during the lockdown period, but we have been working with them and through our #ShineOnSwindon campaign, have continued to open the town centre in a safe and positive manner. 

As we look ahead now for the next few months leading up to Christmas, we’re excited by our Swindon Illumina campaign which launched on Saturday 3rd October. For the first time, this event was held virtually in order to protect the Swindon community by avoiding mass crowds at what would normally be our flagship event of the year. 

It still is our flagship event, but in a different manner and a way that we were all able to enjoy it safely from our own homes.    

In your business when do you start planning for Christmas? 

Believe it or not, we start planning Christmas as soon as the last one has finished. It’s so important to make it special for both our visitors and the businesses in the town centre, that a lot of planning has to go into it. 

Due to the pandemic, we had to change a lot of our original plans and switch to a virtual aspect for our main switch-on event. However, we look forward to the future where maybe we can bring back some of our original ideas as they really did showcase some of the amazing heritage of Swindon that we should all be celebrating. 

Are you planning any events in Quarter 4, virtual or real world? 

From 1st November, as part of Swindon’s Illumina 2020, visitors will also be able to enjoy a ‘Luminary Business Trail’, which will see a variety of stars illuminate windows across the town centre as part of the visual campaign. We will also be offering a virtual Christmas market which will take place via our social media channels to promote businesses across the town centre to visitors looking for their all-important gifts and seasonal shopping. We will also be offering some competitions.

Have you got any milestones to share? 

We are a democratically elected, business-led organisation which was formed to improve a defined commercial area in Swindon town centre. First established in 2007, we were one of the earliest Business Improvement District’s (BIDs) to set up and we were successfully renewed in 2012 and 2017. Each BID term lasts five years and in 2022 we will be heading for our third, what we hope to be successful, re-ballot.

We strive to make our town centre a thriving one and to support our local businesses. It’s only by the support of the local community that we can achieve this. 

We can put initiatives in place that will improve the appearance of the town centre, such as our town centre murals, and our ambassadors who provide a visual presence of support and community wellbeing in the town. 

However it’s down to the local community to ensure they #SupportLocal for the survival of our town centre businesses during these challenging times.   

Have you faced some challenges which have changed things for you? 

I think we’ve all faced challenges, but for many different reasons. At time of lockdown footfall in the town centre dramatically decreased. Therefore, our biggest challenge was to ensure a safe re-opening of the town centre and to help drive footfall levels back up safely and steadily to support businesses with their revenue streams.  

Working with our town centre partners, including Swindon Borough Council, The Parade, Regent Circus, The Brunel and other key stakeholders, we formed a working party to ensure initiatives are in place to protect visitors when they come in the town. 

We have steadily seen footfall increase. It’s not comparable to where we were this time last year, but the national comparison for High Street and town centres indicates Swindon is performing well both week-on-week and year-on-year. We hope to continue this trend over the coming months as we welcome more visitors back. 

How are you feeling generally about business in your community at this time? 

We have to remain positive. Swindon has recently been granted £1m from the Government’s town regeneration fund, and we hope some of this investment will be put towards supporting the town centre. 

Our #ShineOnSwindon campaign has instilled positivity within our BID members and the local community, and we hope this will continue with the Swindon Illumina campaign over the festive period. 

Any special offers you’d like to mention? 

Keep an eye out for our Virtual Christmas Market that launches 1st November that will showcase an array of offerings from our town centre businesses. More information will be available on our website and via our social media channels in the coming weeks. 

And finally:

It’s a challenging time for us all, but we ask that people support our town centre businesses by shopping local this Christmas. We need to support the local economy by ensuring there are employment opportunities out there. Swindon town centre is at the heart of this community and one we should all support. #LoveLocal  

For more information visit https://www.swindontowncentre.co.uk