Level 4, Brunel Tower, Swindon,Wiltshire, SN1 1LH

t: 01793 485523e: info@inswindon.com

w: www.swindontowncentre.co.uk

t: 01793 485523e: info@inswindon.comw: www.swindontowncentre.co.uk

I can’t believe how quick this year is moving, March already!

In January we had our first BID & Breakfast of the year and I would like to thank all those that took time out of their busy schedule to come along. Superintendent Charlie Armstrong, Swindon Police Hub Commander, was our guest speaker and she was asked many questions by those of you that attended including the safety in the town centre. I am pleased to confirm that since the meeting the BID have met with the Council to discuss lighting in the town centre, in particular the Wharf Green area. The imminent implementation of the PSPO (Public Space Protection Order) will tackle the antisocial behaviour issues in the town centre, for more information on this please go www.swindon-csp.org.uk. I will ensure I keep you updated on the results of the PSPO in the next newsletter.

Our next BID breakfast is on 22nd April and we are delighted to be joined by Justin Tomlinson, Swindon MP, as our guest speaker. I would encourage you to come along and have your say, to either Justin or to the inSwindon BID team.

The Havelock Square redevelopment

started in January and is expected to be completed by the end of May. The project is being managed by Forward Swindon and the BID are working with them to ensure that businesses in the area are being kept up-to-date with the schedule and given as much information as possible to minimise the disruption. Supporting the businesses in that area is our top priority and the BID have put signage up on the fencing around the area to ensure customers are aware that the businesses are open as normal, we have also been pro-actively promoting all the businesses on our social media network.

Our business plan for 2016 is to remain focussed on encouraging visitors into the town centre through events, campaigns and projects to increase footfall and loyalty. Here is our event programme for March-June 2016, we would encourage all of you to actively take part – perhaps you’d like to join in our Easter Parade or fly the flag for St Georges Day! Here is what is coming up in the next couple of months.

Best wishesDiane Powell, BID Manager

NEWSLETTERinSwindon

Providing news and updates on Swindon’s Business Improvement DistrictMARCH 2016

EDITION

@inSwindon

inSwindon BID Company Ltd

EVENT GUIDE IN SWINDON TOWN CENTRE

EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZAFriday 25th & Saturday 26th March 2016

A FREE family event for a weekend packed with activities including an Easter Parade, Easter Egg Hunt, children’s entertainment on the main stage and the chance to meet the Easter Bunny and receive a free chocolate bunny courtesy of Sweets Galore.

ST GEORGES DAY – BEST OF BRITISH IN SWINDONSaturday 23rd April 2016

A fun packed festival FREE for all the family, brimming with traditional activities to celebrate St Georges Day. A ‘Best of Swindon’ talent show will be live on stage where 10 finalists will battle it out for the converted

prizes of performing live at the Christmas Light Switch on.

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASSFriday 3rd & Saturday 4th June 2016

Working in partnership with the Brunel Shopping Centre, The Parade and Regent Circus this event will be a weekend full of FREE surprises, quirky entertainment and utter madness to attract visitors of all ages.

If you would like more information on these events or want to know how your business could join in, please contact marketing@inswindon.com

EGGSTRAVAGANZA!

Easter

Free in your town centre!

Friday 25th & Saturday 26th March

This campaign came to an end at the end of January, inSwindon, SBC and The Brunel worked together to provide visitors to the town centre with free parking after 3pm every Thursday during the promotional period. Here are the results:Loyalty card Update

There are 15,000+ cards in circulation of which there are 9,430 registered users of the card who receive regular updates on offers for the card.There is now a new exciting range of

redesigned loyalty card marketing materials available for all stores who are running

an offer with the card. This is currently being distributed to all our 100 loyalty card partners and includes new till wobblers, window stickers and till stickers, which will help to further promote the card and encourage its use.

BID & Breakfast

The next BID Breakfast meeting will be held on the 22nd April where BID members will get the opportunity to hear more updates on the town centre and

network with other members over a cup of coffee and bacon roll.

GUEST SPEAKER: JUSTIN TOMLINSONVENUE: MARKS & SPENCER ACADEMY ROOM, REGENT STREETTIME: 8.00AM – 9.30AM

Be sure to book your place early as its first come first served! E-mail marketing@inswindon.com

FREE AFTER 3! Car Parking Campaign

News in brief Update on inSwindon Board members

We are pleased to announce that James Shorney (Marks & Spencer Manager) and Kevin Gwilliam (Centre Manager of The Brunel Shopping Centre) have joined the inSwindon board.

If you would like a more active role in the work of the inSwindon BID Company please contact dpowell@inswindon.com

Princes Street Bridge RemovalRemoval of footbridge will commence on

19 March, road closure from 19 March 6am, all day 20th March up to 21 March until 5.30am.

Vehicles will be prohibited from proceeding on Princes Street between the junction with Gordon Road and Euclid Street

Car Parks within the town centre The demolition of the Wyvern car park is

now completed, with this making way for more exciting regeneration plans happening within the town centre.

Town Centre trading update:Leaving the town centre…

• The Groves Company Inn, Fleet Street• The Co-operative, Regent Street• Monsoon & Accessorize, The ParadeNew arrivals in the town centre…• Piyada Thai Massage Spa, Faringdon Rd.• Healthy Lane Café, Morley Street

MARCH - NEWSLETTER

Car Park

Total number of cars that

parked after 3pm

% Increase in car parking after

3pm against last year

Brunel North

4672 22%

Fleming Way

1531 76%

Main image: Specsavers, Regent Street. Inset: Press advertisement and example of a vinyl window sticker.

April 2016 Master Pages.indd 47

16/03/2016 10:26

Have you spoken to us about your activities and plans? We have lots of marketing opportunities for you!

inSwindon Social media

• TWITTER – we now have 5,548 followers• FACEBOOK we now have 2,398 page likes

inSwindon’s Facebook and Twitter profiles can advertise your special instore offers, run competitions on your behalf or can just promote your business itself! Some examples of what some of you have done already can be seen hereIf you would like us to help further

promote your business or would like to run a competition on the inSwindon social media feeds, please email marketing@inswindon.com

WebsiteThe website gives you the opportunity to

advertise your current job vacancies as well as any upcoming events you may be holding on events calander. You can upload new job vacancies

as well as exciting events by emailing info@inswindon.com

Event SpaceYou can take advantage of distributing

leaflets within the town centre, its free of

charge for BID members! This can be an effective tool to raise awareness of your business, promote in-store events and even recruit new members of staff. Why not also use our outdoor event space

in the town centre for promotional activity? With the opportunity to use the space for free you can carry out a promotional event or in the following areas:

• Wharf Green• The Parade• Canal Walk

To find out more or to book promotional activity for your business please email info@inswindon.com

New Year, New you – January 2016

InSwindon Marketing Opportunities - FREE TO BID MEMBERS

We hope you got the opportunity to see our exciting ‘New Year, New You’ initiative which ran throughout January - you may have seen the fantastic Jason Vale in the Brunel or the offers and competitions that were featured on our social media feeds. The Jason Vale event proved successful

with a rise of 4.7% in footfall in the Brunel (compared to last year) and positive feedback from visitors to the town centre: “We thoroughly enjoyed the event and

thought it was a fantastic opportunity to hear more about how to achieve a healthier lifestyle, we’ve actually paid to see Jason in London before so thought it was brilliant to be able to see him for free! Our favourite part of the day was being able to meet Jason himself!” Sue Ford, Salisbury.“It was an outstanding event and one

that was really worth making the journey for! I really wanted to attend as I’m trying to focus on being healthier this year so hopefully I can make that happen now!” Beth Nelson, Oxford. Jason Vale (centre) promoting a healthier lifestyle.

SWEETS GALORE ran a Valentine’s day competition on the inSwindon Facebook and Twitter pages which helped to further promote their business – with posts on Facebook and Tweets for the competition altogether reaching 32,920 people and received 2,507 engagements.

THE FLOWER SHOP on Victoria Road decided to also run a Valentine’s day competition on the inSwindon’s Facebook and Twitter pages which helped to further promote the business - with posts on Facebook and Tweets reaching 18,994 people and received 1,131 engagements.

t: 01793 485523e: info@inswindon.comw: www.swindontowncentre.co.uk

Business Support The inSwindon team continue to carry

out businesses visits and our aim is to visit businesses every three months. We offer you and your business support by offering marketing opportunities through our social media and website as well offering you the facility to advertise your current job vacancies. Here is some of the testimonials we received recently:“Having used the website for recruitment

we have found that we have received a much higher calibre of candidate for staff vacancies” PEACOCKS.“The Street Team have always been

helpful, have been able to identify the shoplifters and have always come to the store when needed” CO-OP.Grant, James and Diane welcome the

opportunity to discuss the challenges you may be facing, make sure you are not one of the businesses who are missing out on our services and contact the Street Team for a visit today.

Clean and well maintained town centreInSwindon work with Swindon Borough

Council’s Cleansing team (Street Smart) to ensure that the public realm area is maintained to the highest standard. The Street Team proactively work with

the SBC Street Smart team to ensure any reports of graffiti, litters, fly posting and maintenance issues are dealt with as a matter of priority. Last month there were 78 reports of this nature of which 90% have now been rectified.If you have any areas of concern to your

business, please don’t hesitate to contact the Street Team directly.

Safe and FriendlyThe Street Team continue to provide

day to day operational and high visibility assistance to provide a welcome presence to shoppers and visitors as well as issues ranging from lost children and shoplifting through to public safety control.Grant, James and Diane play an

active role in reducing the anti-social behaviour in the town centre, and record all incidents to ensure we are able to measure the activity. In January anti-social behaviour was down 34% against December and we continue our efforts to reduce this number.We are working with Swindon Borough

Council and the Police on the introduction of the new PSPO (Public Space Protection Order) which is designed to reduce the anti-social behaviour in the town centre. This is expected to be implemented from March 2016, for more information please follow the link www.swindon-csp.org.uk

Chief Constable’s Certificate of Appreciation awarded

@inSwindon

inSwindon BID Company Ltd

Loss Prevention Training

Don’t forget our loss prevention and radio training is provided throughout the year. Businesses continue to take advantage of the free training and this month we have trained 37 members of staff across 4 retailers in the town centre.

Feedback from members who have attended the course:

“Made my team feel really relaxed, Grant was a very good trainer” FOOT ASYLUM

“I feel I’ve come away with more knowledge and I’m confident my team feel more engaged in preventing stock loss” TOPMAN.

Training can be carried out at your work place or in the training room at inSwindon and can be done in or around your working hours. To book call, please contact the Street Team.

Day Safe Meetings

These meetings are for our daytime business members. They are held at the inSwindon office and are intended to provide you with an update on safety issues with the town centre.

Please note that the next meeting will be attended by the Police and Street Smart team to update you on the rough sleeper’s situation in Swindon. It’s important that if you want to know the steps we taking to reduce this issue that you come along to the meeting.

WEDNESDAY 30TH MARCH, 10.30AMTUESDAY 26TH APRIL, 10.30AMTUESDAY 31ST MAY, 10.30AM

Pubwatch MeetingThese meetings are for at our evening/

night economy BID Members.

MONDAY 4TH APRIL MONDAY 9TH MAYMONDAY 6TH JUNE

MARCH - NEWSLETTER

STREET TEAM CONTACT DETAILS:DUTY MOBILE: 07867354911MONDAY – WEDNESDAY: 8.00am – 6.00pmTHURSDAY – SATURDAY: 8.00am – 8.00pmSUNDAY: 9.30am – 5.00pmE-MAIL: streetteam@inswindon.com

Street Team Supervisor Grant Hesketh was awarded the Chief Constable’s Certificate of Appreciation at an award ceremony on 10th March 2016. Mike Veal, Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police praised Grant for being extremely proactive, knowledgeable and supportive to businesses in the town centre that have been subject to crime and offers assistance and reassurance. He added that Grant is an excellent ambassador for the inSwindon team and a fantastic example of effective community partnerships and was delighted to present him with the award. I am sure you will all join me in congratulating Grant and wishing him continued success in his role of Street Team Ambassador.

Street Team supervisor Grant Hesketh and Topman Floor Manager Jake Hammond.