Warwickshire Means Business - In The Towns...

Welcome from Rachel Baconnet, Warwickshire County Council town centres and tourism leader

"Make people laugh and smile - make them curious and get them through the door."

Hello and welcome to Warwickshire Means Business – In the Towns.  

We are so glad that you are taking the time to read this because it means you are interested in what is happening in our Warwickshire towns and how this translates to you. 

Warwickshire Means Business – In the Towns is designed to let you know about some of the brilliant work happening to support Warwickshire’s 17 or so town centres. I’m deliberately vague about the number as there are contrasting definitions as to what constitutes a town and what is a large village. Population size is not always reflected in the size or quality of the offer in the town or village centre. Henley-in-Arden in south Warwickshire, for example, is technically a village with just over 2,000 residents, yet its thriving high street is the envy of many a larger town.

All our town centres face multiple challenges, not least the closure of some well-known high street retail stores in recent years, but our town and high street centres are very much alive and kicking. As with any other sector of the economy, retail continues to evolve and adapt to the changing shopping habits of consumers. Alongside this, the high street presents new opportunities for the growth of leisure and entertainment and for budding entrepreneurs to bring a new lease of life and something unique to the town centre visitor experience.

At this festive time of year, there are plenty of opportunities to liven up window frontages with some creative displays. In consumer terms, Halloween is one the fastest growing seasonal events in the UK, with consumer spend growing to £467 million in 2018, with with further 0.6% growth prediected this year (data from Retail Insight Network). The run-up to Christmas can be a tough time for retail, with fierce competition and the lure of internet and out of town shopping. However, it’s also an opportunity for creativity in terms of merchandising, visual impact and boosting the in-store and in-town experience.

I would urge all businesses who have the asset of a window frontage to use it to its fullest potential and shout about how great your business is. Make people laugh and smile. Make them curious and get them through the door. If they don’t buy anything on that occasion, make sure they come back by offering an incentive.

Most importantly, make them remember you by being attentive and passionate about your products. And don’t forget to share what’s going on via social media!

Please take advantage of our established social media handles and share your pictures and promotions on @WarksTN. We share and like as much relevant local content as we can to help increase business visibility. We also offer some fantastic free training on digital marketing and social media for town centre-based businesses, so read on if you are yet to adopt and benefit from the digital high street.. it’s here to stay so make sure you’re on the bandwagon.

Finally, we’re looking forward to some wonderful Christmas Lights switch-on events that take place in our town centres and to soaking up the atmosphere on our high streets over the festive period. You can’t get that out of town or via the internet - so embrace, enthral and enjoy!

Rachel Baconnet

Hot off the press! - WTN Digital Skills continue in 2020

FREE places on the next training courses for retailers and high street businesses are about to open.

The courses are being delivered by Stories Marketing in partnership with Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and will be a blend of workshop and one-to-one support. They will take place in Nuneaton, Rugby, Leamington and Stratford Upon Avon but are open to town centre businesses across the county.

The sessions will start in late Jan 2020 - what a great way to kick off your New Year business planning!

You can book your free place now by contacting the team at towns@warwickshire.gov.uk.

Accessible High Streets – Purple Tuesday

Businesses across Warwickshire showed their commitment to the Purple Tuesday campaign, designed to heighten awareness of the value and needs of disabled customers and make the customer experience accessible.

A key goal at Warwickshire County Council is to support towns in becoming as accessible as possible by encouraging businesses and organisations to consider how they cater for customers with either visible or invisible impairments.

It is the right thing to do - but also makes simple business sense. Across the UK, the Purple Pound (the consumer spending power of disabled people and their families) is worth an estimated £249 billion and is rising by an average 14% per annum. Worldwide, the Purple Pound equates to a staggering £2.25 trillion, yet less than 10% of businesses have a targeted plan to access this market.

Purple Tuesday was on November 12 this year and businesses in Warwickshire to get involved included Sarah Horne Botanicals in Leamington Spa, Joco Interiors in Nuneaton and Hoorays British Gelato Kitchen in Stratford upon Avon.

They all specifically registered a commitment to the awareness campaign by committing to conduct an on-site accessibility audit of their physical spaces and make plans for improvements. As local independent business-owners, they have realised that sustainable changes in business practice could result in the opening up of products and services to the disability market.

Warwickshire County Council's project manager for town centres and tourism Aaron Corsi said: "Business owners may not be aware of some impairments, some of which could easily be catered for to open up a whole world of new opportunities for both customers and businesses.

"Purple Tuesday is dedicated to helping these businesses learn about what they can do to help support and attract these valuable customers through a range of steps.

"We are delighted that these businesses got involved this year. We congratulate them and would encourage as many businesses across Warwickshire to make a commitment to a sustainable change which ensures they have the ability to access new customers. Such change will also mean great customer relations with residents and visitors with accessibility requirements."

Simple ways in which this could be done include:

Conducting a web accessibility audit of the business's website and make plans for improvements
Conducting an on-site accessibility audit of physical space and making plans for improvements
Providing disability training opportunities for front-line staff
Gathering feedback from our disabled customers through customer surveys or a mystery shopping programme and make plans to act on the results

* For more information on the Purple Tuesday campaign please visit https://purpletuesday.org.uk/

The Warwickshire Placemaking Fund - Last call for Placemaking Fund Projects:

Is the space around your business crying out for a pop-up play area, planter or seating?

Do you look at the shop frontages in your street and see that a spruce-up is in order?

Have you got an amazing idea that you think will have people piling into your town?

If any of these is true, then why not get together with some of your fellow businesses and create a Spacehive Crowdfunding Campaign?

We are looking to back ideas that will give a little boost to your area and help attract customers. If you are willing to get together with fellow businesses and the community to turn the idea into a crowdfunding campaign then you could be eligible for the Placemaking Fund* which has pots up to £20k to pledge towards ideas which meet the criteria.

The Placemaking Fund is delivered via the Spacehive Crowdfunding Platform which is designed especially for Spaces and Places. The Fund comes to an end this year, so projects looking to attract pledges from this pot of money will need to be up and running in the next couple of months. There are other funds which sit on this platform, however, so don’t let that timescale put you off starting a campaign to get your project funded. For more information go to Spacehive here

Any size of project goes when it comes to Spacehive and we have already seen some fantastic ideas become reality in Warwickshire's towns. Smith Street Traders in Warwick crowdfunded over £9k for the ‘Smith Street Cycle Hub’ and the businesses and community in Bidford raised £900 for their ‘Bidford Banners’ project whilst the ‘St Andrews Gardens a Space for Everyone’ project in the heart of Rugby attracted over £46k.

Desination Whitnash and The Historic Spine in Stratford are currently live with their fundraising so please take a look and pledge your support if you can. Pledges can start from £2.

Deals done and connections made at vibrant Warwickshire Food & Drink Showcase.

Warwickshire’s small and emerging food and drink producers delighted members of the public and industry suppliers with their array of produce at the Warwickshire Food and Drink Showcase.

Despite torrential rain, the successful event hosted by Warwickshire County Council at Warwick racecourse not only saw mouth-watering products sampled, but more importantly deals done and valuable connections made.

One local food producer, Auntie’s Sauces, secured its first trade deal at the event.

Shireen Dhaliwal, co-founder of Auntie’s Sauces says: “Events like the Warwickshire Food & Drink Showcase really help businesses like ours in a myriad of ways.

"Firstly, it puts us out in front of trades people who we wouldn’t normally come across and local business people who are looking for slightly different food and drink, that they can’t get from a regular wholesaler. Secondly, it’s an excellent networking opportunity and provides great potential for collaboration with other local businesses.”

Warwickshire-based Michelin-starred chef Adam Bennett of The Cross, Kenilworth, was one of the stars of the show and entertained the audience with cookery demos, useful tips and anecdotes.

Adam said: “’It was a pleasure to attend the showcase and great to be able to connect with local suppliers and buyers in a relaxed atmosphere. There are so many great food and drink businesses in Warwickshire, but many of them don’t have the opportunity to link up and share ideas as well potentially do business.

"The showcase is a great way to kick-start this kind of peer to peer support and I hope will be the start of something unique and positive for Warwickshire.”

During a lively Q and A, Tara Mei, co-founder of Bread & Jam, an organisation which supports emerging businesses in the food industry, spoke passionately about the importance of embracing consumers’ appetite for local produce. She stressed the need to focus on specific target markets rather than trying to appeal to everyone while Adam Bennett emphasised the competitive edge that using local producers can give a business as it creates a story to share with customers.

There are plans to rollout out more showcases and events in the new year to help connect and grow the local network of supplier and buyers in the County.  Keep an eye out on the website at https://www.warwick-food-drink.co.uk/ or contact the Town Centres & Tourism Team.

Small Business Saturday 2019 and Free Online Digital Training

Small Business Saturday UK is a grassroots, non-commercial campaign, which highlights small business success and encourages consumers to 'shop local' and support small businesses in their communities. The day itself takes place on the first Saturday in December each year, but the campaign aims to have a lasting impact on small businesses. The principle of supporting your local small businesses and independent retailers should be key to our thought process throughout the year.

On Small Business Saturday, customers across the UK go out and support all types of small businesses, online, in offices and in stores. Many small businesses take part in the day by hosting events and offering discounts. Why not send off for your free support pack and piggyback on the increased awareness and publicity this campaign can provide?

Why not take advantage of some free online training?

Small Business Saturday has partnered with iDEA, The Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award to deliver free, expert online training to small businesses across the UK. It would be great to see Warwckshire's small businesses enrol on this FREE training, where the business, staff and ultimately the customers of Warwickshire can all benefit.

The Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (iDEA) is an international programme aiming to help address the digital skills gap. The programme provides free digital skills education in the form of engaging online modules (badges). The iDEA curriculum has been curated to help inspire people all over the world to become Digital Citizens, Workers, Makers, Entrepreneurs and Gamers to enhance their employability; and to help them become economically active.

To find out more details on Small Business Saturday visit their website https://smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com/ and also see the page https://smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com/iDEA for more information on free online training for staff and your business.

Date for the diary: March 24th 2019, annual Warwickshire Towns Conference

The next Annual Warwickshire Towns Conference is due to take place on Tuesday 24th March, 2020 at Warwick Racecourse.

The highlight of the Warwickshire Towns Network calendar, the conference brings together businesses and place practitioners to learn, debate and showcase town centres' initiatives and issues.

As a 'must-attend' event for place-makers, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), councils and town centre businesses throughout the county this event always has great feedback and this year is set to be no exception as we will be launching the new Warwickshire Towns Awards. More details on these will follow in the next edition of Warwickshire Means Business - In The Towns.

What is the Warwickshire Towns Network?

The Warwickshire Towns Network (WTN) is a collaboration between practitioners and businesses who have a vested interest in the health of Warwickshire Town Centres.

Who do we work with?

Practitioners – these people and organisations are mainly focused on the town as a whole, helping to develop, enhance and attract people to the town.
Businesses – a mix of retail, professional service and leisure within town centres.
Community – are playing an increasingly important role in how their places are shaped.