Southport BID chief executive Rachel Fitzgerald with her monthly column
It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of January already as we are out and about talking to national retailers and other businesses in the town centre about how they found the Christmas period.
It’s a mixed picture, with many retailers reporting a busy Christmas shopping period while others including those in our hospitality sector struggling with cancelled bookings and no shows over the festive period.
The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant Scheme and the government’s Additional Restrictions Grant payments announced last week will be a welcome help to many – – although arguably does not go far enough.
Our purpose as a Business Improvement District (BID) is to increase spend and attract investment into Southport, which has never been more important as we emerge from Covid restrictions.
That’s why, through our levy payers, we organised and funded a series of Christmas attractions to encourage residents and visitors into our town centre to enjoy everything Southport has to offer.
And it’s fantastic that our sold-out Father Christmas and Frozen grottos not only welcomed 693 children but also raised £2500 for Southport Lions.
Similarly our Digital Winter Wonderland, which saw the UK’s first immersive experience take over an empty shop in Marble Place Shopping Centre, attracted over 1,200 visitors plus pupils from local schools raising £2,500 for Southport Lifeboat Trust.
Great timing with the opening of their new lifeboat station earlier this month.
Congratulations to the Sarbutts family and Harrison,8, and Evie who’s nearly 10, who won a specially engraved iPad for winning our Gingerbread Family Trail competition- glad you found them all.
And businesses still continue to sign up to sell and accept our Southport Gift Card which gives shoppers a choice of over 80 venues while protecting local spend. Victoria Leisure is the latest to come on board so people can pay for memberships and one day passes through the scheme with future offers in the pipeline.
While we continue to support businesses during uncertain times and to lobby government on important issues raised by our levy payers we’re also looking to the future.
We’ll continue our campaign to bring a full fibre, gigabit-capable network to the town positioning Southport at the centre of the region’s next digital revolution. To support this we’re working with digital businesses to establish a digital and creative cluster.
We’ve exciting plans for a new campaign to get residents to connect with and engage with their Southport and we’re planning our first social event of the year for Southport professionals.
This month we’re also looking forward to welcoming Katherine Fairclough, Chief Executive of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority to Southport.
A key part of our work is ensuring our national and independent businesses have a voice both nationally and within the City Region so welcoming Katherine will be a great opportunity to discuss all things business.
The column first appeared in the Southport Champion.
