Stoke-on-Trent City Centre BID

If you a champion for the city of Stoke-on-Trent, you are invited to join Emily Whitehead for the Centenary Collective 2 Event, hosted at Genr8 Smithfield Works. Whether you attended the first meeting back in July or not, this is a fantastic opportunity to reconnect, collaborate and engage with other like-minded champions to create some action towards the next steps of SOT100. You can register your FREE place to attend this event via Eventbrite here: https://lnkd.in/e4VGs4Zc We hope to see you there for an afternoon of great energy and passion for our City.

What a night 🏆️It was a delight to attend Staffordshire University Business Awards 2024 as sponsors of the High Street Impact Award category. A brand new category with a fierce deliberation, remarkable businesses and individuals across the county put themselves forward, including many from our very own city centre. It was incredible to see the team behind the Potteries Artisan Market recognised for their impact on the high street and to see Jake Burgess (pictured) secure Young Business Person of the Year AND High Street Impact. We're so looking forward to our upcoming autumn and winter market days and special activities coming very soon 🤫 The excitement continued as each esteemed guest also received a City Centre Gift Card, to support and reach city centre businesses creating their own impact and success. Who knows, you could be next year's winner! 👀

Pre-sale for the Stoke-on-Trent City Centre Gift Card is now live! Get set to shop big brands and indies yet to be explored in the city centre, from retail to hospitality, beauty to food & drink. You can pre-order your very own card from today, ahead of the official launch on 27th September. Gift cards ordered now will be sent when available at the end of September, just in time for planning those employee rewards and Christmas gifts. For assistance or more information on corporate gifting for the Stoke-on-Trent City Centre Gift Card, get in touch with marketing@stokeontrentbid.co.uk.

Not one to be skipped! 📣♻️ Brown Recycling Skip Art Challenge Exhibition launches in Stoke-on-Trent City Centre next week. The exhibition, created in conjunction with us at the BID will be the opportunity for the public to see a display of skips that have been transformed by ten talented artists into extraordinary works of art as part of the Brown Recycling Skip Art Challenge. Discover more details: https://lnkd.in/g5kh5wZ4

In between the magic that was The Big Feast and the Potteries Artisan Market in the city centre last Saturday, you may have seen our team giving away on the spot prizes to unsuspecting shoppers at The Potteries Centre. These included rubber ducks, glorious Staffordshire oatcakes and of course, the first of our City Centre Gift Cards, which will be available to pre-order very very soon! We're thrilled at the response to the City Centre Gift Card so far, with lots of shoppers already thinking about keeping their Christmas shopping on their doorstep, and local businesses rethinking their corporate gifting agenda. There's heaps of businesses signed up to the programme already, including Primark, TKMaxx and HMV, with lots of businesses in the wider city centre too including Drop City Books, Gin Rummy Bar and Kitchen and Geek Retreat Stoke. That's just the beginning though...👀

This August Bank Holiday weekend welcomes the 10th anniversary of The Big Feast! Since launching back in 2014, Appetite has brought this festival-style event to the people of Stoke-on-Trent City Centre; showcasing local, national and global artists to enrich the city for two unforgettable days with music, theatre, dance and so much more. We have been beyond proud supporters of Appetite and making events such as this accessible to all, free to enjoy and suitable for all ages. @Gemma Thomas

A Statement from the CEO: Stoke-on-Trent City Centre BID on the Events in Our City Centre on Saturday 3rd August 2024 Saturday 3rd August was a sad day for our City Centre. Rival groups came into our City to violently push their agenda. At NO POINT was Saturday peaceful. Before the physical violence, the atmosphere was incredibly intimidating. We also recognise that during the morning, there was a non-violent protest, organised by NorSCARF who were present at the Town Hall.  BID staff and myself were "on the ground" from early morning. Throughout the day, we witnessed scared people of all ages not involved in the protest, locked into shops with business staff too scared to leave, well before the physical violence started. Both groups had weapons. Both groups assaulted people. Both groups verbally attacked the police, businesses and shoppers. Both groups had no regard for the damage they caused to our City on Saturday. I don't mean physical damage - that we can fix. But, we, along with other High Streets across the country are suffering and the pain for our businesses moving forward goes far beyond knives and bricks. Shops closed, bars and restaurants closed, music venues and theatres having to cancel performances. For those of you reading who may support yesterday's actions, let me share what I felt was even sadder than the damage I mentioned above. When the physical violence started yesterday, both groups had children "out front". Young teenagers with weapons. 13, 14, 15 years old. Our future. And the adults in the opposing groups let them be there. Is this the future you are supposedly fighting for? To our businesses, I hope my staff helped in a small way to keep you safe. I'd like to thank those businesses on the City Centre radio system who constantly updated each other on the threat and allowed us to protect those ahead of them as the violence escalated across our streets. Thanks to our City Council CCTV team and those in the control room who updated me constantly throughout this difficult day. Thanks to our businesses who listened to our advice, without question, to protect their staff and the public. Finally, apologies to the public who came to shop, came to sit at a café, came to a show...we did our best for you under the incredibly difficult circumstances. To our Local and National leadership and to the senior people within the opposing groups, please don't allow this to happen again. Richard Buxton CEO, Stoke-on-Trent City Centre BID

Give 'em the gift of local with the brand new Stoke-on-Trent City Centre Gift Card, set to launch later this month! 📣 We're so thrilled to share this BID funded initiative for our businesses, encouraging local spend and loyalty to awesome indies and big name brands on our doorstep. The Stoke-on-Trent City Centre Gift Card will be a single gift card for Hanley. Retail, hospitality attractions, health and beauty and service based businesses are all eligible to accept the card which has been lovingly designed by local award-winning artist, Chloe Breeze. Working through the Mastercard system, businesses need no additional equipment to accept the card. Both national brands and independent businesses will be part of the new gift card, including businesses at The Potteries Centre – the largest shopping centre in Staffordshire and South Cheshire. We are excited to be a part of the award-winning Town & City Gift Card initiative from fintech Miconex. If you are a business in our BID levy zone and would like to get involved with the gift card, please email us at marketing@stokeontrentbid.co.uk. Potteries Shopping Centre Chloe Breeze Miconex British BIDs Full news release: https://lnkd.in/eeD6udVh

No other words than epic really! Today in collaboration with Rob Fenton and 40 artists from across the country, ArtJam landed in our city centre. Featuring murals, music, kids crafts and even a pop up skate park from Unit 1 Skatepark, it's been brilliant seeing collaboration and creativity on display on a huge scale. We highly encourage you to take a gander and pick your favourites! This project was made possible with thanks to the UKSPF City of Imagination Fund and special permission from Stoke-on-Trent City Council to transform this fencing. We've created a dedicated City Centre Art Trail Map with our friends at StaffDesignCo. and Panda Press (Stone) Ltd, which you can download here: https://lnkd.in/e3gkCitj

Creating Opportunities and Partnerships with The Potteries Centre 🌟 The Potteries Centre are giving the opportunity to secure a unit as a pop-up store, set up for immediate trade, with a range of standard facilities including utilities, furnishings, and storage - the ideal space for a product launch or getting more visibility for small and upcoming brands. There will also be dedicated social media channels for the store so that each business has an additional platform for wider promotion. So far, the initiative has supported local independents such as: The Retro Shack Great Outdoors Eco Boutique Spoiltland Longton Snooker & Pool Cheshire Paints KIHT Collective Keep it Local Books for Less Timeless Photography Aloud clothing To find out more or to apply for use of the unit, you can email Cheryl Butters on cheryl.butters@potteriescentre.co.uk Jess Swain at jessica@barkerproudlove.co.uk Phil Coombes at phil@barkerproudlove.co.uk or Kiera McLaughlin at kiera@barkerproudlove.co.uk.