Attracting people to the city centre and keeping them there

Sunderland Bid is about more than attracting people into the city centre – it also needs to spread the word about what there is to keep them there.

Sharon Appleby said the team was looking at ways to encourage people to move around more.

“When we first set the Bid up, it was kind of four key areas, so there was Sunniside, there was Park Lane, there was a retail quarter and then there was the Mac quarter,” she said.

“Actually, that’s still quite a sensible way to look at it but what we don’t do is direct you from Park Lane to Sunniside or from Keel Square to Park Lane.

“Signage is something we’re working with the council on because we all recognise the signage is out of date and that its not pointing to the new things and the right things any more,” she said.

“There’s quite a big amount of work going on around that, whether it is going to be physical, digital, there’s a whole range of things going on. It won’t be very long before that is in-situ.

“We’re talking specifically about Sunday at the moment. There are all kinds of things going on on a Sunday in Sunderland, just not all in one place.”

This year’s Christmas campaign will also see events spread out more than in previous years.

“One of the big things for us around Christmas is about the whole cross-promotion of everything that is going on,” said Sharon.

“So Christmas is a fiveweek programme, there are things happening all the time in different locations this year, which we’ve not really done before.

“We’ve kept it quite tight previously, so in response to some of the issues the traders bring up, we’re working really closely with the guys at Park Lane, the traders and the bars and restaurants.

“We’re still having Keel Square, but one of the big things this year is cross-promotion and we need to encourage other people to help us with that.

“We started Christmas planning in January and we got lots of the businesses in the room and said: “Who wants to stay involved, who wants to be involved in shaping this?’ and actually the majority of those who started are still there and are wanting to bring in different things themselves and work with us, which is fantastic for me.

“I just think the way the Bid will move forward successfully is through partnership and collaboration.”