‘BIG SPRING CLEAN’ HELPS CITY SPARKLE AHEAD OF REOPENING
Volunteers from businesses, BID and YMCA collect 95 bags of rubbish from centre
CITY centre businesses and key partners joined forces to clean up their surroundings - and get rid of 95 bags of rubbish.
The activity was part of Operation Sparkle, an allencompassing project taking on small-scale tasks like litter-picking, to larger-scale initiatives such as new street art pieces. It is hoped that it will attract shoppers and visitors, and increase footfall.
Businesses along Piccadilly and beyond – including We Are Culla, The Orchard Bar and Bistro, XPVR,
The Slamwich Club, The Sugarmill, The Gin Rummy, NØRTH Kitchen + Bar and Planet VR – united to litterpick, de-clutter and have a general tidy-up.
The clean-up took place at the weekend in advance of Covid restrictions being relaxed from April 12.
From that date, several of the venues will reopen as outdoor hospitality spots.
As well as the businesses, staff from the Potteries Centre and youngsters from the YMCA also joined in with cleaning up the city centre.
Rob Fenton, creative director for Piccadillybased screenprinting studio and creative agency We Are Culla, said: “We have a real sense of pride for our city and champion it wherever and however we can, so we were of course pleased to play our part and support the other businesses in cleaning up the street.
“There was a real community feel to the day and that’s what Operation
Sparkle is all about - a community approach to make our city centre shine.”
The Potteries Centre staffs – along with family members – brandished litter-pickers, gave the perimeter of the centre a lick of paint and tended to garden areas. General manager Amy Whittaker said: “We are proud to play our part in making our great city centre the best it can be.
“It was also great to see so many fellow Stokies getting involved over the weekend. It was a real team effort and there was a fantastic atmosphere as we all rolled up our sleeves to give the city centre a big spring clean ahead of the reopening of nonessential retail.”
Stoke-on-trent city centre manager Richard Buxton, right – who also got in on the litter picking action at the weekend – said: “The team displayed true good neighbourliness as their actions went far beyond just the perimeter of the own business, but they also lent a hand to businesses located elsewhere in the city centre and applied their efforts in cleaning up the environment to the wider area.
“This is a great example of seeing the bigger picture for our city centre, and being an active catalyst towards the positive change that we all want to see, and we applaud the work they’ve put into Operation Sparkle.”
Young people from YMCA North Staffordshire volunteered their time to help senior ambassador
April Jackson with a much-needed litter pick in Birdcage Walk, and in other parts of the town.
“It was a really fulfilling way to spend a Saturday and it’s great to see what an improvement we’re making to our environment,” said April.
“Over the space of just a few hours, the combined efforts of everybody involved in the Operation Sparkle weekend resulted in approximately 95 bags of rubbish being cleared, which Stoke-on-trent City Council then removed for us.
“I’d encourage everyone to spend a few minutes picking up litter around them.
“If everyone did this, our city would truly sparkle.”
For details about Stoke-ontrent City Centre BID visit stokeontrentcitycentre.co.uk
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