Aiming to keep putting city on the map
Festive fun, restaurant weeks, FanZones and discount deals are helping attract new visitors to the city centre – and Sunderland Business Improvement District (BID) is looking to bring in more over the next five years.
The BID is now entering the run-up to its renewal and among its priorities is city promotion – making the city centre a place to visit, work, live and enjoy.
“Putting the city centre on the map as a place to socialise and spend leisure time has always been at the forefront of our activities and is something we plan on stepping up as we go forward,” said Sharon Appleby, head of business operations at Sunderland BID.
“Our purpose has always been to make Sunderland a better place to live and work, but we also want to attract new visitors in to help boost the economy and ensure that everyone who lives in the area also chooses to spend their leisure time there.”
With Christmas approaching, the BID has again organised an exciting programme of events with full details set to be revealed soon.
The popular Christmas ice rink will return to Keel Square along with Hadrian’s Tipi, which opened last week and promises to boost the popularity of the city centre to visitors.
Kevin Walker, operations director for Danieli Leisure which runs Hadrian’s Tipi, revealed the company chose Sunderland as its second location after approaching the BID.
After identifying that many customers were heading to its Newcastle site from Sunderland, Danieli Leisure saw it as a logical conclusion to head to Wearside – and a consultation with the BID sealed the deal.
“The BID was instrumental in helping bring Hadrian’s Tipi to Sunderland,” he explained.
“We were looking at a number of locations but the BID’s support was amazing and that was a very big factor in our deciding where we would go.”
The beauty of the tipi is that it’s adding to Sunderland’s already exciting festive offer and should prove a great asset in showcasing the city to local people and those from other afield.
It’s position in Keel Square means it’s also ideally placed for visitors to also spend time in many of the other exciting pubs and restaurants in the area.
The Fire Station, The Peacock, The Lambton Worm, The Greens – just some of the pubs that are likely to be enjoyed by people heading to the city over the festive season.
“We’re really confident that this year we will be attracting visitors who may not have considered visiting Sunderland during the run-up to Christmas,” said Sharon.
“And that means it’s a great opportunity to showcase everything the city has to offer, not just in and around Keel Square but in other areas such as Park Lane where we have some fantastic bars and restaurants.
“There’s already an exciting buzz and hopefully all of our traders will enjoy a really prosperous couple of months.”
However city promotion is not just for Christmas!
Among the BID’s biggest successes has been the introduction of two Restaurant Weeks annually, where visitors can enjoy popular dishes at a special price by downloading vouchers online.
And this year it launched the Little Book of Offers which offered discounts at various city centre businesses. Around 20,000 booklets were distributed at major events to encourage people to visit the city centre and save money on food, drink and shopping.
“We strategically placed the Little Book of Offers at the summer’s largest events such as the Tall Ships Races and the airshow so we could capitalise on the extra visitors to the city, encouraging them to stay longer and spend money,” she said.
“It was so well received we have now produced a second one. Many people visited from other parts of the region and we wanted to show what we had to offer and give them a reason to enter the city centre with the incentive to save money.”
Another successful initiative has been Mak’em Smile, which creates city centre welcome ambassadors.
Training is available to all pub, shop, restaurant and hotel workers in the SR1 area, who then spread the word about what is happening in and around the city.
Following the success of this year’s FanZone for the World Cup, many more are planned for future sporting events such as Euro 2020 and the BID is committed to organising and promoting a full calendar of events to boost business and visitor numbers further.
“The people have spoken and said they want us to continue to raise the city’s profile and work on changing people’s perceptions,” added Sharon.
“What we have is a very close, friendly and hardworking city and we want to give everyone the best chance to be a success.
“The people of Sunderland are what makes it so special and we hope we can garner the support of residents, workers and business owners alike to work towards a stronger, more profitable and sustainable city centre.”