in marketing. All the hotels and guest houses were full; restaurants were doing amazing business, not just the ones in the town centre but next to the motorway. “It brought a spread of economic benefit to the town.” Next on the council’s agenda is to build on the economic growth and it plans to do so by producing similar events to the Dismaland exhibition, which included an anti-fairy tale castle, a Cinderella carriage and special performances from Pussy Riot, De La Soul, Kate Tempest, DJ Premier and Leftfield. Deputy head of the council Elfan Ap Rees said the event not only brought £20 million to the local economy but it also helped give a financial surge to the more traditional businesses and parts of Weston, which would normally have started to turn quiet as the summer holidays came to an end. He said: “It brought at least £20 million into the local economy but it also brought in new types of visitors who were looking for culture events rather than the traditional and quick weekend. That boosted the economy in areas which were traditional, so it was extremely good from that point of view. “As a council we obviously invested in it because we could see the potential but we were surprised by the level of income that it brought into the town. “We were expecting about £7-8 million, not £20 million. It benefited a lot of other people like the Grand Pier and the hotels which were booked at a time when it usually goes quiet. “For the council we ran out of car parking spaces and we had to borrow extra to cope with the demand and extra trains were run to get people to the town, so everyone in the town
Banksy’s Dismaland exhibition has now put Weston-super-Mare firmly on the map, say the heads of the council’s economy and its town centre manager WBG-E01-S2
benefited. For the council it was a good learning curve in terms of what to do in the future for the bay and for the Trop site, turning that site into a culture hub for performance and the arts and that kind of development because it attracts new people to Weston. “Rather than everybody else fighting over sales of ice creams and sticks of rock it brings a different type of person to the town, who may indeed buy that sort of stuff but would also be interested in something new.” The traditional theme of deckchairs, fish and chips by the seaside and building sandcastles next to the Grand Pier is not something that will be covered over in 2016, but rather embellished with new events and activities, as well as big days such as Weston Beach Race, Weston Carnival and Weston Air Day which already pull in thousands of visitors each year. Cllr Ap Rees said: “I don’t think it is a question of taking away from the traditional; it’s adding to the existing offer. Weston will always be popular as a traditional seaside resort – we saw that business increasing over the years following work on the promenade. “We are looking to regenerate the town centre and have started work on that. The college now has university status so from both a visitor and a resident point of view Weston is changing and it is changing for the better. “It is bringing more money into the town and what we will try to do now is widen that spend, rather than repeating the same old things. “Another aim is to bring people to Weston for events but also for business people to live in Weston and commute to work. This will raise the profile and the revenue of the town.” Now the Tropicana site is no longer home to a giant Ferris wheel, an iron-sculpture of a horse and hundreds of other incredible pieces of artwork, plans are being made by the council’s tourism group to fill the space once again now that Banksy has put the town firmly on the map. Cllr Ap Rees added: “Banksy has made the name of Weston known worldwide and we are capitalising on that now to develop other culture events to attract other art icons to Weston-superMare. “We have got ideas and we are talking to people but we are not going to jump the gun to reveal until we have things tied up. “We have been contacted by people saying what they would like to do there and one of the things we need to do now is sift out the inquiries and look at the serious ones which we think will benefit the town. “For 2016 we want more growth for the town as we continue to work on the investment in the town centre. “And the transfer of the Winter Gardens to Weston College is something that will be moving forward in this year and it will bring more young people in the town centre with money to spend . “There is a bright future for Weston without a doubt and there are opportunities for businesses enterprises to join that success. “What Banksy has done is highlight what Weston-super-Mare is capable of doing and while there is only one Banksy there are lots of other people and opportunities out there.” But how hard will it be to create something as iconic and incredible as the bemusement park of Dismaland? Some believe it will no doubt be a challenge, but one the town can take on. Mr Townsend said: “It will be a difficult thing to replace as Dismaland was a unique opportunity, but it could perhaps be a seasonal site to stage some really good stuff for Weston. “Unless the events team have something up their sleeve it will be difficult to replicate something like the Dismaland experience but a smaller piece of activity could happen. “Weston can grow by doing similar things as the world now knows that site is there. “We have some great events in this town and we have probably raised the bar quite high in terms of finding something to replace that with, but I have every confidence in the events team. “Fingers crossed we can all work together and get something as appealing to get visitors back to Weston in those sorts of numbers.”
THURSDAY JANUARY 28 2016 BUSINESS GUIDE 2016 - WESTON SUPER MARE 19