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TRADER @visitlondonroad
/visitlondonroad W visitlondonroad.co.uk
Welcome to the London Road Trader, London Road’s Portas Pilot Newsletter. The area is really going from strength to strength with new businesses opening, crime falling and a general feeling of excitement in the air. The future is definitely looking bright for London Road. Marketing As part of the London Road Portas Pilot, the London Road Town Team has been working on a number of marketing initiatives in the area to help boost business and start changing some of the perceptions of the area around the city. This includes our new website (visitlondonroad.co.uk), our Twitter and Facebook pages with well over 1000 followers and likes, London Road inspired postcards (left) and our lamp column banners across York Place, London Road and Preston Road. As part of our launch for the website we ran a series of adverts across Juice FM during the whole of February plus a London Road week feature with interviews and competitions.
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Free Advertising Opportunity Don’t miss the opportunity to get your business in front of thousands of people. Visitlondonroad.co.uk gives businesses the opportunity to get listed, promote special offers and any events you might be running. If you haven’t already and want to be listed please send the following information;
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200 - 250 word blurb about the business, logo or photo, full address, email address, Facebook & Twitter URL, website address and contact telephone number.
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Once you have put this together please email of the details to London Road Portas Pilot Manager joe.nichols@brightonportas.com. Your London Road Town Team Town Teams are intended to be the management structure that represents, directs and creates a high street of the future. The London Road Town Team manages the London Road Portas Pilot project and strategically plans a future for the area. Members of the London Road Town Team include representation from independent retailers, multiple outlets, non retail businesses, landlords and community groups. Town Team members are all volunteers and work towards making the London Road area a safer, attractive and more economically vibrant place to live, work and shop.
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LONDON ROAD PORTAS PILOT
Anyone can attend meetings and the London Road Town Team would like to encourage more businesses to be involved. Town Team meetings are on the 28th April, 12th May, 26th May, 2nd June, 16th and 30th June 6pm at the Emporium, London Road.
Issue 4
Crime Reduction Most of you will have noticed or met Nick and Lee, our Town Centre Liaison Officers. As part of our continued efforts to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour in the London Road ! area we employ two Town Centre Liasion Officers. Their role is to reduce anti-social behaviour, improve the feeling of safety, increase the reporting of incidents to the police, respond to incidents as they happen and to gather and share intelligence.
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The team work 16 hours per week on London Road and since we trialled the use of Town Centre Liaison Officers back in September the project has gone from strength to strength.
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Key Points: • Over 100 Incidents reported to the Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) (Sep - Feb) • Working with businesses to encourage communication and reporting to the BCRP and Police. • Liaising closely with local PCSO’s to share intelligence on known and active offenders, this intelligence sharing has directly helped police serve warrants on wanted individuals in the London Road area.
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• Liaise closely with the Business Improvement Districts City Centre Ambassadors sharing intelligence on known offenders.
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• Working on Action Days with Sussex Police targeting shoplifting and theft in the London Road area. Positive Art - Elder Place Mural Project Elder Place and Providence Place (which run directly behind London Road) are key areas for businesses on London Road, either for customer access to the London Road car park or as an important pedestrian thoroughfare between Brighton station and east Brighton. The London Road Local Action Team has been working with the London Road Portas Pilot and Brighton & Hove City Council to develop an action plan.
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Graffiti and tagging effects the general attitude towards a place. Murals are well respected within the street art scene and are at lower risk of being tagged (especially when painted by a high profile artist). Work has already begun with BrightonThinkBig curating and managing accomplished artists as they transform walls with vibrant and cohesive murals. The area will be transformed over the next couple of months with an official launch taking place during the Brighton Fringe Festival with walking tours and talks by some of the artists. The Project has been funded by the London Road Portas Pilot, Arts Council England and B&HCC. London Road Area Local Action Team (LAT) The London Road Area LAT covers the northern end of the St Peters and North Laine ward. Meetings are currently held at the Calvary Church on Viaduct Road (next to the fire station) and take place on the first Tuesday of each month at 18.15. Meetings are attended by ward councillors, the neighbourhood policing team, council officers, community representatives, local residents and traders. Meetings are open to anyone living and/or working in the area and work towards public realm improvements and crime reduction. The LAT is chaired by local resident Philip Wells. You can find out more information on their website londonroadlat.wordpress.com.
Vacancy Rates 2013 was a great year for new businesses opening up in the London Road area and 2014 looks set to continue that trend. When funding for the London Road Portas Pilot was bid for by Brighton & Hove City Council back in 2012 vacancy rates stood at around 16% for the area. Our latest vacancy survey conducted in February shows that our vacancy rate has fallen yet again to 8%. Currently the national average sits around 14% so the London Road area is certainly outperforming many other parts of the UK and is improving quickly.
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NEW Biz! For many, the former Blockbuster unit (84-86 London Road) was a constant reminder of London Road’s misfortune over the past decade. However the tide is certainly turning. One of the latest additions to London Road is Alcampo Lounge.
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Loungers, the West Country based restaurant/café/ bar group responsible for Hove’s Modelo Lounge has opened its second unit in Brighton on London Road. The award-winning business opened at the beginning on March creating over 50 jobs for local people. Loungers has invested £475K in transforming the London Road site into a retro home from home, where dramatic art work sits next to oversized vintage sofas and statement light fittings, in the eclectic style much loved by Lounge aficionados. Alex Kreutz, operations manager, Loungers, said: “Brighton is the perfect site for our Lounge concept. There’s already a thriving and vibrant community and we’re really looking forward to playing our part in the foodie scene here.” It’s not just Alcampo Lounge. The Hare and Hounds and World’s End have both been covered in scaffolding in recent months with impressive outcomes. The World’s End, home to the famous BBQ Shack, has been taken over by the Kraken Rum Octopus, with a brand new seating area at the back ready for the summer. Not only this but they’ve got their own ‘Brewery Fresh Laines Lager’! Over the road, The Hare and Hounds has undergone a complete transformation. Now full of character with a slight industrialised feel they stock a large selection of craft beers from around the world. The pub is joined in the kitchen by famous North Laine Mexican restaurant La Choza who will be serving up there legendary Tostadas, Quesadilla and Burritos. Partnership Working Many of you will have hopefully felt the changes in the area over the past year. The London Road Town Team and Portas Pilot project work in partnership with a number of different organisations and groups including; Brighton & Hove City Council, Department for Communities and Local Government, Association of Town and City Management, City College, Brighton University, Brighton’s Business Improvement District, NCP, Juice FM, Open Market, City Clean, Business Crime Reduction Partnership, Sussex Police, Watkin Jones, Business Cost Reduction Associates, London Road Local Action Team, VisitBrighton, Graves Jenkins, Metamorphosis Group, We Are Pop Up, Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, SameSky, Resolve Security, local landlords and over 230 businesses in the Portas Pilot area. We’d like to thank each and everyone of them for their continued support.
Special Offers and Business Support Working with our partners in the Business Improvement District in Brighton’s City Centre, the Town Team work towards reducing business costs, negotiating special offers and improving services. This includes work with NCP, Juice FM, Visit Brighton, Business Cost Reduction Associates and City Clean. (Please note special offers are only available to businesses in the London Road area, to find out more please get in touch. Street Cleaning The London Portas Pilot has come to a deal with City Clean to deliver enhanced cleansing in the London Road area including pavement jet washing. If you have specific cleaning issues you can report problems on the Brighton & Hive City Council website http://www.brightonhove.gov.uk. NCP Parking Deal London Road Town Team has partnered with NCP. NCP has agreed to support the London Road Portas Pilot by offering a greatly reduced parking deal for local retailers. NCP is offering a massive 84% discount on the normal daily tariff for their North Street car park in Brighton. NCP is offering all day parking Mon - Fri for £4 to all traders in London Road. To find out more please contact joe.nichols@brightonportas.com. Juice FM offer 40% off! Juice 107.2 is Brighton’s only local radio station playing a mix of contemporary music as well as specialist shows. It prides itself on being local and is a great vehicle to promote your business. For £200 per month you get 3 x 20” spots every other day 7am to 7pm for 6 months with commercial production included (usually £250). Juice will also run a week long competition totally free of charge in peak time (week TBC); to qualify you will need to provide 5 x £50 prizes (or equivalent) to give away. E-mail Pippa@juicebrighton.com for more details. Business Crime Reduction Partnership The Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) works with Sussex Police, Brighton & Hove City Council and other agencies to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. A radio handset supplied as part of BCRP membership connects members to each other, Sussex Police and the BCRP team. Membership of the scheme including a radio costs £8.00 per week plus VAT. As a member of the BCRP your business will benefit from reduced levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in or near your premises. For more information, contact the BCRP team on 01273 733 393. Free Business Health Check - BCR Associates The London Road Portas Pilot is working with BCR Associates to deliver a FREE business health check. Since 2005, BCR Associates have been working with UK businesses to help improve their profitability by cutting overspend on essential services. If your business is struggling with rising costs and/or lack of resources to manage them - BCR can help. And you may like to know that their offering is unique in the cost reduction sector as BCR pass all savings back to the customer - something their competitors don’t. For more information contact David Thompson at david.thompson@bcrassociates.co.uk Card Payment Solutions 12p per Card Transaction with the London Road Portas Pilot : London Road has teamed up with CCS to offer you an astonishing reduction on the cost of EPOS card payments: Get the same rates that businesses with £1m turnover get. • • • • • •
There are no turnover distinctions, all customers, even the low turnover customers get the same low rates Personal VISA & Mastercard : 1.1% Debit Cards :12p Corporate & Premium Cards : 1.78% Authorisation Fees 1.5p (Free if Turnover +£500k) Terminals : Spire Terminals and Ingenico range available
@visitlondonroad
/visitlondonroad W visitlondonroad.co.uk