Welcome to the Christmas 2017 edition of the Bedminster BID Newsletter

Christmas Events
Highlights for this coming Christmas include

East St Christmas Market on Saturday 25th November. Festive entertainment for the whole family including Santa’s Grotto, Santa’s Elves and reindeer, child friendly rides, street food and an a free arts and craft area. See here.

Christmas Chalk Walk will be taking place on East St at the SAME time. Visitors can create their own Christmas street art using chalk provided. Draw your own festive design on the floor and make yourself part of the scene for the perfect Christmas card photo. SPZero76 will also be making an appearance to add his own mark to the proceedings. See here.

Elf Village will be returning to North Street Green. See how the elves have been getting on at Elf and Safety HQ, Santa’s Workshop & the Elf Inn Hotel. Through December.

Beaming Bedminster Enjoy Bedminster in a whole different light, as shop windows throughout BS3 are illuminated with a series of huge Christmas decorations to celebrate the start of the festive season. Decorative by day and shining by night, these installations will first be lit on Nov 30th, to coincide with the first North Street Nights late night shopping and the switch on of the North Street Lights. If you would like to take part, please email joss@hotsouphouse.com

North Street Nights Throughout the festive season, North & West Street retailers will be opening their doors a little later than usual. Allowing shoppers to head to the area after dark and pick up some special Christmas purchases. Thursday 30th November & December 7th, 14th and 21st.

Sock Snowmen This December the pedestrian bollards of East Street will each be given their own festive makeover. Take part in a workshop to create your own sock snowman to put your own festive touch on East Street. To get involved email info@hotsouphouse.co.uk

Free Christmas Play at Bubble Play Café. Every Saturday afternoon in December, Bubble Play Cafe will be free for little ones! Head on down to The Bubble Play Cafe on East Street between the hours of 2pm & 5pm to make the most of this amazing offer.

Bedminster Lantern Parade will take place on Saturday 9 December at 4pm. Bedminster’s iconic Winter Lantern Parade is back for the sixth year. Street entertainment on the traffic free route starts from 4pm followed by the colourful procession of hundreds of illuminated paper lanterns of all sizes accompanied by live bands. Organisers expect the biggest Parade yet, with a spectacular grand finale firework display at South Street Park. Starting at St Francis Church, North St and ending at South Street Park

Christmas Calendar
All our events are designed to attract new customers to our retail streets and/or encourage more loyalty and frequency with existing shoppers in the area.

11 Nov - North St Fair
25 Nov - Elf Village opens
25 Nov - East St Christmas Market and Christmas Chalk Walk
7th Dec - (ie first Thursday) Beaming Bedminster commences and North Street Nights (late night shopping) incl late night openings
Dec tbc 2x North Street Night Events
9th Dec - Winter Lantern Parade
Dec - Elf Postal Deliveries

Also see our new gift guide here.

Next Year’s Events
We know its hard to look past Christmas but for the first few months of 2018 we have a number of events lined up including

Musicians on the Run – the streets will be alive with music as 15 local musicians battle it out for the a cash prize
Blood and Butchery in Bedminster – in collaboration with local theatre company, Show of Strength, will introduce locals and visitors to some fascinating pubs – and the dark events that happened nearby. Meeting and starting at the Rope Walk on Bedminster Parade, we’ll take up to 20 people on a journey of exploration that includes 4 pubs and a graveyard. True, dark and strange stories, ranging across the centuries, close to where they happened - with stops for warming drinks on a dark night. See here.

BID Five Year Planning and Renewal
As you may already be aware, our BID has a lifespan of five years. This period will come to an end in Spring 2018. In order to continue the good work we have started and to help ensure a healthy future for Bedminster businesses we need to go through a second ballot process (the initial BID was set after an 85% positive ballot in 2013).
To start the process we completed a consultation process to gather as much feedback as possible from Bedminster businesses regarding the activities the BID should pursue. This will inform our BID Business Plan and Proposal for the next five years which we will publish early in the New Year.

Other News
Big Waste Collection Savings
Please remember we have an arrangement with Bristol Waste Company in which all businesses in the BID area enjoy a 20% discount on high quality waste services. See here.

The Wider Retail Context
A report has just been published looking at the changes that have occurred in consumer behaviour with regard to bricks and mortar retail, and the concomitant changes brought about in the eating out market.
Key 'takeaways':

Growth of the internet has led to massive change in retailing and the way destinations function
Whilst footfall has been declining, the increasing consumer demand for experience based trips has meant that retail destinations are proving resilient
Population and employment growth has driven growth in the out of home eating market led by branded quick service restaurants and casual dining
Whilst quality remains an important criterion, price has tripled in importance over the past decade
Delivery already has a sizeable impact on the home eating market but we are on the cusp of another major transformation in eating out technology
Tougher trading conditions have forced operators to exploit their assets through the day with the greatest rate of growth in the breakfast period.

For more information please click here.

Finally
The next meeting of the Board is the Annual General Meeting (AGM) – Tuesday 5th December 6pm at The Steam Crane. All local businesses are invited should they wish to attend when we intend to have a short meeting and a few drinks.
If you are interested in becoming more closely involved with the BID, we are an informal, friendly group, whose basic duties are to direct spending for the BID and Town Team. We invariably hold our meetings at 6pm on the first Tuesday of each month, and are looking for directors who can commit to a minimum of 5-6 meetings per year. Please do get in touch if you'd like to get involved.

About the Business Improvement District
Bedminster BID funding is generated via a small levy on all eligible businesses in the area (equivalent to 1.5% of rateable value) and paid into a central 'kitty' in November each year, to be spent on projects that benefit Bedminster businesses. Our stated priorities are to:

Create vibrant streets that excite and delight
Market and promote Bedminster
Reduce crime and improve the shopping environment
Advocate and lobby for Bedminster business interests
Drive down costs

Please get in touch if you have any ideas about what we should do. Or, if you wish to attend a board meeting or one of our specialist sub-groups in Marketing, Arts & Culture or Built Environment (ie transport, planning and street improvement), please see our calendar here and drop us a line.

Further Information
Business to business news: www.bedminster.org.uk/business-what-is-bid
Customer facing website and social media:

Contacts
George Grace - business @bedminster.org.uk
om Beard - markets@bedminster.org.uk
Simon Dicken (Wilko) - man242@wilko.co.uk
Ben Barker (GBCP) - benbarker@blueyonder.co.uk

We are grateful to local accountants Tyrrell Procter and communications experts Plaster for their generous pro bono contributions to our activities.