At each stage of reopening, we have rolled out a new phase of our emotive Love Bristol campaign. Hearts in Parks, Love Songs to the City and Disco Balls have supported economic recovery and shone a spotlight on Bristol as a safe and welcoming place to work, study, live, and spend leisure time. These creative campaigns have achieved a remarkable reach of over 1 billion across broadcast, print and digital media.
BID Updates
ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21
Our annual report summarises the activities we have undertaken to support the economic recovery of our levy payers and our city in 2020/21.
20/10/2021
As the Bristol City Centre BID’s fourth year reaches a close, the resilience, adaptability and strength shown by every business affected by the pandemic – and we do mean every business – continues to astound us. Throughout the year, we have continued to keep central Bristol safe, clean, and welcoming for everyone. Our annual report, which you can read in full at the end of this page, summarises the activities we have undertaken to support the economic recovery of our levy payers and our city.
Our TAP for Bristol initiative, supporting services to reduce street homelessness, continues to have a positive impact. It has now raised £47,000 since we launched it in September 2019, which has helped more than 300 individuals move away from a life on our city centre streets.
Through our complementary work led by Natalie, our Streetwise Officer, supported by our full-time Police officer, we have assisted more than 200 businesses to resolve street-based antisocial behaviour.
Tom and the rest of the dedicated Bristol City Centre BID cleansing team have delivered 6,200 hours of additional street cleansing and removed more than 1,200 unwanted tags from levy paying businesses’ property this year.
It is not sustainable for the city to suffer such a significant level of criminal damage from such a small number of people without mounting a cohesive partnership response. So, we are now working more closely with businesses and the council to ensure that this crime is effectively reported and tackled.
We have reduced our management and overhead expenditure by adopting a new financial model. The three city centre BIDs (Bristol City Centre BID, Broadmead BID, and Redcliffe & Temple BID) now share central costs. This means we’re able to deliver our projects more cost-effectively while maintaining the highest possible standards.
In July 2021, Keith Rundle handed over the reins to me, Vicky Lee. As the new Head of the City Centre BID, I will take the business through the next year and into the renewal ballot in September 2022.
Our priority for the year ahead will continue to be the recovery of the city centre, with an increased focus on encouraging people back into the city centre to work and visit. Our cleansing, safety and placemaking work are fundamental to this, along with enhanced investment in the build up to Christmas and the welcome return of our Bristol Light Festival.
Find out more about our 2020/21 projects and initiatives, the BID team updates, our independent operational review, and our plans for the 2021/22 year in the full annual report below.
And finally, a huge thank you to the hundreds of businesses who have engaged with us during this challenging year to ensure we remain focused on delivering for our levy payers and making Bristol an even better place to work, study, live and spend leisure time in.
