Happy New Year from the Bath BID

We are looking forward to a busy and exciting new year in the city.

This year's work programme started early with the trial of a new safety station outside Bath Abbey on New Year's Eve. 

For the trial, the BID provided a medic in a fixed location to add extra safety for revellers making the most of the city on a traditionally busy night. The medic was on duty until 3 am on New Year's Day.  We continue to look for ways to enhance the city's welcome after dark and will be implementing more improvements over the year.

For the cold winter months, we will be creating some cheerful planting on Upper Borough Walls.  Look out for our seasonal display later this month. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the bulbs make their springtime appearance in due course.

Also new for 2018 is the exciting Bath Festival event on The Rec.  Tickets for Tears for Fears and Robert Plant are proving popular and the BID is delighted to be supporting this event.  BID wristbands will be issued to all festivalgoers to make it easy for them to get in and out of the site during the concerts and make the most of the city offer during the weekend.

We have also been involved in supporting the team behind this year's Country Living Festival which will be popping up in Bath over the weekend of May 10th/11th/12th/13th.  A celebration of the country in the city, it will offer events and interest throughout Bath and should be a good 

For the new year we have developed a programme of £5 business workshops, starting with How to Make it Easier for your Customers to Buy  presented by Richard Knight of consumer specialists Shopper Anonymous. Taking place on 30th January at 9.30am, the session will cover sales techniques which can be applied to any business, responding to what your customers need and understanding what they expect.  The workshop will also reveal the details of our recent mystery shopper campaign in Bath. Find out more about the event here.

There is lots of talk about the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the news. All businesses need to make sure that they are completely up to date with the new requirements by May 2018. The penalties for failing to have your data and mailing lists in order are significant and represent a financial risk to your business.  We want to make it easy for BID levy payers to find out what they need to do, so we have organised a workshop session on February 8th from 9.30am.

Tickets are available for both events via Eventbrite with a Special Rate of £5 for BID levy-payers with the promotional code 'BID2017'.  We hope you will make the most of this opportunity to meet fellow Bath businesses and improve your business at the same time.

Making the most of government funding available to businesses to improve their connectivity will be on the agenda for January’s Gigabit Scheme information Event, at the Apex Hotel. I will be attending and would encourage Bath BID Businesses to make the most of this opportunity  (use the discount code 'BID' if you are a levy payer wishing to attend).

Our door is always open, please do get in touch with any city centre queries that you think we may be able to help with - we encourage you to make the most of the Bath BID.

Allison Herbert
BID Manager

• Rapid Response Cleans
• Jet washing and hot wash deep cleans (Chewing Gum Removal)
• Practical maintenance service
• Waste Removal

Do you have a new or enhanced environmental initiative? What makes your organisation stand out environmentally? – You could be the first to win!

Bath BID are proud to sponsor the Environmental Award at the Bath Life Awards for 2018.

The Environmental Award, a brand new category for 2018, is open to any company or organisation which has achieved something significant environmentally in 2017.

Nominations for the Bath Life Awards close on 12 January 2018.

• Bath Life Awards Nominations Close - 12 January 2018
• Thermae Bath Spa Closed - 8 January - 23 January
• Workshop: Enabling your customers to buy – Lessons from Mystery Shopping - 30 January 2018
• Workshop: An Introduction to the new General Data Protection Regulation - 8 February 2018
• Phenomenal Women - A series of talks at the Gainsborough Bath Spa - 2018
• Bath Half Marathon - 4 March 2018
• The Bath Festival - 11 to 28 May 2018
• Country Living Festival - 11 to 13 May 2018