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Experience Guildford to represent South East in the UK FinalsExperience Guildford has been selected from more than 1,000 entrants to take part in the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Britain in Bloom UK Finals 2015, the pinnacle of the community gardening world. Experience Guildford will be representing the South East.*

A total of 70 communities across the UK have been selected for this special honour, including towns, villages, cities, urban communities and new in 2015, business improvement districts. UK Finalists represent the very best of community gardening in the UK.

South East nominated Experience Guildford to the national finals of the competition following the regional stage of judging in 2014. Experience Guildford was selected for engaging every element of the community, for demonstrating an exceptional commitment to helping the environment and for top horticultural achievement. Experience Guildford will be joining London Bridge and Melton Mowbray BID in the Business Improvement District category.

Although the campaign runs all year round, the run-up to the judges’ August tour is a time when communities throughout the UK unite and redouble their efforts. Experience Guildford will be visited by two RHS judges who will meet community representatives and go on a tour of local projects. Judges will assess everything from local recycling initiatives to areas of natural habitat and conservation. They’ll also be looking at the management of street furniture and public parks, and will be assessing how well the group is responding to climate change and how they are engaging the community in their local Bloom activities.

Results will be announced at an awards ceremony this October and will be attended by representatives of all 70 finalists.

Amanda Masters, General Manager at Experience Guildford says:

“2014 was our first year entering South & South East in Bloom and we are delighted to be representing the South East within the BID category of the UK finals this year. The ethos behind the BID is for town centre businesses to

collectively work together to create a better trading environment and initiatives such as BID in Bloom are a great example of such collaborative working. We are pleased that so many businesses and associations got behind and supported us throughout the campaign, demonstrating that like us they feel passionate about maintaining Guildford’s position as one of the most attractive shopping destinations in the South East.”

Stephanie Eynon, RHS Community Horticulture Manager, said: “It’s such an achievement to get to the UK Finals of the Bloom campaign. These communities are transforming their towns, cities and villages with gardening and environmental activities. Volunteers of all ages join in and they make a tremendous impact. It isn’t about who beats who in the UK Finals – it’s about what volunteers are doing for their community - at the end of the day, every participating community is already a winner. Well done Experience Guildford and good luck!”

For more information on RHS Britain in Bloom www.rhs.org.uk/communities

MarchApril

Experience Guildford chosen for RHS Britain in Bloom 2015 Finals

• The theme this year is “Alice In Wonderland”. You can be as literal or abstract as you like!

• All shops interested in taking part must notify EG by June 1st.

• The windows must be in place between Monday 15th June and end of Sunday 21st June.

• Experience Guildford will take photos of all the windows on Monday 15th June and put on EG website for the public vote.

• Between 15th and 21st June, 4 independent judges will tour the participating windows and mark each one out of 10 on each of 3 criteria

Criteria:

• Theme - Does the design follow the given theme?

• Innovation - Does the design use unusual materials or methods of display?

• Space - Does the design use the given space available well?

• The public vote via the website will close on Monday 29th June.

• The winner will be decided by the % of public votes and the % judges’ scores added together.

Britain In Bloom Window Competition

Marketing and Promotion was the most important part of the business plan followed by Safe Clean and Welcoming, Access and Car Parking and Business Support

Marketing Promotion and Events

7 out of 10 respondents said Experience Guildford’s delivery of marketing promotion and events to support the town was excellent or very good.

Respondents asked for more communication of events and activities to the public, online, via social media and through advertising, plus better communication to BID members of the performance of specific initiatives

ACTION: Co-ordinated advertising and communications to support events and activities, development of customer database for targeted messaging and greater emphasis on social media campaigns. Regular communications

• 1st April - Expression of interest National Armed forces day closing

• June 1st - Window Competition entry Guildford In Bloom (deadline)

• 27th June - National Armed Forces Day

• 4th July - Raft Race

• 4th July - Independents Day

• 17th July - Customer Service Awards voting opens

• 3rd week of July - South and South East in Bloom Judging

• 1st week of August - Britain In Bloom judging

• 14th – 16th August - Beach

• 28th September - Annual General Meeting

• The eyes and ears of Guildford town seven days a week.

• Over 600 personal visits to businesses per month.

• Rangers have a very diverse patrol strategy addressing any issue in the town with the philosophy “ If I can’t fix it, I will find someone who can” and seeing every issue through to a satisfactory conclusion. This approach was confirmed recently when Rangers listening to local issues saw the need to create small street forums, such as Market Street and Chapel street , where traders can voice their concerns on a more local and personal basis, these being hosted Experience Guildford.

Highlights of the month

• Monitor homeless and vulnerable persons, connecting them to HOST

(Homeless Outreach and Support Team) resulting in a number of persons receiving the support they need.

• In partnership with Local authority and Neighbourhood Police Joint Action Group ( JAG) gather evidence of low level Anti-Social Behaviour such as begging or drunkenness and Working closely with GBC Park Rangers the Town Rangers patrol the Town’s parks offering a reassuring presence.

• Rangers recently found a large quantity of stolen electrical goods hidden away, ready for retrieval by the culprit, but now in the safe hands of Guildford Police.

• Rangers often visit businesses which are victims of crime to offer reassurance and advice , many

joining the free Experience Guildford Town Crime Reduction Partnership and obtaining a Town Link radio, connecting them to the town security family.

• The Rangers role has developed over the last two years but their primary role is to work with the businesses of Guildford.

The Bluecaps are on duty 7 days a week from 8am – 6pm.

Contact details:

Chris – chris@experienceguildford.com

07711 408 137

Pete – pete@experienceguildford.com

07711 408 142

Dates for your diaryTown Rangers update

Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey Results

Follow Us At:

88% of Businesses understand what the BID does

15% of responses were from Restaurants

54% of responses were from National Businesses

4% of responses were from offices

46% of responses were from Independent Businesses

4% of responses were from leisure and Lifestyle

77% of responses were from Retailers

back to BID members via newsletters and e shots plus the introduction of quarterly BID networking sessions to encourage greater communication amongst members.

Safe Clean and Welcoming

7 out of 10 respondents said Experience Guildford’s delivery of activities relating to making the town safer, cleaner and more welcoming was excellent or very good. The visibility and helpfulness of Experience Guildford’s Town Rangers was commended and respondents asked for further support in crime reduction and control of unruly night time behaviour.

ACTION: An Experience Guildford’s Town Centre Crime Reduction Partnership is now fully operational and the Database and Intranet for safer Communities portal is extending reach to include more Businesses. Project’s connected to Guildford’s Purple Flag accreditation are being rolled-out throughout the year.

Access and Car Parking

Over half of respondents said that Experience Guildford’s delivery of access and car parking initiatives was excellent or very good. Respondents called for more free or discounted parking

promotions and greater support for the town centre employees in terms of parking spend.

ACTION: This is consistently an area that Experience Guildford places a great deal of emphasis on. Experience Guildford will continue to deliver free and subsidised parking initiatives with the support of Guildford Borough Council and are currently exploring ways to help workers in the town centre reduce their travel costs.

Business Support

Over half of respondents said Experience Guildford’s initiatives to support Businesses were excellent or very good.

Respondents asked for increased provision of Experience Guildford’s Privilege cards and greater emphasis and communication of free training.

ACTION: Experience Guildford’s continued focus on circulation of privilege cards. Free training initiatives including ‘The Digital High Street’ course and food hygiene later in the year.

Top five most supported initiatives respondents felt were beneficial to the town are:

• Town Rangers

• Little Book of Offers Christmas Promotion

• Experience Guildford’s Customer Service Awards

• Free parking over Christmas

• Guildford Christmas light switch on event

Guildford’s pubs and bars celebrated at the Mandolay Hotel on Thursday 26 February as the town’s Best Bar None award winners were announced following a second year of judging. Delivered by Experience Guildford, the town centre’s Business Improvement District, the nationally acclaimed awards celebrate best practice amongst the licensed trade, showcasing the hard work and commitment of Guildford’s venues to create and run safe, responsible and inviting town centre drinking establishments.

A total of 17 venues entered the awards across six key categories covering best bar, best pub and best late night venue and focussing on independent and national operators. Each venue was assessed and judged by an expert panel on their delivery of four set operational criteria to elect individual category winners and an overall Guildford Best Bar None winner, sponsored TG Media Group. The assessment criteria included:

• Prevention of crime and disorder

• Public safety

• Prevention of public nuisance

• Protection of children from harm

All of the venues that entered the awards attained a gold standard of accreditation from judges, achieving a score of over 95% against the set criteria.

Steaming ahead The Boileroom was crowned Best Bar None overall winner and also picked up the award for Best Independent Pub. Unanimously selected by the judges, The Boileroom was praised for exceeding Best Bar None criteria, for its excellent community and charity engagement and for investment in young people. It was also applauded for taking the emphasis of pub life away from ‘vertical drinking’ by providing a place of entertainment that offered a positive and safe experience.

Dominique Frazer , Director and

Licensee of The Boileroom says:

‘We are very humbled to have received both the award for Best Independent Pub and Overall Winner. To attain such recognition from not only our peers but those in local authority is a great achievement. Our team of bar staff, door supervisors and promoters will continue to champion best practise within our industry.’

The Britannia swooped in to win Best Pub within the national category for the second year and G Live and Radisson Blu Edwardian’s MKB Bar won Best Bar in the independent and national categories respectively.

Best Late Night Venue within the independent category was awarded to The Legion, along with a ‘Judges Special Recognition Award’ to reflect the improvements made by the business over the previous 12 months in line with Best Bar None criteria. The national category for Best Late Night Venue was awarded to JD Wetherspoon’s, Lloyds No1 Bar.

Alasdair Wilson, Manager of The Legion says:

“The Legion has always strived to be at the pinnacle of the night time economy in Guildford and we were delighted to win not only Best Independent Late Night Venue but also the Judge’s Special Recognition Award, which acknowledges the hard work of the team.”

Commenting on the successful delivery of this year’s Best Bar None Awards, Stuart Craggs, Night Time Economy Manager at Experience Guildford says:

“For the second year Guildford’s pubs, clubs and bars have got behind Best Bar None and volunteered to have their businesses openly scrutinised on how well they are managed and operated. Each venue exceeded the strict criteria set by the judges, reflecting the hard

work of our night time economy to make Guildford the safest and most enjoyable town in Surrey for a great night out, plus the great working relationships between licensing, the police and other key partners.”

Best Bar None is just one of the initiatives that Experience Guildford and partners have introduced to ensure Guildford is a safe and welcoming environment to work, live and play, and a key factor of the town attaining Purple Flag status in 2014. Key partners involved with the delivery of Best Bar None include Guildford Borough Council, Community Safety, Surrey Fire and Rescue and Surrey Police along with community charity groups such as Street Angels.

Cllr Graham Ellwood, Chairman of Guilford Borough Council’s Licensing Committee says:

“The late night economy is a vital part of Guildford’s thriving economy and the result of an excellent working partnership between Guilford Borough Council’s Licensing and Environmental Health Departments, our pubs, clubs and restaurants and Surrey Police who keep all who come to Guildford safe.

“Collectively these initiatives have positively influenced the town and led to Purple Flag accreditation. Purple Flag assessors praised Guildford for its strength of partnership working to create a safer night time economy and environment for evening visitors and the influence of the Best Bar None awards as a contributing factor in their assessment.”

For more information on Guildford’s Best Bar None Awards and other initiatives to enhance and promote Guildford’s safety visit www.experienceguildford.com or email Experience Guildford’s Night Time Economy Manager, Stuart Craggs on Stuart@experienceguildford.com.

Guildford toasts the towns Best Bar None Awards Experience Guildford Town Centre

Crime Reduction Partnership along with Banham Security , Surrey Fire and Rescue and Crimestoppers, the UK’s independent charity helping law enforcement, are holding an open day to advise Guildford’s businesses and homeowners how to better protect themselves. Taking place at the Guildhall, Guildford High Street on 6th March, the event will run from 10am to 4pm, is free to attend and open to residents, businesses and visitors.

Featuring advice on how to secure your property, personal safety support and guidance on how to protect your belongings, experts from a range of crime reduction and safety organisations will be on-hand to offer one-to-one free consultation.

Commenting on the Crime Reduction Open Day and the vision behind it, Stuart Craggs, Experience Guildford’s Night Time Economy Manager and coordinator of the Experience Guildford Town Centre Crime Reduction Partnership says;

“Working together with the local community, local businesses and local law enforcement agencies means that Guildford can stay one step ahead of the game when it comes to tackling crime. We all want to live and work in a safer environment and initiatives such as the Crime Reduction Open Day help empower the public and businesses with the necessary information and resources to make Guildford a safer place for everyone. Such collaborative working sends a message loud and clear to any would be offenders and helps unite our

town.”

For more information on the Experience Guildford Town Centre Crime Reduction Partnership and for details of the Crime Reduction Open Day visit www.experienceguildford.com or email stuart@experienceguildford.com.

Experience Guildford Town Centre Crime Reduction Partnership and Banham Security help make Guildford’s businesses and homes safer

Experience Guildford is delighted to announce the launch of its new BID members networking club, designed to help bring the businesses behind the BID together. Scheduled to run four times a year, the Engage Guildford Networking Club offers the ideal opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with fellow BID members, hear the latest news and opportunities from the town and the Experience Guildford team and offer your suggestions to keep Guildford in the spotlight.

The first Engage Guildford Networking Club will take place on Tuesday 14 April at the Experience Guildford offices, Tunsgate, from 8am to 9.30am. Free to attend and with complimentary refreshments it will focus on the key issues and ideals important to all BID members.

Amanda Masters, General Manager at Experience Guildford, will open the first Engage Guildford with an overview of the BIDs second year in operation and a summary of the key findings from the latest BID members survey.

The Experience Guildford Board will be on hand to answer any questions plus to hear your thoughts on how we can all work together towards a more prosperous town centre.

Further Engage Guildford Networking Clubs are scheduled for:

14 July 2015

13 Oct 2015

12 Jan 2016

Engaging GuildfordNetworking Club

Experience Guildford we are proud to have hosted a three part training course for 13 businesses earlier this year.Digital High Street Skills is a brand new, tailor-made suite of training programmes specifically designed to help small businesses develop their knowledge of the internet, social media and benefits of getting their business online.From developing a website to using email marketing and social media, the Digital High Street Skills Programme run by the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM), will equip small business with the confidence, skills and tools they need to benefit from the rapid growth of e-tailing and ultimately increase their bottom line.

Digital High Street Skills

If you want to be the first to know about events and initiatives that Experience Guildford organise, make sure you are receiving our monthly email newsletter for businesses. Email lauren@experienceguildford.com to sign up.

New Shops

Myakka is a bringing a treasure trove of fair trade solid wood furniture, soft furnishings, lighting and home accessories to Guildford.Having successfully traded for many years through its dedicated mail order catalogues and website, Myakka is delighted to announce the opening of its first shop on Guildford High Street, in Spring 2015.

Founder and Director, Georgie Hopkins, explains: “This is a really exciting time for Myakka. We have a very different approach to fair trade; our products are design-led, covetable pieces in fresh, individual styles that are perfect for modern living. It is fantastic to be able to provide customers with an opportunity to see and touch products before they buy, particularly with the larger furniture items.

With a strong science and innovation foundation, MBT® has a unique approach that understands the human benefits of health, wellness and staying on the moveWe know our consumers have realistic health and fitness ambitions. They want to maintain a healthy lifestyle which enables them to live and love life to the fullest.

The natural instability of the unique MBT® sole imitates walking on soft,

Italian footwear brand Superga announces the opening of its new Surrey store at 3 Market Place, Guildford. It’s hard to believe that Superga is well over 100 years old. Under the care and attention of Walter Martiny in 1911, the Superga factory began to produce shoes with vulcanized rubber soles. It was here, in Turin, Italy, the Classic Superga 2750 heritage style was born.

After closing during the war, the Superga factory reopened with a mission to bring high quality footwear to the people of Italy. The 2750 became established as the people’s shoe of Italy, and Superga increased its product line with technical sport shoes, rubber rain boots and a growing range of colours and styles.

Sir & Madam opened in Jeffries Passage nine years ago by Wannat and her family, the Suwannets.Together they brought their favourite recipes from their native Thailand and poured their warmth and passion into Sir & Madam, creating one of the most popular independent Thai restaurants ever to grace Guildford.

Now, with the new Sir & Madam 2 Go, they appear to have worked their magic once again, honing their authentic Thai cuisine to appeal to a different type of customer.

Think of the steaming, coconut-rich fragrance of Thai green chicken curry; the warming, aroma of freshly made massaman red curry, humming with red chilli, peanuts and eastern spice.

Electric Bikes speed into Guildford Town CentreElectric Bikes Guildford, on Woodbridge Road between the Lighting Centre and Bo Concept, opened its doors to the public on 26th January. It is an exciting new independent shop owned by Guildford residents Chris and Annie Ogle that is selling electric bikes exclusively.

The bikes vary from commuter style touring or hybrid to full mountain bikes, complete with front and rear suspension.

uneven surfaces. The technology in the sole has been patented worldwide to provide the greatest comfort possible, as it allows you to enjoy the natural benefits of walking every day.

10% off for all NHS Staff