Building A Creative High Street

Invitation

The Rochdale Borough High Street Foundation invites you to attend this exciting workshope can stimulate more creative activities around the arts, music, heritage, theatre and dance etc

Timetable

1.00pm Welcome

Pam Smith, Executive Director, Rochdale Council

1.05pm Rochdale Arts & Heritage Offer

Andy Kelly, Andy Kelly Associates

1.20pm The Future But Not As We Know It – Retail’s Rapid

Transformation

Paul Turner Mitchell, Chair of Rochdale Borough High Street

Foundation

1.30pm Reinventing the High Street – Finding New Uses for Empty

Shops

Dan Thompson – Empty Shops Network

1.50pm Thinking Beyond Retail

Martin Ballard, The Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre

2.00pm Pop Up Art

Emrys Morgan, The Hive Projects

2.10pm Pop Up Shops – Perfect for starting up, growing or moving your

business

Dan Thompson, Empty Shops Network

2.25pm Business Rates – What you need to know

Ruth Bailey, Rochdale Council

2.30pm Q&A

Questions from the floor

2.45pm Coffee Break

3.00pm An A

‐Z of Place Shaping Ideas

Dan Thompson – Empty Shops Network

3.15pm Breakout Session – Reinventing the High Street

4.00pm Feedback

4.30pm Open Forum Q&A

5.00pm Close

okings: To book your place on this FREE event please email: business@rochdale.gov.uk or Tel: 01706 926700

is the founder of the Empty s Network and an expert in the creative use of empty shops and creating pop shops. He is an artist and writer and was widely acclaimed for leading the #riotcleanup in London last year earning praise from Prime Minister David Cameron. Working with empty shops, Dan has provided advice and support to projects across the UK. We are delighted to invite Dan to share his experiences and talk about building creative high streets within Rochdale boro

Are shoppers having to "run the gauntlet" to avoid chuggers?



Watch The BBC Video Here



Rochdale High Street Foundation Chairman, Paul Turner Mitchell took to BBC's breakfast show this morning (23rd July) to highlight the impact of "chugging" on the high street.

"Are town centres becoming suffocated with charity fund raisers who approach you in the street?
They are sometimes referred to as chuggers, short for charity muggers, and today some of the UK's leading charities are debating whether they should be stopped.

Shoppers are having to "circumvent" and "run the gauntlet" to avoid them according to said Paul Turner-Mitchell, chairman of Rochdale's High Street Foundation.

However, Peter Lewis of the Institute of Funding believes it is a very important way of getting long term support for charities."

Further Comments:

Charities do a fantastic amount of good work and make a real difference in the UK - but they need to come up with more imaginative and people friendly ideas for fundraising. Because this fundraising model is just giving charities a bad name. They're often too aggressive and a deterrent for shoppers. People don't want to run a gauntlet of chuggers demanding money when they're just walking down a high street. Sometimes it's like being a ball in a pinball machine bouncing from one to the next.

When you have the chief executive of Marie Curie telling a House of Commons select committee that the practice has become "disgraceful" then I think you know that change is needed.

What traders like myself are campaigning for is to revive British high streets and make them attractive, exciting and welcoming places for shoppers to come and visit. But for this to happen shoppers need to at least have space to breathe and take in their surroundings. I see customers with their heads down ploughing forward to the cash point as fast as they can, doing their best to navigate a team of chuggers who are quite simply corralling customers with collectors on either side of the road pursuing people. When customers are focusing all their energies on avoiding chuggers how can they make spontaneous purchases or properly appreciate the businesses on the high street?

Paul Turner-Mitchell

Chair, Rochdale High Street Foundation



Minutes of Meeting - High Street Foundation 4th July

Thank you very much to everyone who attended last night’s High Street Foundation meeting – please find the minutes attached. It was a great turnout and excellent debate. Thank you also to Greg Couzens for standing in as Vice-Vice Chair at the last moment!

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 15 August, 5.45pm – 7.30pm, at the Henry West Building, Hopwood Hall College, Middleton Campus.

So much has been delivered since we launched the Foundation in February and this is down to your input and ideas to transform our high streets. We will be providing a presentation at the next meeting to update you on progress on what has been delivered so far, along with what you can expect to see delivered over the coming months.

Our new Chief Executive, Jim Taylor will also be attending this meeting on the 15 August and will take part in a Q&A session which we will also be holding live on Twitter throughout the meeting.

Portas Pilot Round 2

We have also resubmitted our Round 2 - Portas Pilot Bid. Please could you all follow the link to You Tube to watch our new video and help us get the number of views increased! We are anticipating the results to be announced at the end of July. http://www.youtube.com/rochdalecouncil  I also attach our written bid as requested.

Blogs

Following the meeting there was a great blog posted by Dan Roots on his thoughts of the meeting. Please feel free to post any comments of your own:  http://www.businessvirtualtours.co.uk/the-rochdale-high-street-foundation/#.T_TBQQXz6EQ.twitter

We have also been inspired by the Blog and set up our very own High Street Foundation Blog!  This is work in progress, but please have a look and let us have your comments: http://www.highstreetfoundation.blogspot.co.uk/

Drake Street Public Realm Improvements

Please find attached a copy of the proposed public realm improvements for Drake Street which you also requested. If anybody would like further information please contact Nick Barton on Tel: 01706 924847 or email: nick.barton@rochdale.gov.uk

Chess The Musical – Complimentary Tickets

Finally, the Whitworth Amateur Musical & Dramatic Society have very kindly offered 20 free tickets to any members of the Rochdale Borough High Street Foundation who would like to attend Chess The Musical which opens this Friday 06 July and runs from 7.30pm every night until Saturday 14 July at The Curtain Theatre, Rochdale. If you would like to attend please contact the organiser: Andy Kelly on 01706 351 562 / 09747 609 277.

Frances

How To Advertise With Google, FREE!

As a business you cannot underestimate the power of web advertising, while you all may eventually have your own website, what’s the point if no one can ever find you?

Last week a member of the high street foundation was searching Google’s business listings of Rochdale, over 25% had incorrect or outdated information, think of the potential custom you may be missing out on.

Google Places or Google+ for Business as it’s becoming, is a free service that lists your business on Google Maps and an invaluable tool when people are not searching your business by name. For example, searching “Bed and Breakfasts in Rochdale” returns  a map of the town with location markers for each B&B with their business details, images and where applicable, reviews. This can be narrowed down to you being found by postcode, so if customers are looking to stay near a certain area of the town then you’re in a much better position to attract their business.

Example of Returned Results for Bed and Breakfast in Rochdale

You can further enhance your listing with optional paid add-ons from the search engine if you so wish:

Google Adwords – Ever seen those results on a magnolia background that appear at the top of the web page when your search is returned? These are paid advertisements through Google Adwords, you credit your account with an advertising budget and each time you’re business is displayed relating to the keywords that have been searched (also known as an impression) a set amount is deducted based on your business sector and the keywords that impression was returned for, if a user clicks on your advertisement (also known as an action) then a further amount is deducted, again related to the sector and keywords. Should you choose to sign up you will be given the rates applicable for your business. New applicable businesses are entitled to a £50 adwords voucher when signing up and verifying their business with Google Places.

Google Business Photos – As we blogged last week, Google Business Photos allows your premises to be added to search, your Google+ for business listing as well as Street View as an interactive 360 degree virtual tour, as shoot by a Google Trusted Photographer. Dan Root of Business Virtual Tours being the photographer that covers north Greater Manchester, including the borough of Rochdale. They have been contracted by Google to work with local businesses, to shoot, create and embed these virtual tours and still imagery into Maps. The service is ideal for business premises where presentation is key selling point.

To get started with your free advertising with Google, then please follow this link and follow the onscreen instructions, you’ll be seeing an increase in custom in no time!

Show Your Support & Vote For Your Favourite Town Centre Businesses

Managers and owners of town centre businesses have been busy nominating their stores for the Rochdale Town Centre Business Awards 2012.  The awards, organised by Rochdale Town Centre Management, will be presented at a celebration on Friday 13 July at China City in Rochdale.

Now the public have the opportunity to have their say and vote for the business that they think deserves to win this year’s awards.   Each member of the public that votes will be entered into a prize draw to win £250 to spend in Rochdale town centre.  It is important that you indicate your reason for voting for that business or person, as the winners and runners-up will be chosen by judges for the best reasons given. 

In addition to the public vote, mystery shoppers have been visiting stores over the last few weeks and scoring them on various aspects of their service.  Judges will then meet to calculate the overall score and crown the overall winners for 2012, which will be announced at the awards evening.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR VOTING IN THE ROCHDALE TOWN CENTRE BUSINESS AWARDS 2012

1. FIRST, CHECK THE LISTS BELOW TO SEE WHICH BUSINESSES/EMPLOYEES HAVE BEEN SHORTLISTED IN EACH CATEGORY.

 2. CUT AND PASTE THE TEMPLATE BELOW AND SEND IT TO - suzy@rochdaletcm.co.uk

3. YOU MAY ONLY VOTE ONCE IN EACH CATEGORY

I would like to vote for -

In category -

Reason (If not given then vote will not be counted) –

  

Deadline for all voting is 5pm, Saturday 7^th July.  Voting can also be sent by post, to 17A Baillie Street, Rochdale, OL16 1JA.  Please include your name and address when sending by post.

Best National Retailer

The first award is Best National Retailer, which has been running since the start of the Business Awards in 2007 and recognises and rewards our top performing chain stores.  The award is sponsored by the Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre, the hub of Rochdale town centre and a long standing supporter of the awards.

Lorenzo O’Reilly, Manager of The Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre said “The Rochdale Exchange is at the very heart of Rochdale’s retail sector and the majority of our stores are occupied by national retailers.  We are proud to sponsor the Award that is most relevant to the retailers in our shopping centre and, of course, to offer our continued support to Rochdale Town Centre.  Everyone who works in retail knows that the current economic climate is very challenging and our retailers rely on having hard working and committed staff – well, we have plenty of those in the Rochdale Exchange! This is a good way to show our appreciation and give some recognition to them all.  By sponsoring the Best National Retailer Award, we are offering our support to our retailers and all of their staff who work so hard. The Business Awards Ceremony has a reputation for being a really good night out and I’m sure that this year’s celebrations will live up to all our expectations!”

The businesses in this year’s Best National Retailer category are -

Business Name

Clarks

Boots

Cartridge World

Greenhalgh’s Bakery

Marks and Spencer

Ryman

Best Independent Retailer

The second award that the public can vote on is the Best Independent Retailer award.  This award includes our independently owned stores.  This award is sponsored by Genr8, who deliver large scale mixed use regeneration schemes focussing on exemplar innovative design and the creation of sustainable communities.

Mike Smith, partner at Genr8 said “Genr8’s partners have extensive experience in the delivery of large and complex regeneration projects over many years, and therefore we are well-aware of the importance of independently-owned retailers within a town centre.  That’s why we are proud to be sponsoring the ‘Best Independent Retailer’ category at the 2012 Business Awards.”

The businesses in this year’s Best Independent Retailer Category are -

Business Name

25 Ten Boutique

Monkhouse

Browns Handcrafted Cakes

Shoes by Laces

2 Shakes Milkshake Bar

Flower Studio

Chantilly

Best Service Provider

The service provider category includes any business that provides a service in the town centre, whether a chain-store or independently owned.    This category is sponsored by Warburton Estates, a local, family-run company who are committed to customer service.

Scott Warburton, owner of Warburton Estates in Littleborough said “Being part of an industry where customer service is paramount to everything we do, we wanted to be a part of an event that showcases the high levels of personal service Rochdale’s retail sector offers to our towns wonderful people.”

The businesses in this year’s Best Service Provider Category are -

Business Name

Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre

Simply Special

Holistic Harmonies

TBD Associates

Ladies Only Ltd

AST Hampson

The Retreat

HSBC

Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre

Thomas Cook

Optical express

John Peers Hair Studio

Best Eating Place

The Best Eating Place award recognises and rewards our top cafes, restaurants and pubs and this year is sponsored by EJS Marketing.   EJS Marketing Consultancy offers a range of marketing related services to businesses and the public sector and has an excellent track record in successful implementation, particularly in Rochdale town centre.

Elaine Simons, owner of EJS Marketing said “We are delighted to sponsor the Best Eating Place Award having sampled the wide range of high quality and welcoming restaurants, bars and cafes within the town.”

The businesses in this year’s Best Eating Place Category are -

Business Name

Yates

The Baum

The Regal Moon

Best Cod in Town

Feel Good Café

The Flying Horse

Best Long Serving Business

Best Long Serving Business celebrates the traders who have been in the town for 15 years or over.  The Award is appropriately sponsored by Rochdale Observer, who have been serving the town since 1856.

The businesses in this year’s Best Long Serving Business Category are -

Business Name

Boots

AST Hampsons

Marks & Spencer

The Baum

The Retreat

The Flying Horse

Chantilly

John Peers Hair Studio

Rochdale Exchange Shopping Centre

Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre

HSBC

Clarks

Thomas Cook

Employee of the Year

The final award that the public can vote for is the prestigious Employee of the Year Award, sponsored by Molesworths Bright Clegg Solicitors. Molesworths Bright Clegg have served the Rochdale Community for over 150 years, providing both local businesses and individuals with strong, decisive, caring legal support.

Kelvin Eatherington of Molesworths Solicitors said "Although these are challenging times for local businesses, events like this highlight and award the tremendous work and effort put in by dedicated local people. Molesworths Solicitors are both proud and honoured to be involved in the 2012 Rochdale Town Centre Business Awards and we are looking forward to what promises to be, a fun filled evening"

Business Name	Employee Name
Yates	Jenny Gardener
Clarks	Joanne Hall
25 Ten Boutique	Dannielle Sharrocks
HSBC	Jed Haq
Nathan & Co.	Tina Barnes
Greenhalghs	Alvyda Kosyte
B&M Bargains	Mick Worrall

Google+ makes Rochdale business go global

Award winning fashion boutique 25 Ten Boutique has become the very first business in the Borough of Rochdale to feature in a Google+ interactive view, which allows users to take a 360-degree virtual tour.

It was filmed last week at the Yorkshire Street business for the Search Engine giants, as they incorporate the 360-degree tour into their street view experience across the UK.

Commenting after taking the 360-degree tour of his business, Director Paul Turner Mitchell said:

“This really is an amazing tool and I’d encourage others to use it for their business. I often hear from people who say they’d like to visit the boutique but don’t live near enough to pop in. I’m hoping after now being able to take an interactive tour they’ll go the extra mile to get here!”

Originally trialled in the US last year, the service has proved an instant success and is now being rolled out across the UK, Australia and New Zealand with other countries being lined up in the future.

For independent business owners the Google+ tool is a chance to showcase business premises online and include all the details that customers love, allowing users to walk around, explore and interact with the business, it’s just like being there.

Dan Root of Business Virtual Tours in Middleton, who shot the first Google+ interactive tour in the Borough for Yorkshire Street’s, 25 Ten Boutique last week said:-

“It’s a real honour to shoot for 25 Ten, it’s a fantastic building both internally and externally, the virtual tour really adds a wow factor to an already very well presented premises. It can do nothing but enhance their Google+ local  listing.”