sceneSEPTEmbEr/OCTObEr 2012The newsletter for businesses and employees in the City Central bid area

Tell us what your BID should do for you in advance of 2013 vote.

How good is your customer service? BID secret shop will find out.

Merseytravel and Comedy Festival boost Bold Street party.

Enjoy a night of comedy and drama thanks to Royal Court Theatre.

Sign up to mystery shop test

Festival finale for Summer of Love

On track...40% passenger boom for new look Central Station

Win two great nights out!

City Central

BID’s future –

Your ViewAutumn 2012

sceneJULY/AUGUST 2012

The newsletter for businesses and employees in the City Central BID area

Win a great

Music prize

Tourists get free

ride around city

centre thanks to

BID levy.

Crime busting police

station at St Johns

scoops ‘outstanding’

ATCM award.

City Council to

introduce new

rules for pavement

advertising.

Hit the high notes

with a £50 gift

voucher thanks to

Curly Music.BID funded ‘cop

shop’ wins award

On the buses for

Cruise passengers

All A-Board for

new approach

Historic music find in Makin move

Thanks to the Summer of Love

campaign the city centre is awash

with fantastic events to draw

in the crowds.

Clayton Square is offering front row

seats via a grandstand to catch every

second of the London Olympics.

And for non-sports fans Williamson

Square is to host the city centre’s first

ever bandstand, with BID levy funding

matched by the Arts Council.

Central Station, which has been playing

host to the city’s Ping Liverpool!

Festival, will also be tickled for three

weeks by the world’s only piano

busking festival.

And with Liverpool Pride and

International Beatles week to come, one

thing is for certain – this Summer of

Love will be a winning one.

(For full listings go to back page.)

• Totakeadvantageofthe

Summer of Love, which is

supported by Merseyrail,

Merseytravel and Network Rail -

promote your business for FREE

at loveliverpoolcentral.com

For details call Emma Heylings

on 293 0505.

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thisissue

SUMMER OF GOLD

Liverpool city centre is set for a golden summer - come rain or shine.

Your form will

be entered into a

pRizE dRaw with the top prize

being a night’s stay for two

people at the Marriott Hotel,

dinner at Bellini and

Vip seats for a show at

The Royal Court.

bid’s future – Your View

And by 2020 it is expected to handle an extra 7 million passengers a year, bringing a huge economic boost to City Central BID businesses.

That’s the predicted result of the 6 month, £20m complete refurbishment of the UK’s busiest underground station outside of London, once the Northern Line opens.

Maarten Spaargaren, managing director of Merseyrail, said: “We’re aware that the temporary closure of Liverpool Central was not ideal for people, so we’re delighted that it is re-opening on schedule.

“We strongly believe that passengers will benefit from its enhanced facilities and find the station lighter and brighter.

“It will be a vast improvement for workers, students and people accessing leisure facilities in the heart of the city.”

The rail replacement bus service which links city centre stations, will continue to run as further works continue on the underground network over the next 18 months.

Central Station will be able to handle an extra 4,000 people a day once it fully reopens on 22 October.

Merseyrail have created a raft of exclusive promotional opportunities for BID businesses to benefit from the full re-opening of Central Station on Monday, 22 October.The opportunities are:• Provide a product for

‘goody bag’: 7,000 units to be distributed at peak hours through that week

• Provide a voucher for booklet: 5,000 copies (booklet to feature 8 vouchers minimum) to be distributed within ‘goody bag’

• Provide a prize: via voucher booklet with data capture opportunity

• Product demonstration on Friday, 26 October: four 90 minute slots available at 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm

Please call 233 2212 by noon, Friday, 28 September to take advantage of these opportunities.

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With a ballot on the next BID term due next summer, work has begun on devising a business plan to illustrate the main challenges and goals in the city centre up to 2018.

The survey, which will be delivered with a returnable envelope, is your

opportunity to say what you feel will add value to your trading environment and where City Central should focus its time and resources.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey as the results will be invaluable in helping to shape BID’s programmes of activity, to the benefit of your business.

The deadline for return of completed surveys is Thursday, 4 October.

For more information please call Mike Doran or Sue Kelly on 233 2212/2213.

iN briEFA big hearted City Central welcome to:Coffee Crew in Queen SquareMade Here in MetquarterRicci on Bold Street

Vision Express birthday boost

Vision Express marked ten years of trading in Clayton Square shopping

centre with a fundraising day in aid of the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT).As well as selling cakes and collecting donations in-store which helped raise £650, store manager Andrew Killen, who has worked at the store since it opened in 2002, is also running a half marathon to raise money.

Liverpool awaits the world

Liverpool Chamber of Commerce has bid to welcome the ninth World

Chambers Congress to Liverpool in 2015.The Congress, which would take place at ACC Liverpool, could attract up to 2,000 delegates to Liverpool and generate more than £3m to the local economy. It would be the first time the UK has hosted a WCF Congress.The host city will be announced on 26 November.

Hairs to Voodou victories

Congratulations to Voodou after winning 2 prestigious national

hairdressing awards in 2 weeks!Liverpool’s largest salon chain won Best Online Salon at the Creative Head’s Most Wanted and Website of the Year at the British Hairdressing Business Awards.The business, which has salons on Bold Street and Button Street, was praised for its digital offers scheme which has attracted 14,000 followers on Facebook.Founder and MD, Rob Webb, who has also been nominated for Inspirational Person of the Year Award by Seen Magazine, said: “We are utterly thrilled. Our next step is to launch our brand new mobile phone app.”

City reviews busking policyThe Mayor of Liverpool has announced an extensive review of the city’s street entertainment policy, with the aim of bringing forward amended proposals. Discussions with all stakeholders follow a legal challenge to the recently introduced policy.It had included the introduction of permits, an increase in the number of official pitches and a booking system designed to make the system fairer by giving more buskers the opportunity to perform.

Mayor Joe Anderson said “Buskers are an essential part of the vibrancy of Liverpool City Centre and, contrary to some of the misleading and overblown commentary about the changes, it was never our intention to limit their activity.

“The aim was to put arrangements in place which would benefit buskers by bringing about a fairer system which gave opportunities to more performers and increase the public’s enjoyment of the city centre atmosphere.

“What we were aiming to do was tackle issues such as loud music blasting out for hours on end which city centre businesses rightly complain to us about.

“The common sense approach is for us to agree not to implement the policy so that the unnecessary court proceedings, with the associated costs for both sides, can be brought to an end and we can instead get on with working together to deliver a solution which will satisfy everyone.”

City centre shoppers could soon be in-pocket, under new plans to cut the cost of city centre parking.

Proposals are being put forward by the city council to reduce the cost of parking at city centre pay-and-display bays by almost 10 per cent.

Consultation has begun over increasing the maximum time vehicles can park at pay and display bays in the city centre from two hours to four.

If given the go-ahead, the council will bring the changes into effect in

November of this year. The reductions would bring the cost of parking at city centre pay-and-display bays in-line with where it stood in 2008.

Under the proposals, the cost for parking for 30 minutes at a city centre pay-and-display bay will fall from £1.10 to £1; up to one hour will be cut from £2.20 to £2; up to one hour and 30 minutes will be reduced from £3.30 to £3; and up to two hours will fall from £4.40 to £4. There will be a capped cost of £5 for parking for between two and four hours.

Jennina O’Neill, Centre Manager at Metquarter, said:

“We welcome this consultation. Car park prices have been consistently increasing and this has ultimately had an effect on footfall within the city centre during what are already tough economic times.“Doubling the time you can stay will be beneficial to retail but the city should also look at further reductions to encourage late afternoon/ early evening parking when footfall normally drops off. Greater signage and promotion to car parks would also be welcome.”

The proposed changes forms part of a major, city-wide review into the city’s parking policy, with further proposed changes to be announced shortly.

bid’s future – Your ViewLook out for a survey on what you would like to see done by your City Central BID team over the next 5 years.

City Central

BID’s future –

Your ViewAutumn 2012

sceneJULY/AUGUST 2012

The newsletter for businesses and employees in the City Central BID area

Win a great

Music prize

Tourists get free

ride around city

centre thanks to

BID levy.

Crime busting police

station at St Johns

scoops ‘outstanding’

ATCM award.

City Council to

introduce new

rules for pavement

advertising.

Hit the high notes

with a £50 gift

voucher thanks to

Curly Music.BID funded ‘cop

shop’ wins award

On the buses for

Cruise passengers

All A-Board for

new approach

Historic music find in Makin move

Thanks to the Summer of Love

campaign the city centre is awash

with fantastic events to draw

in the crowds.

Clayton Square is offering front row

seats via a grandstand to catch every

second of the London Olympics.

And for non-sports fans Williamson

Square is to host the city centre’s first

ever bandstand, with BID levy funding

matched by the Arts Council.

Central Station, which has been playing

host to the city’s Ping Liverpool!

Festival, will also be tickled for three

weeks by the world’s only piano

busking festival.

And with Liverpool Pride and

International Beatles week to come, one

thing is for certain – this Summer of

Love will be a winning one.

(For full listings go to back page.)

• Totakeadvantageofthe

Summer of Love, which is

supported by Merseyrail,

Merseytravel and Network Rail -

promote your business for FREE

at loveliverpoolcentral.com

For details call Emma Heylings

on 293 0505.

what’sinside

thisissue

SUMMER OF GOLD

Liverpool city centre is set for a golden summer - come rain or shine.

Your form will

be entered into a

pRizE dRaw with the top prize

being a night’s stay for two

people at the Marriott Hotel,

dinner at Bellini and

Vip seats for a show at

The Royal Court.

Parking made cheaper

Four city central businesses are up for a prestigious national customer service award this October.

As previous Customer at the Heart winners, The Italian Club, Bold Street Coffee, Boudoir Boutique and Utility are all now vying for the Champion of Champions award to celebrate National

Customer Service Week (1-7 October).

The Champion of Champions award, which is open to more than 50 businesses across the UK, will be decided by a public on-line vote at www.customerattheheart.co.uk/champion-of-champions

The Customer at the Heart Awards were established

in 2011 to champion independent stores who offer great service.

The organisers have just conducted a 6 week survey asking consumers to provide an insight into how good and bad service is affecting our day to day lives.

It found that 9 out 10 people said good service makes them happy.

And one in three said it makes their day feel like less of a chore.

Britain’s first privately paid for city centre ‘cop shop’ has scooped another award, this time with the International Down Town Association (IDA).

City Central BID, which uses its business levy to fund the Cop Shop, also received the ‘Outstanding work by a BID award’ last month at the ATCM’s annual conference.

The international honour is for the IDA Merit Award and recognises the cop shop’s impact, with Merseyside Police recording a double digit drop in crime in the city centre just one year on from the opening.

Rebecca Bishophall, Manager, Membership Services said, “Judging this year’s award categories was a difficult task. The jury was impressed with all the entries. We commend City Central BID’s efforts and hope they are especially proud to be among the projects selected by our jury”.

The St Johns Cop Shop was also instrumental in Liverpool city centre retaining the Purple Flag award which recognises high levels of safety in a city’s night time economy.

Ged Gibbons, Chief Executive of City Central BID, said: “For the St Johns Cop Shop to receive an international

and national recognition is hugely satisfying for all involved as this was a real team effort.

“Having a safe city centre is our number one priority. For the ATCM and IDA to recognise the Cop Shop in

this way is a huge vote of confidence in what we try to do for our businesses and their customers.”

• The Cop Shop can be contacted on 709 1163 or call 101

international award for cop shop

iN briEFbaby boom at Clayton Square

Clayton Square will be bursting at the seams with babies when it hosts a

Liverpool ECHO flagship event.The shopping centre has been chosen to host the Baby of the Year photography sessions, for the 2nd year running, for three weeks from 8-27 October.Now in its 11th year the event is expected to attract up to 2,000 entrants.

Hot summer for Holiday inn

Liverpool Holiday Inn had a bumper summer – despite the rain.

The Lime Street venue recorded 79% occupancy in August, up 11% on the same month in 2011.The hotel also recorded a 24% increases on room sales and was enjoying a stronger than average sales for September.

New stage for Playhouse

Theatre season has begun but summer was far from quiet for the

Playhouse theatres.A whole new stage has been put in to ensure actors have sure footing as they tread the boards.The works, which involved 20 people was the first time the stage had been refitted since 2001.

marriott manager is Olympic star!

Liverpool Marriott Hotel’s General Manager, David Thomas, sure

knows how to keep a secret.

David was one of the 10,000 volunteers to perform in the spellbinding London 2012 Opening Ceremony – all of whom managed to save the surprise for the 120,000 people in the stadium and 2 billion people who tuned in to watch it.

David spent 100 hours in 24 rehearsals, clocking up 10,000 miles in round-trips.

FAb FOUr UP FOr CUSTOmEr AWArd

For the fourth year in a row City Central is to host a Mystery Shopping exercise – but this time with a difference.

Building on the success of previous years, the 2012

programme will for the first time assess customer service at Christmas time.

The visits, carried out by Storecheckers, a Northwest based market research organisation, will also track

service in the night time economy for the first time alongside the lunch time offer and wider retail experience.

The average score last year was 82% and the proportion

of shops that scored below 50% dropped to a record low with just 1 in 20 achieving a poor rating.

Of those assessed in 2011, 16 companies scored top marks – and a record 52 scored above 90%.

Star performers in the survey were two jewellery companies – Miltons and

David M Robinson – who both received the accolade ‘Overall Store of the Year’ for scoring 100% for the second year running.

The mystery shopping review covers the key areas of staff attitude, customer service and selling skills.

Jeff Caplan, Managing Director of Storecheckers, said: “With the state of the economy and people ultra careful on where and how they spend their hard earned money, customer service now, more than ever, is a vital tool in maximising revenue especially in the retail sector.”

If you wish to enter the City Central Mystery Shop please email: citycentre.pr@liverpool.gov.uk or call: 233 2212

Sign up for mystery Shop

2011 Mystery Shop award winners

Festival season is well underway in Liverpool and to celebrate Scene is offering one lucky reader not one – but two great nights out.Thanks to the Royal Court we have a pair of tickets to see guitar wielding satirist Steve Gribbin perform a mirthful master class in Erics on 7 October to bring down the curtain of the Liverpool Comedy Festival.And hot on the heels of this show, you can then enjoy a night of high drama at the Liverpool Shakespeare Festival, which runs until 14 October, by seeing either Macbeth or A Midsummer Nights Dream.The Royal Court has undergone a huge transformation this year so expect a quality night in a tip top venue.To enter this competition all you have to do is answer this question:Name the panto at the Royal Court this Christmas?Email your answer to: citycentre.pr@liverpool.gov.ukWinner will be chosen on Tuesday, 2 October.Please provide relevant contact details.

HHHStar Event HHHComing up...

City Central BID, c/o Rapid, Williamson Square, Liverpool L1 1EATel: 0151 233 2213 Fax: 0151 233 2218 www.citycentralbid.comEmail your latest news, views and pictures to: mike.doran@liverpool.gov.uk You can now follow City Central on and

Send us your views TM TM TM

on dark background

TM TM TM

on dark background

• Liverpool Comedy Festival City centre venues September 27 – October 7

• Bold Street Festival 30 September

• The Alchemist Liverpool Playhouse Until 6 October

• An Evening with Peter Hook Leaf, Bold Street 4 October

• Love Me Do Weekend The Cavern and Albert Dock 5-7 October

• Student Discount Day Metquarter 6 October

• Our Digital Planet exhibition Festival Clayton Square 15 October – 7 November

Liverpool plays host to the cream of table tennis talent when The Men’s World Cup heads to Echo Arena.And joining the world’s best at the end of September will be two city central employees!Ahmed Thabet who owns the paper kiosk at Queen Square and Neil Colville from Cobleys Solicitors will grace the same stage to decide the winner of the ‘Meet Your Neighbour PING Tournament’.The winner will receive a night’s stay at The Signature Living Apartments for up to 12 people, worth around £1,000.The tournament attracted 74 players from 29 businesses as part of the Summer of Love campaign.• The result will feature in the next issue of Scene.

• Macbeth/A Midsummer Night’s Dream Royal Court Until 14 October

• ECHO Baby of the Year Clayton Square 8-27 October

• Liverpool Irish Festival City centre wide 11-21 October

• The Diet Coke by Jean Paul Gaultier Tour Williamson Square 14 October

• Halloween Zombie Walk From Voodou, Bold Street 31 October

• Christmas Lights Switch on Paradise Street 7 November

• Liverpool Biennial FACT, the Bluecoat, city centre wide Until 25 November

New home for City Central bidYour City Central BID team is on the move!We’re relocating from Rapid to 76-78 Lord Street (above Specsavers) to help save costs by sharing offices with Liverpool Commercial BID.The move to the 2nd floor office is expected to be completed by the end of October.

Ping FinaleSeptember 28, ECHO Arena

Comedy and Shakespeare tickets

Win H Win H Win

The Bold Street Festival is to celebrate its best edition as it brings the curtain down on the Summer of Love.

Staged on Sunday, 30 September the 5th festival has some major new developments, including it’s first ever headline sponsor in Merseytravel.

The Liverpool Comedy Festival and the Royal Court will also be making their debut in spectacular style with satire and Shakespeare, along with Shiverpool’s ‘castle experience’ and an

oriental cultural celebration from China Pearl.The comedy festival, which runs from 27 September – 7 October, is showcasing a spellbinding act that involves eight guests in an amazing restaurant without food scene as well as an alcohol free version of the beloved ‘Drink Up Stand Up’ tours.The Royal Court will be showing off their talent with magical tasters of what’s to come for their winter shows including Macbeth and Midsummer’s night dream.

The all day FREE event,

which will boast two stages along Bold Street, is taking place from 12pm to 6pm and is set to be more colourful, vibrant, entertaining and interactive than ever before with other highlights including the traditional Big Sweep launch, organised by Ambrose Reynolds from Urban Strawberry Lunch.Organised by City Central BID and Bold Street Traders this year’s Bold Street Festival also marks the finale of The Summer of Love campaign.This campaign, which included highlights such as

the city centre’s first ever bandstand in Williamson Square, was devised to stimulate footfall during the £20m redevelopment of Central Station which will be fully operational when the Northern Line re-opens on 22 October.

Tracey Crosbie, Events Manager of City Central BID, said: “This year’s festival is gearing to be the best ever. To have partners Merseytravel, Royal Court and the Comedy Festival on board has definitely taken it up to another level and it’ll be a great way to end the Summer of Love campaign.”

Festival finale for Summer of Love

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