This Thursday will see the launch of a new networking group aimed specifically at businesses in Harrogate town centre.
Harrogate BID Club, run by Harrogate BID (Business Improvement District), is being held between 5.30pm and 7pm on Thursday, June 20, at Hotel du Vin on West Park.
Over the next five years, a levy on qualifying town centre businesses will raise more than £3m, which will be re-invested into promoting Harrogate’s shops, hotels, bars and restaurants to a world-wide audience.
The aim of the monthly gatherings is to give businesses an opportunity to meet and mingle with their neighbours, and for them to meet members of the BID team.
It is being organised and run by Christine Armstrong, Harrogate BID Business Liaison Executive. For more than 12 years Christine was the chief executive of the highly successful Met Club, which held monthly meetings in Harrogate, Leeds, York, Sheffield and Doncaster.
Tracy Eckart, senior sales consultant at Indigo Furniture on the corner of Albert Street and Princes Street, said:
I think BID Club is an excellent idea, because whilst we know our immediate neighbours, there are plenty more we don’t.
All of us working in the town want Harrogate to have a vibrant town centre, and any initiative working to achieve this has to be welcomed.
It will also be good to meet BID team members and speak to them about our own experiences, and ways to attract people to come into town, not to drive them away.
Harrogate BID chairman John Fox said:
As we have been making contact with businesses in the BID area, the question of holding network meetings was mentioned on several occasions, hence the launch of the BID Club.
Our remit is to improve the town centre by increasing footfall and making it a safe and welcoming environment.
We are also spearheading a series of initiatives aimed at encouraging visitors and residents to make full use of what the town has to offer in terms of shops, businesses, bars, hotels and restaurants.
All businesses from within the BID area are invited to next Thursday’s event, and we are looking forward to meeting a good number of those working in the town centre and getting to know them better.
Further information about the Harrogate BID is available from its website, http://harrogatebid.co.uk/
