Reading BID lays out plans for two new BIDs for Reading
2nd November 2023
On 1 November, over a hundred businesses in the town centre Reading Business Improvement District (BID) and Abbey Quarter BID areas came together in The Roost in Thames Tower to learn more about plans for two new BIDs in Reading for 2024-29.
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The current BIDs in Reading reach the end of their five-year terms on 31 March 2024. The event in Thames Tower celebrated the many successes of the last five years as well as forming part of the consultation process with local businesses on what they would like to see in business plans for potential new BIDs starting next Spring.
The consultation process has demonstrated strong support from town centre businesses for the activities the BID has delivered since 2019 on their behalf. Providing Business Wardens to help tackle shoplifting, Reading’s Christmas lights and summer floral displays, a town centre events programme, street cleaning, recycling collection schemes as well as staff wellbeing and training programmes have all proved popular with Reading businesses over the last five years.
Based on feedback from town centre businesses, the BID announced areas of business support for two new potential 2024-29 BIDs, including activity in the areas of:-
- Social & Healthy - from business networking to staff engagement initiatives and wellbeing activities
- Enhancing & Exciting - Christmas lighting, multi-cultural celebrations, seasonal events and summer floral installations
- Safe & Secure - business wardens, CCTV, lighting and street furniture improvements
- Environment & Sustainable - Cardboard and WEE recycling schemes, energy saving projects, trees for streets
- Informed & Represented - business promotional space, job fairs, training courses, visitor economy and inward investment campaigns
Alexa Volker, Reading BID Manager, said: “Over the last five years, Reading BID has invested around £5 million in making Reading town centre a better place in which to work, live, visit and do business. Feedback from our businesses show that we have been investing that money wisely and their priorities will shape the direction of travel for potential future BIDs starting in 2024. Town centre businesses tell us the huge difference Reading BID makes to the town centre, from enhanced security to better trained staff and we will be putting to them an exciting new proposition to continue this work early in 2024.”
Mayor of Reading, Councillor Tony Page, spoke at the event: “Reading town centre today looks enormously different to when I first became a councillor. It’s gone from ‘Sleepy Hollow’, with last buses at 11pm, to a 24-hour diverse and vibrant city in all but name. For the past 16 years, the BID has reflected and represented the ever-changing make-up of our town centre businesses, from retail to hospitality, leisure and offices, ensuring that we support individual business success through a wide range of initiatives that make Reading a great place in which to work, do business, visit or live. The BID has been a vital part of the economic growth of our town centre and it is essential that it continues to be so, and Reading Borough Council looks forward to continuing to work in partnership with the BID for many years to come.”
In the New Year, Reading BID will be launching the business plans for two proposed Business Improvement Districts 2024-29 for the town centre – to create the fifth consecutive iteration of Reading Central Business Improvement District and a second term for an Abbey Quarter Business Improvement District. The two separate proposals will be voted on by the businesses located in the two relevant areas of the town centre in late January 2024.
Reading Central BID has been in existence since 2006. In this time it has been successfully renewed four times by town centre businesses. It funds Business Wardens, Christmas lights and events, summer floral displays, street cleaning, a cultural programme and dedicated services to support Reading’s night-time economy as well as recycling collection schemes, among many other services.
Reading Abbey Quarter BID was created in 2019 and includes many of the town centre’s office buildings. The BID has supported the businesses through the pandemic and helped deliver improvements in areas such as public realm, place marketing, regeneration of the Kennet, and activities to help businesses attract and retain the very best talent.
A BID is an area which has a mandate to create extra services in addition to those already provided by the public authorities to maximise the experience for businesses, shoppers and workers. The decision to create and continue a BID is enabled through a vote of all eligible businesses in the BID area. If carried, they contribute a small levy on their business rates to deliver the plan of extra services.
