Welcome to our Huddersfield BID town centre blog where every month BID manager SAM SHARP looks at some of the exciting things going on in the town.
Summer has turned into autumn but Huddersfield BID is already planning to make Spring 2024 bloomin’ marvellous!
Huddersfield BID is working in partnership with Kirklees Council and has now taken over responsibility for the planting and maintenance of the wooden planters dotted around the town.
These planters on Cloth Hall Street, Upperhead Row, Westgate, John William Street and Byram Street have all been weeded, tidied up and around 3,000 bulbs have been planted.
We’ll have crocus bulbs providing colour in February time followed by anemones, alliums, daffodils, and tulips. It should be a riot of colour come March and will put a spring in everyone’s step.
It’s great that Huddersfield BID has been able to take over the care of these planters and we’ve had lots of positive feedback from shoppers and traders who have seen our maintenance ranger, Charlie, hard at work.
He’s now working on sanding and staining all the wooden boxes so they will look much smarter and be ready to withstand the winter weather.
Kirklees Council’s work on New Street is moving on quickly now and it’s great to see the new stone planters being planted up. New Street will very soon be a much more attractive place to visit, shop around and spend some time.
While we’re talking about New Street, Huddersfield BID has installed lighting in four trees at the top end near Primark.
That part of New Street has a lot of shadow and can be very dark at night. The lights we’ve installed, working in collaboration with Kirklees Council, will be here all year round and will help to enhance the space and make people feel safer when walking around night.
The project is funded by BID as part of our objective to develop a safer and more attractive town.
Looking back in September and our three-day street food festival, HuddersFeast – Get Your Feast On, in St George’s Square proved a huge success and the feedback was great.
Both attendees and vendors told us they thought the event was well-organised, friendly and lively and had something for everyone.
We conducted a public survey which had 317 responses. Interestingly, a third of those visitors had come from outside Huddersfield, some from as far as Warrington, Manchester and Sheffield. It was fantastic to see that people from outside of Huddersfield were coming to visit the event but also explore the rest of our town’s amazing offer.
People loved the atmosphere and location, the feeling of community and the positive vibe. Almost half the people we asked gave the event a 5 out of 5 rating and 97% said they’d love to see HuddersFeast – Get Your Feast On return in 2024.
On the back of this success, Huddersfield BID is working in collaboration with Kirklees Council to bring a 1-day pop-up event on Friday December 1, HuddersFeast Night Market.
We had many requests to add artisan market stalls to the event, so that is exactly what we’ve done with the Night Market.
We will bring a host of artisans, food and drink vendors (including some of the amazing traders who attended HuddersFeast in September) and live music and entertainment to the Huddersfield Open Market on Brook Street from 4pm to 10pm.
Huddersfield BID is coming towards the end of its first five-year term and we are now preparing for a ballot of levy payers for our second term, #HuddsBID2.
The renewal campaign will officially start in November when we share our five-year business plan with levy payers. The ballot is due to take place in February 2024.
We’ll be talking about our key objectives for 2024-29 at our Professional Services Networking event on Thursday October 19 and will be sharing more details about our exciting plans over the coming weeks and months.
For more information on Huddersfield BID, visit www.huddersfieldbid.co.uk, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram or get in touch enquiries@huddersfieldbid.co.uk.
