A lot of positive news from Hinckley BID

In this issue, you will see how hard we are working to both showcase Hinckley Town Centre as well as bring benefits to our BID Members. If you would like to contribute ideas of your own at any time, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

We have been searching for any possible grant funding to help our small independent BID members that wish to upgrade/repair their shop fronts and we have found a scheme which will pay up to 50% of the cost – with a maximum grant contribution of £1500.00.

For full details including an Application Form, please email steve@hinckleybid.co.uk.

In the current issue of the Borough Bulletin we have created a four page colour pull-out which is designed to encourage people to visit Hinckley Town Centre and experience all of our shops, bars, pubs, events and services on offer. The Borough Bulletin is owned and published by the Council who ensure that a copy is delivered into every one of the 60,000 homes within our Borough – so the impact is high.

We are delighted to have welcomed more than 60 Hinckley BID Members as users of our new anti-theft DISC scheme. Unlike many other town centres who are rapidly promoting this same scheme (often charging each business a fee of £500-£600 per year) - in Hinckley, your BID pay this charge on businesses behalf, so you can see how it really can and does benefit your business.

The scheme is highly recommended by Hinckley Police and the County Police Commissioner. We encourage all retail businesses to give DISC a try. It is simple to use and guidance is always on hand. By taking it on you have nothing to lose, and indeed, even in these early stages, several thieves have already been detected and arrested as a result.

As reported on the BBC, the current cost of living crisis is increasing both shoplifting and pick-pocketing around the country. Please help us to clamp down on this and catch even more offenders, which will discourage others from coming to Hinckley. To find out more, please contact hannah@hinckleybid.co.uk.

Our first 2023 Classic Vehicle Meet was held on Market Place and up Castle Street on Thursday evening, June 15th. From 4.30 pm around 150 vehicles were exhibited, many of their owners leaving their vehicles on display and going either shopping or for drinks and meals. The numbers of visitors exceeded last year and the next one is on Thursday 20th July….

Our 12th Annual Soap Box Derby will be held down Castle Street on Sunday, July 9th – we have 30 Soap Boxes entered from around the UK and the resulting publicity should bring good exposure for Hinckley Town Centre businesses.

For more info please go to www.hinckleybid.co.uk and, if your business is going to be open, please advise us and we will promote that fact.

Despite a substantial increase in cost to us this year, we have managed to retain this free weekly service that we provide to all smaller BID member businesses. This is exceptional value for money as, in many instances, the cost for businesses to buy this service independently would be more than the annual BID levy.

All small to medium size businesses are welcome to join – just contact martina@hinckleybid.co.uk.

We have recently refurbished the electronic Information Kiosks in the town centre and have repurposed them in a way that will support our town centre businesses even better than before. BID branding will be applied shortly to each of the units, including QR codes so that members of the public can easily access business directories and current loyalty card offers.

New software has been installed, and both units are now capable of displaying rolling advertising for any of our BID member businesses. We will be able to make daily updates and upload any marketing posters that are supplied to us, which will update on the system overnight. If you are interested in promoting your business in this way, whether a sale, event or new menu, please supply your poster. We would need to receive these in a jpg. portrait format, sized 1920 x 1080.

If you have any questions, please email info@hinckleybid.co.uk.

Budget self-storage is now available on your doorstep! If you need to free-up space, and want local, easy access to your archive files etc, contact ‘Mii Self-Storage’ based at the High Cross Building on Lancaster Road – call them on 01455 250758. Prices from £10 +VAT per week. For more details visit www.miispace.co.uk.

In the past four weeks we have issued 200+ Loyalty Cards, taking our total number of cards issued to an incredible 10,216. Several businesses have recently added new ‘Offers’ which are then promoted by us at every opportunity - online, via email through our monthly BID Buzz eNewsletter and on our social media platforms.

Please remember - we can promote YOUR business through our Loyalty Card Scheme, just ask us to explain how.

Every Loyalty Card applicant receives a welcome letter with their card, which also contains flyers promoting BID businesses as well as details of all of our forthcoming Events. Any promotional flyers you may wish us to include can be dropped into the Hinckley BID Office at 76 Castle Street.

Around 60 businesses are currently making an offer and benefitting from the Loyalty Card Scheme – offers can be changed or withdrawn at any time. If you haven’t tried this route to extra sales yet, just ask us to tell you more about it. This service is included in your Hinckley BID annual fee.

The Hinckley Pride committee, representing our local LGBTQ+ community, is proposing a rainbow-themed shop window competition in the lead-up to their celebratory event taking place at Hollycroft Park on 15th July 2023.

They warmly invite all local businesses to get involved and will be presenting a trophy for the winning window display. Naturally, they would love to get as much participation as possible.

June is officially Pride Month, however, Hinckley Pride celebrations will be taking place in July, to align with the 1st anniversary of Pride in the UK which is 1st July. For businesses wishing to participate, your ‘rainbow’ windows should be in place from 30th June and remain until 15th July when judging will take place.

The winner will be announced at the Hollycroft Pride in the Park event on 15th July 2023, following a scheduled Pride march through Hinckley town centre.

Please don’t forget to tag us in your social media posts so we can share far and wide through our socials.

Our Facebook page has a fantastic 6,000+ followers (and growing daily) and we receive great engagement on posts.

Please tag us on Facebook using @hinckleybid and for Instagram please tag @bidhinckley.

We are always sorry to see any Hinckley town centre business close, and do our very best to help those in trouble, whatever the reason. It is reassuring to see several empty premises recently change from ‘To Let/For Sale’ to ‘Under Offer’. We continue to work hard to convince those (and other) businesses to move into Hinckley.

From June 1st the Team is:

• Steve Wegerif – BID Director – 2/3 days a week (concentrating on major projects)
• Martina Smullen – Assistant BID Manager – 3 days/week
• Toni Scott – Events Manager – 3 days/week
• Hannah O’Dell – Administration Assistant – 3 days/week

This re-organisation allows us to spend more time helping individual BID members whilst ensuring that the employment costs have not risen overall. Steve Wegerif is available to any BID member in complete confidence on 0770 939 4841 – 7 days a week.

Please remember that Hinckley BID is available to you to help with virtually any business problem. Our unpaid Board of Directors represent many different sectors and we are very grateful to them for all their help and advice. All matters will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. When we go to vote for our fourth 5-year term in October, we hope to have proved to you once again that we are worth your support.

Many thanks.

Steve and the Team at Hinckley BID.