Introduction Try Twickenham represents 450 businesses united under the umbrella of Twickenham Business Improvement District (BID) Ltd. It is governed by a Board of Directors who are all BID levy payers and represents a cross-section of business interests of the town. The sole purpose of the BID is to deliver the commitments of the BID proposal as described in the 2014 2019 Time for Twickenham Business Plan*. The Board members receive no money or compensation for their time or commitment. They are just local business people who are passionate about the future of Twickenham. They see the BID as a vehicle to unite the retail and commercial businesses which will then enable vital investment and support to be of mutual benefit to all areas of the BID, and play an active role in the future financial and commercial health of Twickenham. The BID management team who work in the Try Twickenham BID Office deal with the day to day running of the BID, and ensure the collected BID levy is spent delivering the BID proposals under the guidance of the BID board. Try Twickenham works to support businesses, to respond to issues on their behalf, to introduce programmes, projects and events that can drive footfall, encourage local spend and ensure Twickenham is an exciting destination of choice for our commercial businesses and high street visitors alike. A levy of 1.5% is collected from all businesses with a rateable value of 6,001 and above. All money collected is invested in supporting businesses and promoting the town. The term of the BID is five years, with long and short-term projects and goals, all aimed to add benefit and ensure our town stays relevant and exciting. The current term of the BID will expire in 2019 with a re-ballot planned for 2018. All BID levy payers are eligible to become members of the Board. If you would like to be more involved with the project delivery and join the board, feel free to contact the directors or the BID Manager via the details listed on the website www.trytwickenham.com/the-bid/team. The Try Twickenham website and social media publish all your news and offers so don t miss the opportunity to promote your business or the work you do to over 4,000 followers on Facebook alone. We look forward to helping you make this year your most successful yet! Stuart Green, BID Director, Try Twickenham *http://www.trytwickenham.com/sites/default/files/twickenham_bid_busplan_final-em.pdf
2016 17 Marketing, Promotions and Events TryCycle Twickenham what we achieved Try Twickenham built on the award-winning success of TryCycle 2015 and attracted well over 2500+ people to the 2016 event. The free family fun day featuring fun cycling activities brought young children from schools in the Twickenham area together to compete, and they raised money for StreetInvest who work with underprivileged children across the world. Twickenham restaurants and cafés ran food stalls, and Radio Jackie provided entertainment and interviews to keep the day action packed and fun. Our latest TryCycle event attracted national coverage due to the attendance of our MPs, who joined in the fun and had a go riding the penny farthing. Christmas Lights Switch-On Try Twickenham expanded the Christmas Lights Switch-On event to be bigger than ever before. This year saw the inclusion of Twickenham Green, which was linked to the main event in King Street by a very popular camel-led parade. This year we attracted over 4,000 people across the three locations, had five live acts on our stage and had over 15 businesses directly involved on the day in our indoor market and along King Street. Try Twickenham was very proud to initiate the Spear Christmas Bauble Campaign, which raised 950 for those suffering from homelessness. We will be aiming to beat that total in 2017! The public survey we conducted received 92% positive feedback. We also interviewed the businesses directly affected by the Christmas Lights Switch-On event, and 90% said there was an increase in footfall, with 77% acknowledging an uplift in trade. We expanded our Christmas lights throughout the town so that all BID areas were decorated. As well as the Christmas trees on Twickenham Green and at Twickenham Station, new Christmas lights were added to lampposts on Twickenham Green and London Road. Alfresco Guide 10,000 Alfresco Guides were handed out around Twickenham to promote the fantastic street and garden dining. The guide included restaurant names and contact details, as well as a map on the back for easy navigation. This brought people from other areas to the town for evenings and weekends in the summer months and was a huge success. Updated website The website was updated to be more user-friendly and mobile responsive. Through this, the website has attracted more traffic, with event and job sections as the most popular. This has now been expanded to allow businesses to upload their own offers and events.
I Twickenham Try Twickenham created the I Twickenham campaign in February as a celebration of beautiful things to see and do in the town, which was shared on social media. We finished this two-week celebration by giving free I Twickenham canvas bags to every retail business in the BID area. This was so successful that we are continuing this campaign with the addition of oyster card holders and stickers into the next BID year. Social Media We created an Instagram page that gained over 350 followers with rising engagement over the year. Our Facebook page now has over 4,000 likes, and Twitter had over 1,000 followers. The engagement on posts has increased to a fantastic 3,800 per month. Try Twickenham s Facebook posts are one of the most engaged with monthly, just shortly behind the Richmond & Twickenham Times, but ahead of the council and other association groups. Many businesses are now finding that a share by Try Twickenham has a far greater reach than just posting from their own page. Promotional Material We have given out over 30,000 leaflets and flyers to promote events and offers. We advertised in the Richmond & Twickenham Times, Twickenham Tribune, Twickenham Festival Guide, Christmas Guide, Visit Richmond, and Richmond Map as well as the Twickenham Town map and guide. 2016 17 Attractive, Safe and Welcoming what we achieved Ambassadors Our Ambassadors are always working on your behalf, making sure all your offers, job offers and events are in the news. They are always ready to help and play a vital role in networking and events. Flower Baskets Try Twickenham businesses displayed over 160 hanging flower baskets in 2016. The colours were chosen to acknowledge the Queen s special birthday, which was reflected throughout the LBRuT. There was a significant uplift in the number of businesses who took advantage of their free flower basket, which greatly enhanced the appearance of our BID area and made the town look beautiful.
Highly Commended Employee of the Year, 2016 17 Car Parking offers what we achieved Try Twickenham continued working with RingGo to offer 90 59-minute free parking slots six days a week Monday Saturday. We have increased the offer window to between 10am and 3pm. We also trialled offering extra 59 minute slots over the Christmas shopping period, which we will be extending to free 2-hour slots over the Christmas period in 2017. 2016 17 Connected and Represented what we achieved We conducted several surveys throughout the year to understand what businesses and the public thought about the Christmas Lights Switch-On, and the parking in Twickenham. We launched our first business networking meeting at Stokes and Moncrieff, (now renamed the Royal Oak) which has been followed up in 2017 with a series of Business Breakfast Meetings, generously hosted by Ballaro, Caffe a-roma and TW2 Bar & Grill with our local MP and opposing party candidates in attendance. We began a blog series on the website called Getting Down to Business to celebrate the stories of our business owners and to showcase them to the wider business community. Twick Chats is another fun blog we have set up to ask people what they love about Twickenham. We publish a monthly newsletter which is emailed out to businesses. We have now introduced a printed quarterly compilation that will be handed out by the Ambassadors. We are developing links with our neighbouring BID in Richmond and with five other BIDs in the newly formed BID Forum, in the London Borough of Richmond and Wandsworth. The BID has also been involved in the Twickenham Riverside Consultation to discuss the commercial and retail potential of the development. Competing for the Future Try Twickenham is delighted to have worked with Twickenham Riverside Trust, Twickenham Alive, Friends of Twickenham Green, Solum & Twickenham Station, Spear, Shooting Star Chase, Twickenham United Reform Church and Twickenham Green Baptist Church in various forms of partnership and support. We are always looking at ways to work with the wider community and other associations and Twickenham groups, who are passionate about keeping Twickenham in the spotlight.
Looking ahead to 2017 18 Try Twickenham will repeat and build upon the activities of 2016 17 and is proposing the following projects. Marketing, Promotions and Events We will build on the success of our TryCycle Twickenham and Christmas Switch-On events. We will continue to build relations with local community events, including having a Try Twickenham stall at our community partner events such as Borough s Best Banger and summer fairs. We aim to hold more networking events for businesses, including political breakfast meetings for Twickenham businesses to ask questions to politicians and the council. We are going to extend the monthly electronic newsletter by producing a printed quarterly compilation. We will build on the Employee of the Year and International Woman s Day, and other national holidays to celebrate hard work, talent and diversity in Twickenham. We will expand the I Love Twickenham campaign to incorporate shop locally, with printed and social media campaigns to promote seasonal and festive shopping opportunities. Attractive, Safe and Welcoming We will continue to expand the Twickenham Business Flower Basket offer. We will expand our defibrillator training scheme and offer first aid at work courses. We want to expand on the current development in Twickenham and create more beautiful and interesting spaces. We want to secure funding to develop our ideas with our partners, so we can offer places of interest and attract even more people to the town centre. Connected and Represented We will continue to survey public opinion on various platforms throughout the year to understand what local businesses and the wider community want to see in Twickenham. We are actively collecting data, to look at our consumers and how they use the town. We are also collating our Google, Facebook and Twitter analytics to access our performance and information delivery. Try Twickenham will aim to grow our social media presence to ensure we deliver the very best of Twickenham to not only a local audience but to people from neighbouring towns who will be tempted to travel and discover for themselves. We look forward to creating more cohesion in the business community and ensuring our businesses are aware of all the opportunities and offers that could improve or help their business.
Try Twickenham Business Improvement District (BID) will continue to provide a wide range of services and deliverables in line with the key points identified in the Twickenham BID Business Plan 2014 2019. ANTICIPATED INCOME ( ) 2016 17 2017 18 BID Levy 253,972.00 257,000.00 Bank Interest 0.00 0.00 Project & Miscellaneous Income 12,000.00 13,000.00 Total Income 265,972.00 270.000.00 ANTICIPATED EXPENDITURE ( ) Operating Costs 2016 17 2017 18 Staff Cost 21,996.00 22,000.00 Premises Cost 10,200.00 10,200.00 Telephones and Internet 660.00 660.00 Insurance 1,901.00 1811.00 Postage 1,080.00 1,080.00 Stationery and Printing 560.00 560.00 Professional Fees 6,120.00 4,800.00 Information & Technology 3,500.00 4,100.00 Staff Welfare and Training 600.00 2,000.00 Bank Charges 120.00 120.00 Sundry Expenses (inc travel and entertainment) 600.00 600.00 Levy Collection 10,227.00 10,227.00 Depreciation 0.00 0.00 Total Expenditure 57,564.00 58,158.00 Marketing, Promotions and Events Staff Cost 12,344.00 12,000.00 Town Centre Branding 1,500.00 7,239.00 Website and Social Media 7,500.00 3,600.00 Twickenham Promotion 32,900.00 37,500.00 Enhanced Christmas Lights 22,000.00 16,000.00 Christmas Lights Capital Cost 5,000.00 0.00 Total Expenditure 81,244.00 76,339.00 ANTICIPATED EXPENDITURE (continued) 2016 17 2017 18 Attractive, Welcoming AND Safe Staff Cost 5,660.00 4,996.00 Ambassadors 34,639.00 25,900.00 Cleaning and infrastructure 0.00 2,000.00 Maps, Flowers, Banners and Flags 18,000.00 25,000.00 Total Expenditure 58,299.00 57,896.00 Car Parking Car Parking Promotions and Incentives 17,000.00 35,007.00 Total Expenditure 17,000.00 35,007.00 Connected and Represented Centralised Procurement 0.00 6,000.00 Business Networking and Mentoring 1,000.00 3,600.00 Rent and Rates Negotiation and Assistance 0.00 0.00 Apprenticeship / Student and Training 0.00 1,200.00 Window Dressing and Banner Display 2,000.00 5,000.00 Total Expenditure 3,000.00 15,800.00 Competing For The Future Strategic Advocacy (Projects) 5,000.00 10,000.00 Collaborative Projects and Funding 7,550.00 8,400.00 Total Expenditure 12,550.00 18,400.00 Contingency 12,000.00 8,400.00 Total Expenditure 241,657.00 270,000.00 Accounts are not yet audited or closed. The 2017 18 figures are based on anticipated collection and may be subject to change. Any surplus or unused contingency will be carried forward to meet the requirements of programme delivery for the rest of the BID term.
We had such a great day today down by the river with a 3-year-old and an 11-yearold. There was something for everyone. (TryCycle) It was a very good event and each year it gets better. It s good that it incorporates the high street, so more people and more businesses get involved. (Christmas Lights Switch on) A fantastic group of people, which keeps us up to date with what s going on in Twickenham. (About Try Twickenham) I love Try Twickenham. They keep us all in touch with what s happening and keep the community spirit alive in Twickenham. Keep on doing what you re doing we it! (Facebook review) Great source of information for what s going on in town and news updates. (about the website) Buck for your pound nothing delivers like THE BID TRY TWICKENHAM social media exposure and increased town awareness, from events and footfall-increasing strategies to free parking. This would not be happening without Try Twickenham. Stuart Sandys (About Try Twickenham) Great info about Twickenham and keeps you up to date with everything happening in your local area. (Facebook review) The light switch on is good for the town and the community because it brings people together and makes the town feel like it has a sense of ownership and inclusion. The LoversLights Company (Christmas Lights Switch On) N 30 Heath Road, Twickenham TW1 4BZ T 0203 417 0809 E info@trytwickenham.com