Bath Bid Meeting Cites Collaboration as Key to Prosperity in the City

Members of the Bath business community who are Bath Business Improvement District levy payers met at the Hilton Hotel on Tuesday 21st April to gain an update on the BID?s progress over the last 12 months.

The evening included a discussion session, which was led by editor of the Bath Chronicle, Lynne Fernquest and provided a chance for BID levy payers to question Andrew Cooper, Chief Executive of the Bath BID and David James the new Chief Executive of the Bath Tourism Plus (BTP) about key Bath issues. 

Nigel Huxley, Chairman of the Bath BID said “We have clear evidence from the last twelve months showing the economic benefits to businesses in the city that are embracing working in collaboration.  Those businesses actively engaged with the BID are making the most of paying their levy and I want to encourage those who don’t already to participate and engage with us.”

Andrew Cooper highlighted that the BID has generated 3.5 times more income than predicted when the original BID business plan was put together, which he said “was a remarkable success story”.  He also commented on the rationale behind why the Bath BID and BTP work closely together and their dedication to supporting retailers and businesses in the quieter tourism seasons, acknowledging that the events landscape is “confusing and not coherent to the consumer” which is why additional activities often need catalytic funding to launch which is where the BID and BTP step in.

Questions from the floor included why it was important to continue to market Bath and David James explained his objective for the City to have “fewer visitors staying longer and spending more” and recognised that while there will be some leakage between visitors staying in Bristol and visiting Bath that this actually works to the cities ‘advantage and can be leveraged’.  

Andrew Cooper explained why there appears to be a lot of empty units in Bath the reality is Bath is still below the national average advising where there are empty units the BID is proactively contacting landlords to gain access to the premises and keep the units tidy.    He also addressed the question of why we appear to have two groups cleaning the City saying “The volume of people that pass through the city, justifies additional effort into making sure Bath is a clean city.  If we are marketing a product it has to deliver and if people have a bad experience that will have negative impact and stop return visits.”

Finally, the event encouraged BID levy payers to complete the Your Voice Your Choice survey which had already indicated some interesting feedback including that 70% of businesses like the BID’s latest idea of introducing welcome hosts in Bath.