Artistic Light Display in Orchard Gate
As part of our Art in Empty Shops initiative, we are delighted that Graham Tansley, a former lecturer at Leeds College of Art and organiser of Leeds Lights, has agreed to bring one of his awe inspiring light displays to Otley.
The display is now up and running from 5pm-10pm each night, so be sure to pop along and have a look at Otley’s latest piece of art in the property that was Essential Bargains (12a Orchard Gate). Our aim is to breathe life back to any vacant properties in the town to showcase different types of local art. So please take time to visit this fantastic display, which we are sure you will agree is a welcome addition to Orchard Gate during this festive season.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Chris Pugh from Tatton Estates, Alan Varney, Caretaker, Sally Neill for making the shop available and of course Graham for making it happen! If you know of a shop which may be suitable for a similar kind of art display please contact peter.mudge@otleybid.co.uk
Baubles on the Chevin
In addition to the Orchard Gate display, Graham Tansley has also agreed to bring us ‘Baubles on the Chevin’. This second art display is a collection of colourful Christmas baubles that will adorn various trees on Otley Chevin, and be in situ throughout the 12 Days of Christmas.
So whilst your walking your dog or taking your Sunday stroll, please look out for these colourful displays and post them on our Facebook or Twitter pages www.facebook.com/otleybid or www.twitter.com/otleybid and include the hashtag #OtleyBaubles – we’d love to see them shared far and wide for everyone to see!
Photo credit : Steve Davey
Bookshop Art
Following on from the well received mural at the entrance of Bay Horse Court, we recently met with the owners of Chevin Books and Shane Green, Head of Art and Design at Prince Henry’s Grammar School.
We are delighted to announce that it has been agreed that the students of Prince Henry’s will paint a series of murals depicting collections of books on the boarded windows to the side of the shop. This will further enhance the Courtyard, thus attracting more visitors and residents to this hidden gem of local independent businesses.
Saving Otley’s Businesses Money!
As part of our commitment to Otley BID Levy Payers, we have negotiated a number of deals with local businesses to help save money on day-to-day costs. We have recently agreed some new savings, all of which are listed below. These will be circulated to businesses shortly. In the meantime if you would like more information please contact the business direct quoting ‘Otley BID’. Businesses can be found using the online Otley Business Directory https://directory.otleybid.co.uk/.
- Otley based estate agents agents dealing in commercial premises (Dale Eddison, Dacre Son & Hartley and Hunters) are eager to bring new offers to the town whenever practical.
- Social media and marketing solutions from The Yorkshire Marketing Company, Otley
- Customised signage and liveries from Print Crew, Otley
- Business waste collection from LiliWaste, Wharfebank Business Centre, Otley
- Business consumables from Excel Office Supplies, Wharfebank Business Centre, Otley
- Reduced annual bus fares from First Bus, National
- Fuel cards from Tate Oil, Otley
- Business health check from JSPS Consulting, Yeadon
Boats on the River
As this project continues to move forward, a meeting has been held recently between Leeds City Council, our Ward Councillors and ourselves to establish where we are on this long awaiting project. We hope the Council and BID will soon be able to announce the return of boats to the river which has been an ambition led by Chris Thornton of Aura Jewellery for many years.
Otley BID Update 2016
As mentioned last month we have been busy producing an update which outlines all the work that has been done in the last 2 years, along with developments that are currently underway and details of other projects that are coming to fruition.
We are pleased to announce that the booklet is now available and is being delivered to all Levy Payers within the BID area. Even with help from the wonderful Town Team volunteers it will take some time to hand deliver copies to all businesses so if you want to get an early look just go online to http://otleybid.co.uk/otley-bid-update-2016/.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the businesses who have kindly given their input and ideas into the document. If you have any thoughts on how we can continue to improve our beautiful market town please email peter.mudge@otleybid.co.uk.
Memorial Gardens
It was lovely to see so many of our community come together at the Remembrance Parade in memory of our war heroes on Remembrance Sunday.
We are delighted that the refurbishment of the Memorial Garden’s furniture (funded by the BID) was completed in time for such an important day. We would like to particularly thank Alan Burgess of Alan Burgess Decorators and Richard Houldsworth of Basil Houldsworth & Sons Ltd for refurbishing the benches and for Richard personally contributing 50% of the cost. Thanks also go to Councillor Peter Jackson for organising the hooks/racks so that the wreaths could be displayed in all their glory.
Did you know that over 60 years ago the Rotary Club Otley provided all but 2 of the original benches in the gardens? To celebrate this anniversary the Rotary will be kindly providing a £250 donation toward the renovation of the benches and the BID are arranging for small memorial plaques to each bench stating “Rotary Club Otley 2016”.
The next phase of this refurbishment project is that LCC’s Parks and Garden’s department will be pulling out all the overgrown greenery and completely replanting the gardens, as well as doing some much needed maintenance on the large conifers. Weather permitting this work will commence next year.
Leeds City Enterprise Partnership
Peter Mudge has recently met with Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to look at how we can attract more innovative businesses into the town.
To give you some background, LEP work with public and private sector partners to provide support and funding to help businesses grow, attract new investment to the region and develop the skills, energy and digital infrastructure to create jobs and prosperity.
One successful case study is that of Otley based Craftsman Tools who are growing their award-winning apprenticeship programme with the help of LEP. By successfully applying for a £30,000 grant, they are investing in new machinery to expand production and develop innovative products.
It was agreed at the meeting that LEP are happy to work with the BID with a view to creating pop-up workshops for businesses in the New Year. We will keep you posted once we have more detail on this fantastic initiative.
In the meantime if you wish to read more case studies feel free to visit www.the-lep.com.
Innovative Otley
Otley has been chosen as a prototype market town in a Leeds University project to show how a town works and responds to external pressures.
When the BID was approached with the idea, the work was described as a bit like Sim City in small town form.
Key to Otley being selected is it’s partnership with the innovative footfall monitoring company Noggin. After a recent BID and Leeds Economic Development organised meeting, Noggin and the University will now work together developing the programme and update the BID as it progresses.
Footfall Counters
You will have noticed that every month we show you the previous month’s count of visitor footfall into Otley.
From the end of November this important project will have been running for 12 months. This means that from 1st December we can begin to compare and contrast footfall data in various ways, eg. By day, by week, by month, by event etc. As we begin to understand trends and analyse the data we will publish the information both at the Otley Chamber of Trade meetings as well as in this bulletin.