“Business of the Week” Promotion
January sees the start of our “Business of the Week” promotion where Otley businesses will feature on the home page of the town’s business directory – the Buy In Otley website, as well as being promoted on the Visit Otley and our own social media accounts.
In the first few months we will be focussing on new businesses who have recently opened within the town. Origin Fine Foods was the first to feature and owner Jenni has been actively sharing it which is not only great coverage for her new business, but it also promotes this fantastic resource.
We would therefore encourage you to regularly check your listing on the website to make sure everything is correct, and if you are not listed please contact james@endurecommunications.co.uk.
Also, please talk about the directory to your customers, as it is the only ‘go to’ place for residents in Otley and the surrounding areas to find all our products and services easily at the touch of a button!
Christmas Video
The release of the 2021 Christmas video was very well received and achieved in excess of 22k views.
Super Sundays and the Black Horse cinema were also popular on social media.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who got involved in the video, the Super Sunday’s throughout December, as well as Richard and Jennifer at Woolpack Studios who created the unique ‘ear worm’ of a soundtrack to the Christmas video.
Benchmarking Survey
Thanks to everyone who completed the 2nd online survey back in November 2021. The results will be available shortly and we will communicate these to you via our website and our quarterly newsletter. It’s good to see that early indications show that Otley businesses are working hard and often succeeding in these trying times.
Kirkgate Barriers
After several businesses have raised the issue of the untidy state of Kirkgate over the Winter period, we have started to investigate and found several issues all at work at the same time, namely:
- The ugly recycling bins – we set up a meeting with Leeds City Council Waste Department and realised that our suggestion of replacing the bins with more in-keeping heritage style ones wouldn’t work as these are not as successful in collecting (a) the volume of recycling or (b) in keeping the waste uncontaminated. Following a survey undertaken across Leeds by LCC it was found that “in Otley they have been a great success with the area returning the best recycling results of any area in Leeds. One bin on Kirkgate is the most successful recycling bin in the whole of the City!” Due to these findings unfortunately we are unable to do any more – we tried but they are here to stay until such time as the monitoring shows that they are not working.
- The Barriers & Planters – these red and white barriers were originally instated by LCC to help with social distancing during the Covid Pandemic. At the end of May 2022 the special powers, that mean the barriers can be installed without consultation, will end. So at that time either the road layout will return to its former state, or consultation will begin on a permanent Highways Order to widen the pavement. We will keep you informed as to the developments of these barriers as it is important that issues surrounding pedestrian access, loading, disabled parking and other parking on Kirkgate are fully understood by those who make the rules. In the meantime, the red and white barriers will be removed over the next few weeks as they are being replaced by a series of smaller planters to fill in the gaps between the 4 large planters that arrived recently. For more information on this subject please visit Otley Town Council’s website HERE.
- Flower Planters – Many and various planters along Kirkgate on the lampposts and on the roadside railings, some of which are reaching the end of their life, are being reviewed. We are currently working with Otley Town Council and Otley in Bloom to get a joined up strategy to streamline them.
- How You Can Help – However, it’s not all someone else’s problem….if you have a business in Kirkgate (or elsewhere in the town) please have a look at the outside of your premises and ask yourself; “do you need to sweep the pavement (there is very little council street cleaning now due to years of budget cuts)?, do you need to clean your windows?, repaint?, refresh your window displays or store your trade waste in a better fashion?” Please understand that we are not judging anyone, as we know it is very easy to not see a problem that has been there for a long time 🙂
Annual General Meeting
Save the date for our 2022 AGM which will be held on Zoom on Tuesday 29th March. More details to follow shortly.
Otley Business Awards
We are proud to be sponsoring the 2022 Otley Business Awards and all nominated businesses will be receiving their invitations to the big night to be held on Friday 18th March 2022, very soon.
Don’t Forget!
We can help with being a first port of call for planning and lease issues. Please email tim.wilkinson@otleybid.co.uk if you are experiencing any issues or would like some advice.