Welcome to our round-up of Otley Business Improvement District news and updates on projects we have been working on over the Summer.
Welcome to Otley!
We’d like to kick off the Autumn by saying ‘hello and welcome’ to our new Otley businesses.
It’s been a tough year/18 months and trading is still difficult so please support your new (and old) businesses by shopping local, saying hello and lending any support you can to continue helping our fabulous independents.
Kids Funtime
This Summer’s ‘Breeze’ Funtime Events which were held in the Market Place every Wednesday in August, were very well received by local parents/carers and children alike.
From the challenging climbing wall to themed arts and crafts, the ever favourite bouncy castle to the musical young performers, we’d love to receive your feedback on which events your children found the most enjoyable.
Here’s some kind words we received on Facebook:
“Awesome! The grandkids had a lovely time, the staff were brilliant and a special thanks to the men on the climbing wall.”
“Had a fabulous time today. My kids spent 3 hours here and had a blast.”
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the team at Breeze for managing the events for us, to all the young musicians for coming out on Wednesday 25th August and performing for us. Here’s a round-up of the upcoming talent we have in Otley if you missed seeing them perform – https://youtu.be/8CHM0f6oKHk.
Music on the Streets
Another well received event was ‘Music on the Streets’ which was organised by our new Director Jen Pugh via the Woolpack Studios on Saturday’s throughout August.
It created a fantastic atmosphere throughout the town and were blessed with some good weather too which was a bonus!
Here’s a taster from 3 of the events:
- Saturday 7th Aug – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmXAMkybjJg
- Saturday 14th August – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTZ5dnlhukU
- Saturday 28th August – https://youtu.be/Dom9R9XH1fU
If you visited the town during any of these dates we’d love to hear how you enjoyed them and if it’s something you’d like to see more of. Please email jen@bighooha.co.uk.
Covid-19 Business Survey
Thank you to the 26 businesses who completed our recent survey about how Covid is continuing to affect your businesses.
Here is a snapshot of the results:
- All but 5 are now fully open, but only 10 said that the numbers of customers had returned to pre-pandemic levels
- 9 were continuing to offer extra services that they had started over the lockdowns – mainly delivery, online sales and online services
- 10 were still asking customers to wear masks
- 13 were asking staff to wear masks
- 20 still had the use of hand sanitiser for customers
- 12 were continuing with restricted numbers on their premises
- 15 were continuing with social distancing
Other issues that were flagged up were:
- Concerns about business continuity if many staff became ill.
- The issue of barriers on Kirkgate – We are in regular discussions with our City Councillors and appreciate the impact these have on businesses, but the roads and pavements belong to Leeds City Council and they currently are continuing with social distancing city wide.
- A request for free advertising either in print or social media – don’t forget to take advantage of the Promote Your Business project that the Otley Chamber of Trade is running (a reminder that membership of the Chamber is free for BID levy payers).
- A request that we start to encourage people back to visit the town for events – along with Otley Town Council and Otley Town Partnership and Otley Chamber of Trade we have been meeting regularly and several new smaller events have taken off in the last year such as the Kindness Festival, the Music Live Weekends and the Wildlife Festival. Some of the larger long standing events have proved too problematic to arrange with the larger crowds they attract and the cost implications of last minute complications. We encourage businesses to get involved with these newer events and we are all working towards a fuller programme of events next year.
- Some businesses expressed nervousness when the rules changed at the end of July, but found their customers have been generally cautious rather than carefree.
Covid-19 “Otley Says……” Graphics Pack
To support your business we are redistributing the blue Covid-19 Graphics Pack that were created last year. Please click on the graphic below to print off your own copies.
Otley Covid Sign Pack
Christmas Newsletter
Last year’s Christmas newsletter was a fantastic way for us to showcase what was happening in the town over the festive period to encourage residents to shop locally rather than online.
We are in the early stages of creating a similar festive newsletter to be published and circulated to residents throughout Otley and the surrounding areas.
So please let us know if you’re planning any events this Christmas that we can include as part of the newsletter. Entries are on a first come first served basis and we will try to include as many businesses as possible. In the first instance please email james@endurecommunications.co.uk with all the relevant information by this Sunday 10th October at the latest.
You Asked, So We Found Out….
Over the last few weeks we have been contacted by some of our levy payers about various topics which may also be relevant to our other members so we thought it would be helpful to share them here:
- Can we have more hanging baskets around town? There are many hanging baskets, as well as other floral decorations, around the town which are already funded by Otley BID and we recently also part-funded the fantastic display you may have seen in Bay Horse Court (outside The Bay Horse pub). These are created and maintained in collaboration with Otley in Bloom and at the present time there are no plans to expand on this area.
- Are there plans for extra vehicle charging points? We have fed this question back to Otley Town Council who will liaise with Leeds City Council.
- Local Otley artists are looking for a venue to host an exhibition. Do you know of any suitable locations? If your business/organisation has the space and would like to get involved with local artists, please let us know by emailing info@otleybid.co.uk.
- We have been experiencing issues with bicycles, scooters etc being ridden on the pedestrian footpath through Bay Horse Court. How can we improve this for our customers? We have enquired with LCC about how to encourage people to dismount from bicycles, scooters etc to prevent accidents.
- Our private car park is being used by business motorists who do not have permission to park. How can we stop this? Please could businesses be respectful of parking on private property/land which is not their own around town. If in doubt, we tend to find a polite enquiry/request is the best way forward to avoid any frustration or dispute.
2021/22 BID Levy Collection
Reminders for the 2021/22 Business Improvement District levy collection have started to go out to those businesses with invoices outstanding. These are being sent out by Leeds City Council who manage the administration of these invoices on our behalf.
If you are struggling to pay, please don’t ignore the letter. We completely understand the worrying times that businesses have gone through over the last 18 months, so please just let us know by emailing info@otleybid.co.uk.
We’re Here to Help
Is there anything that you are bursting to tell us that we should be doing? Don’t keep ideas to yourself, speak to us, we may be able to make your idea a reality. Please email us at info@otleybid.co.uk.