Birmingham’s four Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) have come together to bring the city streets and centres alive for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations from 2-5 June.

Together, Retail Birmingham, Broad Street BID, Southside BID, Colmore Business District and Brindleyplace have funded the dressing of their districts with vibrant, specially commissioned Union Jack bunting totalling 6km, a kilometre for every decade of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

The entire retail area, including shopping centres will be dressed to help visitors celebrate the Jubilee.

The bunting will add the finishing touches to what is set to be a long weekend of celebrations including The Lord Mayor’s Show, Jubilee Big Lunches, Birmingham Pride, as well as a host of offers and events from the city’s retailers and restaurants.

With an exciting summer of British events ahead, the bunting will remain in place until the end of the London 2012 Games in early September, keeping the jubilant spirit alive for the millions of expected visitors and shoppers to enjoy.

Commenting on the forthcoming celebrations, Lord Mayor Coun Anita Ward, said: “Summer in Birmingham is set to be bigger and better than ever with a huge programme of events and a raft of sporting occasions for the public to enjoy. Thanks to the city BIDS and Brindleyplace, I look forward to seeing the city streets awash with Union Jack bunting and welcome visitors to the city to get into the true spirit of these unique celebrations.”

Network Rail and its delivery partner Mace invite you to the next update briefing on the Redevelopment of Birmingham New Street Station:

Time: 9.30am, Friday 1 June 2012

Venue: Network Rail, 3 Floor Meridian, 85 Smallbrook Queensway, Birmingham, B5 4HA

This briefing is part of a series of regular updates for our neighbours in the city designed to keep you well informed about how work is progressing and what changes you can expect to see as we continue the redevelopment.

Please RSVP to therese.chapman@macegroup.com

Find out the latest news and developments around the forthcoming new New Street station. For more infomation visit newstreetnewstart.co.uk

Oxford Summer School has launched a foundation level programme aimed at developing first appointment store managers, head office department managers, large store department managers, and supervisors who are in line for promotion within 6 months.

To find out more about the programme that will run at Keble College, Oxford from 9-13 July, take a look at the PDF and Retail Week article downloads through the link below or call the OSS on 01295 713391 or email info@oxfordsummerschool.co.uk

OSS Prospectus 2012

RW article May 2012

Retail Birmingham has launched an innovative competition designed to activate vacant shop units through engagement with local colleges, universities, arts organisations and artists.

The competition entitled, ‘Unique in Birmingham’ will provide entrants with the chance to dress one of 10 vacant shop unit windows in prominent, high footfall areas of the city centre.

Local competitors will be asked to interpret the theme ‘Unique in Birmingham’ through the conceptual design of visual displays using a medium of their choice that could then be chosen and developed to bring a vacant shop unit to life for all to see.

The winning installations will receive £1,000 each towards build costs, which will be funded by a grant provided to Retail Birmingham by Birmingham City Centre Partnership, with one installation also taking the top prize of a £1,000 worth of shopping vouchers to spend in the city centre.

Potential applicants are asked to submit an expression of interest to participate in the competition to contact@retailbirmingham.co.uk by Friday 18 May when further details will be provided. Initial concept entries will then be shortlisted in June by the Retail Birmingham board, with the final entries being judged in July by a panel of local arts representatives and Retail Birmingham partners. Winners will also be announced in late July, with installation taking place during August.

The competition was launched by Retail Birmingham in response to the challenging economic climate currently facing the retail sector and the wider economy. With over 1,000 retailers in the city centre, 100 of which are independent, it has never been so important to support and attract retailers into the city centre to keep it vibrant and thriving. The project aims to improve the current street scene in the city centre shopping district, as well as increase visitor footfall with the ultimate aim of attracting both short and long term lettings of the unit to retailers.

For more information or to express interest in entering, please email contact@retailbirmingham.co.uk

Best Bar None accreditation is awarded to venues that are outstanding in every way – superb management, brilliant service and an outstanding night out.

Best Bar None is the ‘Oscars’ of bar management! The scheme rewards premises that are raising the standard by taking pride in their surroundings, operating responsibly and demonstrating a commitment to reducing alcohol related crime. We want residents and visitors to our city to confidently enjoy Birmingham’s outstanding nightlife.

Why should I enter Birmingham Best Bar None?

There are a number of reasons you should enter your premises into the award scheme:

• Best Bar None is a national accreditation scheme, recognised as best practice by the Home Office and the industry.
• It’s a free ‘health check’ for your premises.
• It creates a safer environment for your customers and staff.
• It’s an opportunity for you to demonstrate how well you manage your business.
• Nationally, there has been a reduction in crime and the fear of crime in and around Best Bar None accredited venues.
• It’s FREE publicity for your venue.
• Discounted insurance premiums and improved cover offered to Best Bar None accredited premises by NDML Limited.

Don’t lose your chance to be on the list!

To register your expression of interest, click the following link:

http://www.birminghambestbarnone.co.uk/contact-us-2/expression-of-interest/

Good luck!

The campaign is working in partnership with Birmingham Community Safety Partnership (BCSP) which includes Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Police and Fire Service, and other agencies who work together to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour that affects our city. The project comes as a formal response to issues regarding the large number of face-to-face fundraisers operating in Birmingham and especially in the city centre, and is fuelled by concerns raised by members of the public, retailers and businesses. The research comes at a pivotal time when Birmingham is seeing significant investment in large-scale transformational projects such as New Street Gateway, the arrival of John Lewis, the Library of Birmingham and the Midland Metro Extension all due to be completed by 2015.

It is therefore more important than ever to ensure that the publics’ experience when walking around our city centre and between such landmarks mirrors this investment in a pleasant and welcoming environment. The consultation aims to understand how face-to-face fundraisers affect the walkable experience through the city centre.

Retail Birmingham encourages you to let us know what you think by visiting in the short survey at http://www.birminghamcsp.org.uk/, or by emailing contact@birminghamcsp.org.uk or visiting www.Facebook.com/FacetoFaceBirmingham by 30 June 2012.

The car park, which dates from the 1970s, will be demolished and in its place a modern secure facility built to complement the redeveloped Pallasades centre and John Lewis department store, which open in Autumn 2014. The car park will remain open until its closure at 7pm on Friday 18 May with the new car park set to open in 2014.

There are numerous alternative parking facilities in the city centre within a five minute walk of New Street station (details below). NCP Albany 485 spaces, open 24 hours St Judes Passage (off Station Street) B54AN

Birmingham City Council Town Hall Multi-storey (red cage) 371 spaces, open 24 hours / 7 days Brunel St/Navigation Street B5 4DQ

Map of Alternative Car Parks

A UK-wide consultation seeking views on whether tobacco products should be sold in standardised packaging has been launched. This consultation will aid the government in exploring whether action on tobacco packaging has the potential to bring public health benefits over and above those from the current DoH initiatives, including the recent display ban for larger stores.

Standardised packaging could consist of, for example:

• no branding
• a uniform colour
• standard font and text for any writing on the pack

Views are also sought on whether there might be other implications if standardised packaging requirements were introduced, including any potential effect on the illicit tobacco market.

The consultation asks for views on whether:

• tobacco packaging should remain unchanged
• plain packaging should be adopted
• a different option should be considered

You have until 10 July to have your say on the tobacco packaging consultation.

Any decisions to take further policy action on tobacco packaging will be taken only after full consideration is given to consultation responses, evidence and other relevant information.

Retail Birmingham has submitted a proposal to become one of the government’s 12 Portas Pilots.

The Portas Review (available at www.communities.gov.uk/portasreview) made a number of key recommendations aimed at identifying what government, local authorities, businesses and communities could do together to promote the development of new models of prosperous and diverse high streets.

Retail Birmingham have created an innovative scheme to encourage would-be entrepreneurs back to the high street through the My Dream Shop campaign. Watch the YouTube video here

For more details or to register your interest please contact the team at Retail Birmingham.

Connected City Newsletter Spring 2012

City Centre Interchange Bulletin 22-04-12

For more information visit www.connectedcity.org.uk/