Projects 2019

“High-quality town centre branding to underpin a range of new promotional activities”

Banbury – the ‘sunshine’ town

We took inspiration from the Banbury Coat of Arms to create a fresh brand identity for businesses and partners to use.

The Banbury Sun featured in many of our summer promotional activities. Read more>>>

“Targeted campaigns to highlight the attractions of Banbury to new visitor catchments”

Love Banbury Summer Guide

Amid the doom and gloom surrounding the UK high streets, we created a sunshine themed town centre guide to show off our town.

Love Banbury Summer Guide featured what’s on, where to shop, eat and drink. Read more>>>

“High-quality town centre branding to underpin a range of new promotional activities”

A Little Bag of Sunshine

These branded bags are not only stylish but are made from 100% recyclable materials, helping to save the planet every time you shop.

Importantly, our stockists benefited from every sale. Read more>>>

“The use of social media channels to promote Banbury and build customer loyalty”

Banbury Town Centre App

We teamed up with LoyalFree to offer a free app for smartphone users that helps us promote our town centre and businesses to reward loyalty.

People can save money when they shop local and find new places using the app. Read more>>>

“Targeted campaigns to highlight the attractions of Banbury to new visitor catchments”

A caring, sharing, giving Christmas

Christmas is a time to be thankful, so a theme of caring, sharing and giving, put people at the heart of the Banbury BID Winter Guide.

The Guide highlighted the strengths of our town centre at a special time of year. Read more>>>

“The use of social media channels to promote Banbury and build customer loyalty”

A-Z #PopToBanbury Campaign

A social media led initiative moving through the alphabet to showcase the variety of businesses and organisations in Banbury town centre.

For 26 days we featured as many of our 539 contributing members as possible.

“Enhancements to the appearance and use of vacant units and spaces”

Summer installations 

We made several visual improvements including our Suspended Suns and Banbury Brollies, which were even featured on ITV Meridian!

People were encouraged to take selfies and tag us in their photos. Read more>>>

“Enhancements to the appearance and use of vacant units and spaces”

A Pocketful of Sunshine

Once a neglected alcove rife with graffiti and litter, we transformed part of Church Lane with a sun mural and boxes of wildflowers.

Our Pocketful of Sunshine was dedicated to the late Mr Banbury, Brian Little. Read more>>>

“Work to expand the impact of current events”

Celebrating the winter solstice

We teamed up with Castle Quay to celebrate the shortest day of the year with a stunning lantern parade throughout our town centre.

We commissioned a lantern and children could take part in workshops too. Read more>>>

“Work to expand the impact of current events”

Spreading the Christmas magic!

We opened our own Santa’s Post Office in Castle Quay Shopping Centre! Children could write and post a letter and take part in Christmas crafts.

This was a free event to drive footfall and promote our Winter Guide. Read more>>>

“Develop a strong mechanism to champion and represent business views to key decision-making bodies.”

Car Park Summit

Parking is a key issue, so we negotiated 250 additional car park for the festive period, a staff permit scheme and park and ride service.

Earlier in the year we ran a parking survey on issues and possible solutions. Read more>>>

“Develop a strong mechanism to champion and represent business views to key decision-making bodies.”

Customer Experience Survey

Working with customer insight specialists we conducted a survey of 1000 people in and outside of Banbury. Results were presented to BID members at Levy Payer Events and were used when planning our 2020 projects.

“Develop a strong mechanism to champion and represent business views to key decision-making bodies.”

Working together for Banbury

We have put together a series of regular communications and special projects to keep members informed and gather feedback .These have included regular newsletters, a closed Facebook Group, surveys business events, drop-in sessions and Blog posts.

“Market research, lobbying and partnerships”

Evidence-based understanding

Audits have been completed on empty shop units and town signage, as well as our customer insights market research project.

Audio trails have been created on our app, showcasing history, visitor experiences, leisure and shopping and we are exploring creating 5 Visitor Experiences to promote the town offer domestically and internationally.

“A professional team and recycling the local pound”

In March 2019 we appointed a permanent BID Manager. Our Town Host roles now incorporate project delivery and great uniforms!

A CRM database has been introduced and we have developed strong working relationships with all key partners within the town. Where possible, we use local businesses for the supply of goods, design, print and marketing.
town planting and creation of town map featured in the Winter guide.

Banbury United Football Club created a window display in the ex-Moss Bros store on High Street as part of our project to improve the look of empty units while work continues to get them let.

A number of organisations including Age UK Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire Community Foundation are working on an ‘Age Friendly’ town initiative for Banbury and Banbury BID is a keen supporter as part of our Business Plan commitment to make our town centre ‘Better For Visitors’.