Welcome

The Bluecaps are staying in Bedford, alongside the organisation behind all of their related promotional activity, BedfordBID.

The majority of businesses voted Yes to a second term of paying into a special levy which is managed on their behalf by a board of representatives of the Business Improvement District (BID).

After a slight delay, caused by an appeal on technical grounds, which was rejected by the Secretary of State yesterday (29th July), BedfordBID II is about to be unveiled.

The BID has been voted in for a second term of five years with an annual revenue of £600,000 which is all spent directly on making Bedford a better place to work, play and enjoy.

It is not a council organisation, although Bedford Borough is among those organisations represented on the board as it owns properties in the BID zone. The council voted Yes to support the BID in the recent election.

The majority of the money comes from retailers and restaurateurs, offices and small businesses in the footprint of the town centre BID zone. They all pull together to make sure Bedford is cleaner, safer and more appealing to visitors.

One of them is Kevin Kavanagh, owner of Frescoes Coffee House in Mill Street, and Deputy Chairman of BedfordBID board: “This is great news for Bedford in very difficult times. We need to be all working together to draw more people into Bedford and the only way we can have the power to do is by working as one. The BID has done some great work in keeping Bedford in the public eye, keeping business buoyant and bringing people in to the town centre - let’s keep up the good work!”

Plans for a major new promotional campaign for Bedford will be unveiled shortly by BedfordBID, details of which will appear here at www.comearoundtobedford.co.uk.