Sip sip hooray the sun's hat was on for Father’s Day!
And UpMarket was back at Waterside, and will be for future Sundays.
Great to see some of our regular street entertainers back, adding to the great atmosphere in town.
Also the Friday and Saturday Markets return to Rother Street with fantastic fish, flowers and more.
#supportstratford #shoplocal #discoveryourdoorstep
Let's shop in Stratford and get behind our high street stores and treasured independents. Join in the #ShopStratford campaign and support the businesses in the heart of Stratford - there are over 420 businesses in town! Most are just beginning to get back on their feet as lockdown lifts at last.
Have you seen the Daily Mirror's Shop for Britain campaign? The UK government is reaching out to help our town centre businesses. The Queen and royal family are to supporting the high street too.
Let's get behind our local shops, food outlets, art galleries and places offering services. They will only survive with our support. For Stratford to be a vibrant beautiful town, we need them, so do our friends and family, for employment, for services and to help make our town a great place to live, work and play.
We are in this together, let's keep pulling together and #ShopStratford #EatDrinkStratford and #LoveStratford!
Tag us in on your posts using @stratforward on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
Stratford is open and welcoming people back with open arms.
As lockdown lifts at last, many shops have opened for the first time in 3 months and cafes are offering takeaways from hatches. Clothes shops, gift shops, jewellery shops, art galleries, the markets and much more. The river and gardens are looking great and make a perfect place to picnic. Many cafes will create a picnic hamper if you'd like an amazing picnic with fresh local ingredients. The swans will be very happy to see you back too!
Measures are in place to help you feel safe. This includes the widening of pavements and with it a one way traffic system, which has created space for queuing and walking at leisure whilst maintaining social distancing.
Shops are limiting the people allowed inside, protective screens are in place on counters, hand sanitisers and floor markers are in place. Much stock has been removed to create more space on shop floors and great care has been taken to create a safe place.
Its uplifting to see so many cafes open too, serving from hatches. Fabulous coffee to lift the spirits. 'We're back in business'... to borrow a line from our local paper the Herald! And now is the time more than ever to shop local. And therer are some super sales on too.
Markets will run on Fridays and Saturdays on Rother Market, and on Sundays at Waterside.
Do keep in touch by following us on Instagram and Facebook. This is where you will find our most recent information and photos of Stratford. https://www.instagram.com/stratforward/ https://www.facebook.com/pg/Stratforward/
Let us know how you get on! #supportstratford #shopstratford #lovestratford
Good question! Some businesses are managing to stay open and are finding ways to support the community. Thank you to all those who are.
Stratford upon Avon Support which is a joint initiative between Stratford Town Council and Stratford Town Trust has compiled a website offering help and support for the whole community in Stratford.
As part of that, there's a list of businesses who are open and offering home deliveries, collections and take aways. The list is regularly being updated to reflect who's open.
https://business.stratfordsupport.org.uk/
You can contact them direct or let us know and we'll ensure that the information is passed on ( info@stratforward.co.uk )
#StaySafe & Please let us know how you get on.
Your opportunity to put questions to your local FSB Representatives and Business Improvement Districts
The FSB and Coventry and Warwickshire's BIDs have teamed up to answer questions about support available to businesses in different parts of the county. The BID & FSB representatives will be:
For more information and to register please click here: https://www.fsb.org.uk/event-calendar/warwickshire-coventry-bids-highstreet-coronavirus-forum.html
The Town Trust hve announced that all parking charges in Rother Street surface car park have been suspended intil 30th April 2020 to allow people to access local businesses and services at this incredibly difficult time. Visit www.stratfordtowntrust.co.uk for more details.
Please be respectful of other drivers and try yo keep your parking to a minimum time.
The Trust thank LPS for suppoting this initiative
Our MP Nadhim Zahawi has just issued this statement to Stratforward.
"I just wanted all businesses and staff to know that, as your MP and BEIS Minister, my team and I are working flat out to get you the help and support you need as quickly as we can.
Many of you have already been in touch and I will get back to you as soon as possible. My department, BEIS, and the whole Government are working day and night to safeguard our health and the economy in a rapidly changing environment.
So please don't panic, stay safe, and look after yourselves. If we band together and support one another, particularly the most vulnerable, we can and will get through this".
Best wishes
Nadhim Zahawi MP
Member of Parliament for Stratford-on-Avon
Minister for Business and Industry
The government has now released further details of the Coronavirus response for the Business Rates Discount 2020/21. The guidance is aimed at local authorities who will be administering the scheme. However, we would ask that you give Stratford District Council time to digest and enact the scheme. We are led to believe that the advice on grants and loans for affected businesses will be released on the 20th March.
Essentially, the guidance note states:
For 2020/21 Financial Year a 100% rates discount will apply to:
Properties / occupied hereditaments that are wholly or mainly being used:
a). as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues,
b). for assembly and leisure; or
c). as hotels, guest & boarding premises and self-catering accommodation.
(see para 10 in the attached link)
Your business may be made of up of more than one hereditament - which is a physical rated space with a separate NNDR number.
Paragraphs 11 - 15 detail (but not exhaustively) the types of business that would be included in the rates discount.
However, there are a number of business occupiers who are not considered eligible for the rates discounts. These are hereditaments that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public:
− Financial services (e.g. banks, building societies, cash points, bureaux de change, payday lenders, betting shops, pawn brokers)
− Other services (e.g. estate agents, letting agents, employment agencies)
− Medical services (e.g. vets, dentists, doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors)
− Professional services (e.g. solicitors, accountants, insurance agents/ financial advisers, tutors)
− Post office sorting offices
− Casinos and gambling clubs
plus hereditaments that are not reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public.
However, all sectors are eligible for other support measures that will be outlined in further detail.
As soon as we have further information we will circulate it to all BID members.
Following emergency discussions the BID Board has agreed that the escalating situation with Covid19 means that it is prudent to make the decision now to minimise financial and public health risks. It will also allow Stratforward staff resources to be switched full time to assisting BID members get through the current crisis and assist with any town post crisis recovery strategy.
As a member funded business organisation we are acutely aware of the precarious situation the wider business community is now in. We are lobbying Government and MPs directly and through various bodies to urgently alleviate the huge strains being felt by the whole business community. We will keep you in touch with developments as and when we hear things.
We are also keen to receive feedback from member businesses in the town so we can try to keep up with the fast changing situation and target assistance/advice accordingly. Our team are now mostly working from home in accordance with Government advice but are picking up and responding to emails. Our Town Hosts remain on patrol still at this time.
In Stratford, announcements of event cancellations and venue closures are coming thick and fast: both the RSC and SBT have shut, a number of the smaller theatres have closed, the excellent Literary Festival taking place in May has been cancelled and both the Shakespeare Birthday and VE Day Celebrations will now not take place. We are aware of a number of shops and hospitality businesses who are deciding to temporarily close and others that are considering this too as an option.
These are not ordinary times. Keep in touch, stay safe, shop wisely and of course carry on washing your hands.
On behalf of the Board and staff of Stratforward.
Joseph Baconnet | BID Director
Food lovers are being invited to explore Stratford’s fantastic food scene with two weeks of special, menus, offers and events as part of the town’s Spring Feasts experience.
Restaurants, cafes and hotels across Stratford will be offering tantalising set meal deals and a host of other offers from March 6 to 21.
Spring Feasts is the second serving of the Stratford Feasts experience, launched for the first-time last year by Stratforward BID. Feasts include enticing fixed-price menus, 2 for 1 offers, and even a free round of drinks! Cuisines include Classic British, Thai, Turkish, Chinese, Italian and French - there is something to satisfy everyone. There’s even a Facebook competition with fantastic prizes.
Award winning Tea-room, The Fourteas in Sheep Street, is boasting a selection of delicious offerings, including an indulgent afternoon tea for exceptional discounted value at £12 or £15 with prosecco, and generous discounts on WW2 chocolate boxes or Cream Team Scones for four in a Gas Mask Box! (Customers must book in advance for the Afternoon Tea and quote Feasts).
Arden House is offering a special ‘Home Away from Home’ package for just £125 per room per night which covers accommodation, afternoon tea, gin o’clock, a tasty night cap and a full English breakfast.
Visitors to Zizzi will be treated to a complementary glass of prosecco or garlic bread when they mention ‘Feasts’, available every day along with a two course lunch for £10.95 or three course lunch for £19.95.
Some of the other offers for customers who quote Feasts include as below but there are many more:
On top of the amazing offers, scores of restaurants are continuing to boast brilliant value set menus including Sorrento, Lambs and Loxleys.
Zenios Loucas, owner of vintage Tea-room The Fourteas - which offers visitors a unique experience where they can step back in time to the 1940s - said: “The Fourteas is an affair that goes far beyond the food and the drinks it involves; as it refers to the glorious days of WW2 and the way we can relate to them directly, or via our parents and grandparents. During the Spring Feasts, and later on in the year, during the Anniversary of the VE Day Celebrations we would like to give people the opportunity to come and create their own story with the people they love while enjoying delicious food and an amazing range of exotic teas.
Stratforward BID Marketing and Events Manager, Tor Wilkes, said: “In the heart of Stratford we are lucky to have over 140 places to eat and drink! Whilst Feasts - Stratford’s restaurant fortnight - is running, there are even more reasons to come to Stratford, with so many special set menus and offers, it’s a brilliant time to try somewhere new or retry somewhere you’ve not been for a while. It’s worth going to our website to check out what’s on offer, as it is constantly being updated.”
For a full list of Feasts menus and offers, visit www.stratfordfeasts.co.uk and check out our Facebook page for details of the competition.
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And remember to save the date for the welcome return of Stratford Town Centre Food Festival on September 19 and 20 with over 120 stalls, taste and ale trails and free cookery and drinks demos.
In the Summer, the ever-popular Stratford River Festival will take place on July 4 and 5. Its entertainment line-up will soon be released! Both events are organised by Stratforward BID on behalf of 420 town centre businesses.
