Who’s Coming Out Out this weekend? 

Hospitality businesses are reopening as lockdown continues to lift at last. Yess! The doors will be opening in Stratford on July 4^th for many places to eat and drink including:

• Cox’s Yard, Bridgeway
• The Keys (Previously The Keys and Kitchen), Ely St
• Loxley’s Restaurant, Sheep St – fully booked
• The Corner House, Union St
• The Golden Bee, Sheep St
• Veenos, Bell Court
• Pizza Barge & Quarterdeck
• Stratford Marina - 10am for breakfast and midday for tapas
• Stratford Boathouse, Swans Nest Lane
• All Bar One – fully booked
• Miller and Carter – fully booked
• The Riverbank, Swans Nest Lane

More cafes are open including The Deli Café, The Fourteas for takeaway.

If you prefer to stay in for now, 33 The Scullery will continue to prepare high quality food and deliver to you.  So will Stratford’s Balti Kitchen and many others.

Attractions are opening also, though some with restrictions:

• Magic Alley, Bell Court
• Canal and River Cruises, the Bancroft
• Avon Boating, Swans Nest Lane
• Butterfly Farm, Swans Nest Lane
• The Big Wheel, Swans Nest Lane
• Mini Golf, Swans Nest Lane

Many other restaurants, attractions and shops will be hot on their heels, opening over the next few weeks including The Woodsman on 6^th July, Sorrentos on 8^th, El Greco on 15^th and Lambs, The Oppo and Vintner on 16^th.

All premises have introduced measures to help people feel safe, with masks, visors, gloves, sanitiser, queueing systems and so on. Pavements have been widened and so roads narrowed into a one way system. All car parks are open as normal. Public toilets and Bell Court’s toilets are open and free to use! (The only closed public toilets are Windsor Street and Ely Street for safety reasons.)

There are over 150 shops and places open including Stratford’s markets which will also take place on Rother Street on July 4^th and on Waterside on Sunday 5^th.  There will be plenty to see and do in Stratford as well as the beautiful river and parks to picnic and enjoy.  Do come and support Stratford, we need people to come to the town more than ever.

#DiscoverYourDoorstep #SupportStratford #LoveStratforduponAvon

Do you Run a Hospitality Business?

If so, this info and the links could be useful. This information should answer many questions on what needs to be done before you can open, following government guidance. 

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:

• Trish Willetts, Coventry BID
• Stephanie Kerr, BID Leamington
• Joseph Baconnet, Stratforward
• Rich Warren, Rugby First
• Lee Osbourne, Coventry and Warwickshire FSB

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. 

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. 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/873622/Expanded_Retail_Discount_Guidance.pdf

As soon as we have further information we will circulate it to all BID members.