The Stronger Town Fund launches in the UK.

The government has launched a UK fund in an attempt to boost struggling towns. The £1.6bn ‘Stronger Towns Fund’ is due to be allocated using a needs-based formula, which communities can bid for. It has been speculated that more than half of the money is to be spread across towns in the North of England and in the Midlands over seven years Although the funding will provide a well-deserved cash injection into many Towns, the funding has caused some concerns. One concern is that the bidding for funding encourages competition between places. This sadly contradicts the work underway via the regional mayor models (i.e.-Manchester &Liverpool) that are encouraged to work together collaboratively. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland seem an afterthought. [...]

2019-04-11T18:11:23+01:00April 11th, 2019|Business support, High Streets, Marketing, Markets|
Read More

Can Mike Ashley save the high street?

Mike Ashley, CEO of Sports Direct has been making headlines recently, with his recent purchases and bids or interest in for high street retail stores: House of Fraser, Debenhams and LK Bennett. But as high street stores continue to struggle, can Mike Ashley really save the high street? A few weeks ago, I put this question out to my network of contacts on LinkedIn, that include town centre managers, council officials, regeneration managers and retail teams to discuss if Ashley’s strategy was supportive of the high street or if it was causing further issues? My question was met with varied responses. To date, we’ve not seen any strategy plans or declarations of Ashley’s retail intentions other than to take House [...]

2019-04-08T21:04:49+01:00March 24th, 2019|High Streets|
Read More

Creating routes to employment via markets

Trading Post is a market trading programme that provides support and a pop-up market stall for new businesses in Redbridge to test their idea or sell their product. A new initiative from Work Redbridge, Vision RCL and Ilford BID, the programme was trialled in December 2016. With some adjustments to the programme, 2017 continued as a test opportunity and the scheme is now fully rolled out in conjunction with Amber Markets (a market operator in Ilford). The Trading Post start-up market takes place monthly. Brief Support routes into employment across the borough with a live trading opportunity at Ilford market Encourage first time traders (primarily) into Ilford market and wider trading opportunities (secondly) Add new commodities into the existing market [...]

2019-04-10T17:40:36+01:00February 3rd, 2019|Business support, Markets, Start-ups|
Read More

Building a marketing programme to increase footfall

Garstang is an historic market town located between Lancaster and Preston in Lancashire. The town has a strong sense of community and is relatively affluent. A well populated high street (150+ units) and a weekly market bring a high number of visitors, but at other times it can be quiet. There is a strong visitor economy with tourists visiting from nearby caravan parks along with keen cyclists, walkers and boaters with a canal and river nearby. Brief To market Garstang more effectively to: Increase footfall Support the visitor economy, building on the existing event-led programme Diversify the town’s offer (to visitors) Increase the appeal and awareness of the town to local people and visitors Increase the appeal of the town [...]

2019-04-10T17:41:31+01:00November 28th, 2018|High Streets, Marketing, Markets|
Read More
© The Assembly Line Ltd. Registered in England No. 8217851. Registered office: 23 Lowther Rd, Brighton BN1 6LF
Toggle Sliding Bar Area