At Harrogate BID, we’re always striving to make a positive impact on our town centre and business community. We work hard every day towards achieving our three objectives and overall Business Plan – set with the aim of supporting, safeguarding and improving Harrogate for businesses, visitors and residents alike, to make the town the best it can be.
Over the last few years, the term ‘Social Value’ has become an integral part of the business world. The phrase relates to the positive impact an organisation has on society beyond its own profits, revenue, assets and other financial elements. Social Value looks beyond the direct economic impact that a project may have – from environmental, sustainable and wellbeing effects, to driving footfall and spend into other businesses within the local area. All of the events, campaigns and services we deliver as the BID in Harrogate are aimed at making a beneficial impact on not only our members, but our town as a whole – never to generate income or profit of our own.
Our teams on the street, featuring two Street Rangers and a Town Centre Support Officer, deliver additional projects that make a consistent positive impact, on top of the statutory services provided by our Local Authority. Whether it’s deep cleaning in key locations of the town centre, or supporting partners to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, our team provide daily services to enhance Harrogate to make it the safest, cleanest and most welcoming place to live, work and visit for everyone. We are always developing and enhancing our offer as the BID, with the introduction of new events, campaigns and services to meet new trends and adapt to an ever changing business environment.
We deliver a programme of events across the year to help drive increased levels of both footfall and spend into our town’s business community. Events including the Harrogate Dog Show, Celebration of Fashion, Lego Trail and Music Weekender all help to bring tens of thousands of people into our town centre which, in turn, leads to elevated footfall and spend – according to feedback from our BID Member businesses. Our events also often lead to securing return visitors, which helps to increase the profile of Harrogate on a wider scale and promotes our place as the ‘jewel in Yorkshire’s crown’ – which we know and love it to be!
The series of campaigns we organise and deliver across the year also contribute towards our organisation’s social value. The Harrogate Gift Card initiative, fully funded by us at the BID, helps to lock-in consumer spend within our town’s business community. We provide a number of campaigns, along with newly created schemes, to promote the Gift Card at key times of the year, with a hope of supporting our Members. Over recent months, we have been working alongside local experts and partners to bring together a new ‘Sustainable Harrogate’ working group – created with the aim of forming new ideas and strategies for a better future for our town.
We play a big part in celebrating our town’s history and renowned floral heritage, working alongside local groups including Harrogate in Bloom and Harrogate Flower Shows and attending frequent committee meetings to formulate new ideas and campaigns to enhance our town as a floral destination. We also often lobby with the local MP Tom Gordon – and recently encouraged the introduction of a new ‘task force’ to help tackle local issues including anti-social behaviour and supporting the local economy and business community.
As well as hosting our own events, we also support those put on by other organisations. We often act as the main sponsor for popular events in our town centre, including the Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism awards, which are held every year as a key celebration and thank you to one of our town’s crucial sectors.
As a not-for-profit organisation, none of the events, campaigns or services we deliver are designed to generate income for us, but instead to offer a positive return on investment for our Members – as well as creating effective initiatives for local residents and visitors to our town. We feel that there is a ‘Social Value’ heart at the centre of all that we offer as the BID, as we don’t deliver anything with the aim of bringing in more money for our own benefit, but only that for the good of our town.
If you have any questions about the work we do as the BID, or would like to request one of the services we deliver, please email our team on info@harrogatebid.co.uk