Latest News from Altrincham Unlimited

Barton Square, Trafford Centre redevelopment objection

Altrincham Unlimited are working on behalf of the BID businesses with an independent planning consultant on a robust objection to the planning application to Trafford Council that seeks to reconfigure the existing goods retail space at Barton Square, Trafford Centre. The application includes a wider range of retail, along with new places to eat and drink, and new family leisure attraction.

The BID Board believe that this development will have a negative impact on Altrincham town centre.

More information can be found on Planning Application on Trafford Council's website here

BID Money Saving Opportunity

Meercat is a joint procurement project, funded by Altrincham Unlimited, which can help businesses to make significant savings across utilities and merchant services.

Anthony Prophet, The Green Room and Traders Tiki Bar confirmed:

“We’re over the moon with the savings we were able to make through Meercat. Over the two venues and the duration of our contracts the consultant was able to achieve a combined saving of around £10k for us across utilities and merchant services. We’re saving the cost of our BID levy, and more, many times over and would definitely recommend the scheme to other BID businesses. If you don’t engage with Meercat you are almost certainly losing money”.

The next visit by Simon Jackson, Meercat’s representative, will be on Wednesday 13th March.

If you would like to arrange an appointment, please email: info@altrinchamunlimited.co.uk

Town Centre Busking Consultation

In response to a growing number of complaints from BID businesses, the BID Board have asked Altrincham Unlimited to look at the introduction of a busking license to cover the town centre.

This will be all about ensuring performance quality and appropriate sound levels, in order to create a balance between businesses who are sometimes not able to work effectively because of the level of noise and the people who want to continue enjoying the music.

The first stage of this process will be a survey carried out by Trafford Council to determine the scale of the problem.

If you are somebody who would like to have your say, please let us know and we will ensure you are included in the consultation.

To register your interest please email: info@altrinchamunlimited.co.uk

Bucking the Trend on Footfall

In 2018, Altrincham bucked the national trend for footfall over the Christmas period, with figures up over 5% on the UK average.

Independent data from Springboard showed that, in December, footfall in the town centre was up by 3.8% year on year, compared to a 2.1% decline nationally.

Annual figures for Altrincham saw a positive increase in footfall of 0.5%, against an average decline for other UK town centres of -2.5%.

So far 2019's Altrincham footfall has continued to see a positive increase - Year to Date footfall is up 10.2 %!

Town Centre Deep Clean Update

BID funded intensive cleaning of the town centre has continued with the latest sections to be cleaned including The Downs, parts of Ashley Road, Lloyd Street and Market Street. It has been really positively received.

The video of The Downs being cleaned, which was shared on Altrincham Today’s Facebook page, has to date had 8.9k views! Watch the video here.

This is an ongoing project which will eventually cover the whole of the BID area. Businesses will be notified prior to works commencing in their area.

Altrincham's Fitness February

Altrincham Unlimited has teamed up with local businesses to create ‘Fitness February’, a month dedicated to fitness,health and wellbeing with offers and specials from Altrincham’s gyms, spas, shops, restaurants and cafés.

During February, local residents and visitors to Altrincham can take advantage of money saving offers, free passes and taster sessions giving them the chance to sample the range of fitness options available in Altrincham. The gyms taking part include OrangeTheory Fitness, PureGym, Atlas Physique and Bells Gym. Also involved are Zero Gravity Float Spa and Runway Pilates.

Shops are also taking part with fantastic money saving offers from realbuzz and Millets. Also look out for other specialist classes taking place all around the town – yoga at Altrincham FC Community Sports Hall, hypnobirth classes at Gran Ts, Yoga at Laundry B and baby yoga at Treehouse.

There are also some amazing money saving offers from Altrincham’s spas and beauty businesses including Le Salon Cheshire, Bare Clinic, Kokoa, InSkin and BrightNewMe. Healthy eating also features with offers or specials from House Restaurant and Bar, Shop4Supplements, The Con Club, Toast and Treehouse.

For more details visit: http://altrinchamunlimited.co.uk/campaigns/fitness-february

Altrincham Vs Cancer

Local businesses PureGym and Altrincham HQ are teaming up for the 6th Altrincham Vs Cancer Event on Thursday 28th February 2019.

28 Altrincham Businesses and Community Members, including Abi representing Altrincham Unlimited, will be teaming up to run 140k at Pure Gym Altrincham to raise money for The Christie.

Over the past 5 years Altrincham VS Cancer has raised over £12,500 for the Christie and has regularly featured in Justgiving's top fundraising events of the past 5 years.

This 6th annual event set to raise even more vital funds for the charity.

The Christie are the largest single site cancer centre in Europe, treating more than 44,000 patients a year here in Manchester.

For more information contact: alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

ACT: Awareness

We would like to gauge from BID businesses whether there is interest in Altrincham Unlimited organising ATC: Awareness training.

ACT: Awareness replaced Project Griffin in April 2018 as the nationally recognised Counter Terrorism Awareness training, produced by the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO).

The presentation would be delivered by Counter Terrorism Security and Awareness Advisors and includes the following modules:

Introduction to Counter Terrorism
Current Threat
Identifying and Responding to Suspicious Behaviour
Identifying and Dealing with Bombs and Suspicious Items
Bomb Threats
Responding to a Firearms or Weapons Attack
Document Awareness
Drones
Social Media

Modules can be chosen to suit the audience’s needs, but it is recommended that those in bold are covered as a minimum.

Please let us know whether this is something you would be interested in taking part in by emailing: info@altrinchamunlimited.co.uk

Refill Campaign

Altrincham currently has 8 businesses who have signed up to the Refill campaign, a simple initiative where businesses display a sticker encouraging people to fill up their water bottles inside.

The initiative supports the reduction of plastic waste and the health benefits of drinking water but will also encourage potential new customers to cross your threshold!

To sign up, please email: info@altrinchamunlimited.co.uk

Altrincham in Bloom Bake Sale

Altrincham in Bloom Bake Sale will take place on Saturday 9th February at Barclays Bank on George Street.

Altrincham in Bloom is a voluntary charity group who help keep our town looking its best. If you are a café, restaurant or catering business in the town who would like to contribute by providing cakes for the sale, please get in touch by emailing:
info@altrinchaminbloom.org.uk

Business Hanging Basket Scheme

Altrincham Unlimited are looking at funding a BID hanging basket scheme as part of the drive to improve Altrincham’s environment. Having an attractive town, filled with spring/summer flowers, helps draw in visitors and improves the vitality of the High Street.

Let us know if this is something your business would be interested in by emailing: info@altrinchamunlimited.co.uk

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