- March -

Let us know what your plans are for re-opening

Working with GCC we are beginning to get the city centre ready to welcome shoppers and visitors back for the re-opening of non-essential shops w/c 12th April. There will be an increase in city centre cleaning with a two deep cleans to be scheduled soon. The CPOs and city centre team will be re-administering pavement stickers, adding bollard covers and signage to emphasize the message of:

Welcome Back to Gloucester. Shop Safe. Shop Local.

-Hand-Face-Space-

Stay Safe. Together let's beat COVID19 for good.

We are reaching out to our businesses to ask you to let us know what your plans are for re-opening. Please email Emily at info@gloucesterbid.org.uk with your information.

Mi Rewards Gloucester

In the next 2 weeks there will be a new on boarding of businesses to the rewards scheme - this has no cost to businesses and completely free for consumers to be part of. Those in the first round of on boarding will receive an email from Miconex/MiRewards.

Restart Grants

RESTART GRANTS - announced by the Government recently as an additional support grant to assist businesses with re-opening in April.

If your business is in the rating list and is non essential retail, a restart grant may be due as follows:

If the Rateable Value of the business premises is exactly, or less than, £15k, a restart grant of £2,667 may be paid

If the Rateable Value of the business premises is between £15k and £51k, a restart grant of £4,000 may be paid

If the Rateable Value of the business premises is more than £51k, a restart grant of £6,000 may be paid

If your business is in the rating list and is hospitality, personal care, gym, accommodation or leisure, the following restart grants may be due:

If the Rateable Value of the business premises is exactly, or less than, £15k, a restart grant of £8,000 may be paid

If the Rateable Value of the business premises is between £15k and £51k, a restart grant of £12,000 may be paid

If the Rateable Value of the business premises is more than £51k, a restart grant of £18,000 may be paid

Please note: we have no further information about restart grants at the moment. The government have advised that we are unlikely to receive full guidance until April, once we receive government guidance and further details we will update our website here with the information - thank you.

More information and details here

Business Rates

Businesses and nurseries who received the expanded retail discount from their business rate bills for the 2020/21 year will receive the following reliefs in 2021/22.

01 April 2021 to 30 June 2021 - 100% discount

01 July 2021 to 31 March 2022 - 66% discount

You will be eligible if your business is in the retail, hospitality and/or leisure sector, or is a nursery as detailed below. Properties that will benefit from the relief will be those that are wholly or mainly being used:

as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues
for assembly and leisure
as hotels, guest and boarding premises and self-catering accommodation.
Nurseries - in buildings occupied by providers on Ofsted’s Early Years Register and are wholly or mainly used for the provision of the Early Years Foundation Stage

As long as you meet this criteria, there is nothing further you have to do. Gloucester City Council will apply the business rates holiday to your bills.

PLEASE NOTE - initial bills will show a 100% relief for the full year. Revised bills showing the 66% discount and payment instalments from July 2021 will be issued in June 2021.

More information and details here

A new website has been launched by Visit Gloucester to encourage visitors to book trips to the city.

The website promotes Gloucester’s fascinating history, culture, and tourism businesses including striking photography, helpful information, a panoramic video and carefully curated guest content to inspire visitors.

It has also been developed to be more user friendly and used on all devices.

The new website was set up by the council’s Visit Gloucester team and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England’s Great Place Scheme supported by Gloucester Culture Trust.

The scheme is designed to help cultural organisations make a step-change in how they collaborate with organisations in other sectors including tourism organisations.

It will act as a portal for Meet Gloucester which will promote the city as a place to hold meetings and conferences showcasing the range of venues businesses or individuals can hire in the city from drinks receptions to weddings, to business expos.

And it will also promote Film Gloucester which will aim to promote the city as a filming location.

There is also a portal to Gloucester City Council’s Invest in Gloucester microsite launched late last year.