This year at the Newham Business Awards 2022, we were shortlisted for the Covid Response and Resilience award.
We are so very grateful to have won the award due to our ‘Stratford Thrive’ programme, helping businesses bounce back after Covid-19.
Stratford Thrive
In response to the impact Covid-19 was having on businesses across the town centre, we developed our ‘Stratford Thrive’ programme putting the economic recovery of Stratford at the centre of the plan. We subsequentially applied for external funding with a recovery plan to support local businesses and boost Stratford’s economy.
In Spring 2022, we were awarded external funding to help support a broad range of projects and activities centred around Newham’s ‘Towards a Better Newham Covid-19 Recovery Strategy’. The grant was awarded to provide funding for initiatives to help boost local economic activity.
With the launch of ‘Stratford Thrive’ we have been able to deliver a number of initiatives that directly and positively impact our local business community. Our programme consists of three strands that will see Stratford come out of the recovery stage and move towards fulfilling its potential of creating an environment that is inclusive, safe and sustainable for all.
The three key strands:
1. Community Building
We have already delivered a number of free seasonal events to celebrate the diversity of Stratford and the rest of the Borough. The Queen’s Jubilee was a huge success, followed by the launch of Wimbledon on the big screen at St. John’s Church. From here we ran 6 full weeks of sporting events on the big screen; from Tour De France to the Women’s Euros – all to celebrate 10 years since the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and to inspire the next generation. Summer of Sport was our finale and ran every Wednesday throughout August, offering various sports, circus skills, face painting and balloon modelling. We even managed to squeeze in an open-air movie night showing Encanto, with free popcorn and refreshments for everyone to enjoy.
In total we have run 7 community events across a 3-month period, with each event attracting over 350 people.
2. Safer & Welcoming
A safe and welcoming environment remains top priority. At the beginning of 2022 we employed an additional ambassador into our security team, who has been exceptional at supporting our community events and being more present for our BID members – making them feel supported and heard. We are also working hard to deliver new creative lighting to support wayfinding, which is due to go live in Feb 2023.
3. Business Benefits
In addition to increasing the free training available to our members, we have partners with the FSB to fund memberships for our BID members. Moreover, in order to support the transition to a green economy, we are planning to run an audit to assess how businesses can change the way they deliver and receive goods with a view of increasing the use of alternative solutions such as cargo bikes. We are also working with Miconex to see how a bespoke gift card can incentivise our growing student population to spend in the original town centre and in turn, support our local independent businesses.
We want to congratulate everyone who was shortlisted and all the businesses who won their well-deserved awards on the night.
Thank you
