Businesses get research report
BURY St Edmunds has received a glowing report from residents, visitors and business people in a benchmarking study commissioned by the town centre improvement organisation Bid4Bury.
But the Action for Market Towns report also highlighted issues with low footfall figures, car parking charges and the cost of renting shops in prime locations, as well as a desire by town centre users to have a better link between the arc and the old town centre.
Addressing Bid4Bury members at their annual general meeting on Wednesday, Mike King, senior research consultant and the report’s author, said he was brought in as ‘a detached pair of eyes’.
The research found 82 per cent of town centre users rated the ‘variety of shops’ as either good or very good, a much higher figure than the 65 per cent of national large towns.
The cleanliness and physical appearance of Bury, as well as its range of leisure and cultural activities and the importance of its market and independent shops, were also noticeably above the national average.
Mark Cordell, Bid4Bury chief executive, said: “I’m delighted that Action for Market Towns received such a positive response to their questioning, but of course there is still work to be done and this study also highlights some aspects that Bid4Bury will now take a closer look at.
“Among the areas I’d like to see improve still further are footfall figures and issues around car parking.”
- Fire crews extinguish trees on fire in Red Lodge
- BNI aims for £1 million business growth following launch in Bury St Edmunds
- Priory School gets gold star marking
- Police call for compensation claim not to detract from officers’ ‘hard work’
- Suffolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner sets out priorities for local policing
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Tuesday 21 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North west

