In Your Pocket Sentiment Tracker

This blog looks at the attitudes and behaviours of frequent travellers during the pandemic in 2020 and, combined with the Visit England Sentiment Tracker (next instalment due this week) makes interesting reading.

https://blog.inyourpocket.com/blog/traveller-sentiment-during-the-global-pandemic/?utm_source=iypsurvey&utm_medium=2email

Community Renewal Fund - North and West Northamptonshire

A call is now live for collaborative Community Renewal Fund bids from groups in Northamptonshire. 

Full details of the call are here, and deadlines outlined below.

https://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/councilservices/business-and-economy/Documents/IAGF.pdf

• Deadline for bids to North / West Northamptonshire is May 3rd 2021

• North / West then review and submit a shortlist to government, with a value of no more than £3million per location in June 2021 

• Decisions in July, project completions March 2022

• Collaborative bids to the value of around £500k encouraged 

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us on [email protected]

Restart Grants Hospitality & Non Essential Retail

To support the recovery of Northamptonshire’s hospitality and tourism sector as restrictions are relaxed, one-off payment 'Restart Grants’ have been announced by the North and West Northamptonshire Unitary teams this week.

Details and criteria are available on the following links:

West:
https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/business-and-licensing/restart-grant

North:
https://www.northnorthants.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid-19/restart-grant

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions on: [email protected]

Adrenaline Alley’s Journey to Covid-secure Success

The past year has been a huge learning curve for businesses, not only in relation to forced closures but also reopening; following government guidelines and instilling customer confidence. In this context, at Adrenaline Alley every measure has been implemented to minimise the risk of virus transmission. The advice given for each industry has been plentiful but every organisation is unique, so the biggest hurdle for us has been adapting in a way that suits the needs of our specific business. As an urban sports of over 6 acres, with a small workforce in comparison to the size of the facility, pre-pandemic we could host over 600 customers on a busy day. Our visitors travel from all over the country and many from overseas. As we initially considered reopening we decided dramatic change was our only option to remain sustainable whilst going above and beyond to provide a... Read More »

Toasting More Stars of County’s Food & Drink Sector

While 2021 still offers the county’s culinary sector little for which to be thankful, more of its finest are enjoying a well-earned reason to celebrate after picking up top accolades in this year’s Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards. The competition, now in its twelfth year, is run by the sector for the sector and is aimed at publicly applauding all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and rewarding those who work so hard to ensure the sector’s continuing success. The Awards year usually culminates in a glittering celebration staged at Northampton’s Royal & Derngate but, owing to social distancing rules, the results in six of the categories were announced online back in November, while a further three category results were revealed in February during another... Read More »

Grant Funding from Innovate UK

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £25 million in the best game-changing and commercially viable innovative or disruptive ideas. All proposals must be business focused.

Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy, such as, but not exclusively:

• the arts, design and media

• creative industries

• science or engineering

Whilst we welcome projects that overlap with the grand challenge areas this is not a requirement, as we are also keen to support projects in other areas.

To monitor the impact of our work to promote equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) we need to collect relevant data and evidence. For this competition this means:

• all applicants are required to complete the EDI survey

• applicants are prompted to consider EDI as part of the application process

EDI considerations are highly encouraged where appropriate in the proposal. Applications will continue to be assessed on their innovation merit, where innovation is defined as the potential for commercially successful exploitation of ideas.In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated. For more information visit the following link:
https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/810/overview

Necessity Grant Funding

The Necessity 'living archive' aims to share stories, learning and research from across the UK and supports communities to strengthen and adapt to ongoing economic and climate challenges.

Necessity also offers grant funding to increase the capacity of people, projects and networks within the UK.

Funding for grants of up to £20k has recently been announced, Necessity wants to hear from freelance artists, creatives, writers, thinkers – people working individually or collectively and are offering grants to support and co-create work that will stand alone whilst also contributing to an overall creative programme that will be developed over the coming months.

More details here: https://necessity.info/category/domestic-resilience-and-creative-communities

Visit England Business Support & Escape the Everyday Campaign

26th February 11am

We are pleased to collaborate with the University of Northampton and Nene Valley tourism team to bring you this update from Visit England on:

• Business support

• Customer sentiment tracking

• Escape the Everyday campaign

More information and registration link here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/visit-england-present-on-business-support-escape-the-everyday-campaign-tickets-135835691209?aff=

Funding Scheme Guidance

The Government has published further guidance on eligibility on two coronavirus funding schemes for businesses in England; the Local Restrictions Support Grants (LRSG (Closed) Addendum) and the Closed Business Lockdown Payment. Tourism and hospitality venues in England that have been required to close, as well as businesses that operate primarily as an in-person venue, but which have been forced to close those services and provide a takeaway-only service instead may be eligible for one or both grants. Eligible businesses must occupy property on which they pay business rates and are the ratepayer. For those required to close due to the national restrictions beginning 5 January 2021, the Closed Businesses Lockdown Payment (CBLP) supports eligible businesses based on the rateable value of the property on the first full day of restrictions. Businesses with a property... Read More »

Round up of COVID-19 grants available

Following the recent announcement of a national lockdown for England, Government has announced a number of grants for businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. Businesses can access one-off top-up grants on a per property basis if they are closed by the latest restrictions announced on 5 January. Those not eligible for the grants should apply to their local authority as a further £594 million is also being made available locally in the form of 'one-off’ grants. If your business was closed in Tiers 2, 3, and 4 you can check eligibility for a cash grant for each 14-day period closed, from the Local Restrictions Support Grant. You can also find a round-up of financial support for businesses on Gov.UK and a useful support checker here. Also see the Visit England round-up of Government funding available on the national Business Advice Hub.

Support Local: County's Tastiest Treats under one Roof

From pies to pickles, bread to beer, some of the county's favourite treats and tipples are now on sale under one roof at Rushden Lakes, thanks to an exciting new 'Support Local' partnership launching this week. Made In Northamptonshire has teamed up with East Northamptonshire Council to offer visitors the opportunity to take home amazing produce that's all been lovingly created in the county. The opportunity to showcase some of the county's artisan producers in one place is a dream come true: "When we launched MIN in January 2011, the aim was to lend our backing to our fabulous producers, helping raise their profile, finding stockists and promoting their wonderful wares to more people" explained Rachel Mallows, Director. "Now, thanks to both The Crown Estate and East Northamptonshire District Council, we've found the perfect way to celebrate our ten-year anniversary... Read More »

Phone or Click & Collect – shop local during lockdown

Northampton's Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) is offering shoppers and town centre businesses a ‘Phone or Click & Collect’ service during this month's lockdown. 

The collection point will be at number 64 St Giles Street, Northampton.

This Phone or Click & Collect service enables people to continue to shop locally and safely in Northampton town centre, despite the closure of businesses during lockdown. It also enables businesses to continue trading – despite most having to close to customers.

Customers should contact businesses directly to shop, order and pay. Once they have placed their orders customers collect their orders within 48 hours from the BID’s ‘Phone or Click & Collect’ collection point.

More info here: https://www.discovernorthampton.co.uk/phone-or-click-collect/

Updates for businesses affected by the Lockdown starting November 5th

Updates for businesses affected by the Lockdown starting November 5th Visit England have shared the following updates which should be of interest to Northamptonshire businesses.  National restriction guidance  The national restriction guidance has been updated with further information and clarifications. Below please find areas that will be of interest to tourism businesses. The guidance for those currently on holiday has been updated: if you were already on holiday, you should return to your home as soon as practical and comply with the ‘stay at home’ requirements in your holiday accommodation in the meantime.  Further updates to businesses and venues that can remain open, these now include: Car parks, public toilets and motorway service areas.  Outdoor grounds of botanical gardens, heritage homes and landmarks (indoor... Read More »

Food and drink awards are finally served up

The team behind the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards have announced this week that the competition in now underway for its twelfth year. The Awards are aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county's dining venues, and rewarding those who work so hard within the Northamptonshire culinary sector. The competition sees two new categories for this year; the 'Weetabix Sustainability Award' and 'Food and Drink College Student of the Year' (sponsored by Moulton College), which will celebrate college students from across Northamptonshire who have demonstrated exceptional skills development throughout their learning and who are proud young ambassadors for the sector. The official launch of the competition was due to take place at Weetabix's headquarters in Burton Latimer during the first week... Read More »

Eat Out to Help Out

New Business Support Measures

'We're Good to Go' Webinar

Getting ready to reopen

Visit England have uploaded resources and practical guidance - for hotels and accommodation providers, indoor and outdoor visitor attractions - all designed to help tourism businesses reopen. 

News on the Industry Standard will follow soon.

Local is for life, not just for lockdown

Fast forward to Christmas and the conversation over the turkey is unlikely to be stuffed with many good things to have come out of the current crisis. However, if there’s one positive to have emerged, it is surely the surge in demand for buying local, as customers have switched crowded supermarkets for smaller independent shops and producers. Now, as the lockdown rules are relaxed further, the team behind the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards, the annual competition run by the sector, for the sector, is urging consumers to remember those county bakers and brewers, pie and pickle-makers  – and the local venues that stock them - who have stepped up to the plate to best serve their communities when they were most needed. Among those to have gone above and beyond, ensuring that their virtual shelves have been packed with some of the county... Read More »

Book Online: New Visit England Business Recovery Webinars

The HHA 

The HHA is being very helpful, sharing daily updates, useful links and opportunities to join webinars remotely. More information here: https://www.historichouses.org

Visitor Safety Group

Visitor Safety Group are providing lots of useful information as well as case studies of work that demonstrates good practice. Full details here: https://vscg.org/

Local Covid-19 Grant Funding - Northamptonshire Community Foundation

Details of the Northamptonshire Community Foundation's Response and Recovery Fund here:http://www.ncf.uk.com 

Over £471,000 has been awarded so far (May 31st) to groups, projects and activities affected by Covid-19.

Local Covid-19 Grant Funding - University of Northampton Business Support team...

Webinars on a range of topics.  Academic knowledge combined with business support expertise enables advice and guidance in a collaborative and responsive environment. 

Details can be found here: https://www.northampton.ac.uk/more/business/business-support/university-of-northampton-business-support-team/ 

Local Covid-19 Grant Funding - Discretionary Fund

UK Hospitality

Partnering on initiatives to help members work towards COVID-19 recovery, includes help and guidance for furloughed staff.

https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/page/ukhsupportservices

New industry standard in development in response to COVID-19

Visit Britain are developing a common industry standard quality mark that would provide a ‘ring of confidence’ for tourism businesses, attractions and destinations, as well as reassurance to visitors that businesses have clear processes in place as restrictions are lifted.

Details are available here:
https://www.visitbritain.org/new-industry-standard-development-response-covid-19

England Business Advice Hub

The England Business Advice Hub offers practical tips and information on legal obligations, as well as up to date Covid19 advice.

To access this information, visit: https://www.visitbritain.org/business-advice

English Tourism Week 2020, 25-31 May 2020

Making the case for tourism, Visit Britain intend to use this now well established annual campaign to keep the flag flying for the tourism sector.

Download images and share next week on your social media channels, via the following link: https://www.visitbritain.org/english-tourism-week

What support is there for tourism businesses?

Support is available. Through the COVID-19 Destination Management Resilience Scheme we have been encouraged to share information, advice and guidance with our Northamptonshire tourism partners.

To receive the Visit Britain newsletter, sign up here: https://www.visitbritain.org/newsletter_signup

To receive the Northamptonshire Surprise newsletter, sign up here