0845 643 4944

BUSINESS - Today I received a very short questionnaire from the local council, the main question of which asks what improvements I would like to see made (in the ideal world) to make me want to come to the town more often.

It is quite an interesting question, and the answer will of course not be the same for all demographics. The following is an edited version of my answer to this question:

Leisure - More affordable activities to do. Much of what is currently on offer, e.g. Leisure Centre, Theatre Performances, The Comedy Club, Cinema, eating out, is all things I would do more regularly, but I currently I can't because they all just cost too much to do anything more than very occasionally.

Transport - Realistically I'd be more likely to travel to the town if it cost less to get there. Petrol is going up constantly, putting off visiting unless necessary. Buses are an option, but are often full (don't have enough capacity), are not regular enough to be convenient. They don't even run after the high street shops close - 7pm is far too early for a bus service to end, not to mention there not even being a bus on Sundays. On nearly every occasion I use the bus (last time being only last week), I always get a poor customer experience on multiple levels.

Retail - More of the kinds of shops and outlets that I currently have to travel elsewhere for to the city. Even where we do currently have shopping outlets in the town, the contents of many shops and stores is really very poor compared to what the SAME shop chains offer in the nearest cities.

A clothes chain in the town here may have (say) half a dozen rails of mens' clothes, compared to an entire floor in their stores in the nearest cities. I simply don't do clothes shopping in the town here, because I know the choice available will be so dismally poor.

The types of outlets being attracted to the town centre is probably amongst the biggest factor in my decision for visiting. The town centre is good for afternoon coffee shop chains, but in terms of other national chains, we could do with more of the Nandos, Yo Sushi, Crispy Cremes, H&M, etc, if you want to attract more regular visitors in my demographic.

The existing outlets also need to be much better at marketing what they *do* have and offer. Some of the existing eateries may be better than the likes of Nandos - I wouldn't know - they do nothing to attract me in. As a consumer I want to know what these places have to offer, and to get me visiting and gain loyalty there needs to be more offers and promotions that are publicised beyond the establishments' own doors. Putting an offer in their menu or on a blackboard inside is not going to make me leave my house as I don't know it's there!

The only outlet that springs to mind in the town centre, which has been good at generating offers and widely promoting their presence over multiple platforms through this year, has been Domino's Pizza.

The council could maybe have influence on more popular national chains being attracted to the high street, but much could and should be done with the business owners that are already here.

The council cannot make outlets do promotions, but it could offer the independent businesses training days on how to better market themselves and how to make use of promotions to gain new custom and loyalty.

Promotions I've recently engaged with in Bristol have included "introduce a friend and get 40% off for both of you" - the saving on an offer like this can actually make it cheaper for me to drive all the way to the city than eat in my local town. I never see promoted any imaginative offers like this for the town centre here.

So what do you think? What would make you want to visit your town centre more often, and what does actually make you want to visit other towns or cities now?