Client: PRIVATE CLIENT
Project: London Night-time BIDs Review
What were MAKE asked to do?
Business improvement districts (BIDSs) are private organisations in a geographically defined area which deliver on a set of priorities decided by the local businesses who vote for them. These priorities and actions are varied but include everything from destination marketing, cleaner and greener services, events and festivals, business support, government lobbying, lighting and public realm improvements, as well as security and safety services (such as enhanced police and warden patrols). It is up to businesses what they spend their money on.
BIDs have generally been very successful in supporting their members’ priorities. But we had suspected for some time was that the evening and night-time economy was not as well supported by many BIDs as their support for the daytime economy and retail, even when there was a significant local presence of leisure businesses. This was also felt by our client, so we undertook research into a sample of BIDs to evaluate their support for their member businesses ‘after dark’.
How did MAKE do it?
We selected a sample of BIDs that had a significant evening and night-time economy sector.
We examined their business plans, workstreams, projects, company accounts and staffing to evaluate the level of resource and corporate spend between daytime and night-time.
We modelled the spending of 10 BIDs and undertook five case studies of BIDs to find those that best support the evening and night-time economy.
What happened next?
It was clear that whilst all BIDs were providing basic services to their night-time economy members (e.g. radio systems), it is clear that some were also failing to recognise the value and increasing significance of their after dark offer. In some case they were failing very badly indeed, and it was hard to see how their ENTE member businesses felt they were getting any value for money at all.
In some BIDs, services would often stop at 6pm (even the additional police and wardens, when they would almost certainly be best deployed after dark). However, we also found some outstanding examples of support for the night-time economy, which in London included the Heart of London Business Organisation, as well as Nottingham and Aberdeen.
The client has used the findings to begin the process of negotiating for greater representation of and investment in the ENTE by BIDs operating in its areas.
What unique value did MAKE bring to this project?
Through this project we have now developed a model for assessing the relative contribution BIDs to their own nightlife and are able to rate their ENTE performance against their own business plans.