Make It York News

Following the news last week that York has been placed at the high level (tier 2) of the government’s new three-tier restriction system, York’s retail, hospitality and tourism businesses are working with Make It York and City of York Council to ensure the city remains safe for residents and visitors to enjoy.

Working closely together, organisations including York BID, Indie York, Hospitality Association York (HAY) and York Retail Forum are continuing to promote the city safely and support York’s diverse and vibrant local business community.

With robust safety measures in place across the city, York’s attractions, shops, restaurants, pubs and hotels are going above and beyond to ensure the city continues to be safe. From the ‘We’re Good to Go’ accreditation at 169 venues across the city which demonstrates the high-standard safety measures in place – to the implementation of ‘Track & Trace’ systems and enhanced cleaning processes, York’s businesses have worked incredibly hard over the last few months to create controlled safe spaces for residents and visitors to enjoy safely.

Sean Bullick, Managing Director of Make It York said, “”It continues to be a challenging time for York’s tourism, hospitality and retail sectors, and now, more than ever before, it’s crucial that we support our local York businesses – shopping local with independent traders, retailers and restauranteurs and working collaboratively to ensure York remains a safe space for all. 

“At Make It York our teams are working very hard to support and promote the city’s tourism, hospitality and retail businesses: from implementing the tourism marketing recovery strategy alongside City of York Council, to ensuring Shambles Market has robust safety measures in place, to working with individual businesses to provide business support and advice on access to funding.  We’re also developing plans for a safe, warm and welcoming Christmas in York for our residents and people who can safely visit the city.

“Our beautiful city has so much to offer, and by pulling together and supporting one another we can ensure it remains a safe space for people to enjoy, with all the special and remarkable places open that make York York.” 

City of York Council have been working with partners and businesses across the city to promote safety best practice – including encouraging everyone to adopt the ‘Hands Face Space’ guidelines: wash hands regularly, wear a mask indoors and adhere to social distancing with those not in your household. 

Cllr Darryl Smalley, Executive Member of Culture, Leisure and Communities at City of York Council said,  “Whilst the new Tier 2 measures mean that mixing indoors is currently restricted, there are still many ways that residents and visitors can relax and enjoy the city’s unique offer – including work being done by the businesses, the Council, York BID and Make It York to look at creating new safe outdoor spaces in the city centre, with details to be announced shortly.

“Despite this year’s significant challenges, York has demonstrated what it does best − pulling together and supporting each other. None of this would have been possible without the support and commitment of our brilliant publically-spirited businesses who have pulled together to make sure the city remains a safe and enjoyable place to visit.”

Sharon Stoltz, Director of Public Health at City of York Council said,  “Thanks to all the businesses and people who have done so much throughout this pandemic. We all have a role to play in stopping the spread of the virus and it is as important as ever that we continue to look after ourselves and each other.

“Washing our hands, wearing a face covering in busy public spaces and keeping a safe distance from those you don’t live with remain our best defence against the virus. Self-isolating if asked to do so by test and trace or if you have symptoms of Coronavirus is also crucial. When supporting our fantastic local businesses please practice Hands Face Space, as we all work collectively to slow the spread of the virus.”

Andrew Lowson, Executive Director of York BID said, ““While York’s businesses are resilient and adaptable, they still need support from the local community. There are many hospitality businesses with outdoor spaces that can still be enjoyed with friends, and we are looking to utilise public domain space to add to this in the coming weeks. York’s businesses continue to rise the challenge of providing a safe and secure environment to carry out shopping and leisure activities, and we are committed to assisting businesses with our cleaning teams, our Street Rangers, and providing hand sanitiser across the city centre.”

Martin Bradnam, Chair of York’s Hospitality Association said, “Hospitality is a key sector, employing many local people.  The epidemic has hit hospitality businesses hard, with many companies now having to make redundancies and difficult decisions.  If ever there was a time to ask for local support it is now.

“The hotel sector has really bought into and invested into providing a clean and safe environment for our guests, workforce and suppliers.  The feedback from guests has been really positive.  Demand for staycations returned quickly to York following the last close down, which demonstrates the want for visitors to spend time in our vibrant city.  We respect and are invested in the approach to recovery not only for our industry, but for all stakeholders in York. “

From all organisations and businesses across the city, the clear message is a need to ‘shop local’ and support independent businesses in the city through these difficult times.

Phil Pinder, Chair of York Retail Forum said, “The shops in York have implemented procedures to keep you safe in store, from the big High Street names down to little independents. York is still an unrivalled City for shopping with a healthy mix of High Street names and very heavy mix of indie stores filling all the gaps in between. There is no better place for shopping and working together we will keep your safety our top priority.

While restrictions have been imposed on household mixing, retail in York has not been the cause of any outbreak and we will continue to play our part in offering our unique mix of retail in the safest possible way for all to enjoy.”

Residents and visitors are encouraged to get involved in activity such as Indie York’s Medieval and Magical Treasure Trail which takes place between October 24^th and November 1^st, to promote the city’s independent businesses and highlight medieval and historical attractions in the city and local areas.

Johnny Hayes, Chairman of Indie York said, “” York has a very strong independent sector with 65% of the City’s businesses being independently run. But the present situation makes it very difficult for these businesses. It is very important that we all work together during this new phase of the global pandemic. We need to work with City of York Council, Make it York and York BID and other agencies to do our utmost to keep our City thriving and our independent business able to keep going during these difficult times. 

Our Medieval and Magical treasure trail during the half term holiday from 24th October to the 1st of November is a collective attempt to attract lots of local families and visitors to a safe event that we hope will support our independents in the City.”

Download the Indie York Medieval and Magical Treasure Trail here.

For more information about experiencing York safely go to: https://www.visityork.org/general-and-tourist-info/covid19-update

ENDS

Notes to Editor

Make It York

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business.  The company’s remit covers leisure and business tourism, city centre management, festivals and events, business support and inward investment.

One of Make It York’s strategic aims is to promote York as a brilliant place to do business, helping to support business growth and innovation across a range of business sectors, such as financial & professional services, rail and high value manufacturing and to stimulate greater inward investment.

For further information please contact:

Amy Goodman – Consumer Communications Manager
Email: amy.goodman@makeityork.com

Ana Ignatova – Communications Executive

Email: ana.ignatova@makeityork.com

Make It York has been working in collaboration with the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), all of our region’s local authorities and partner organisations region-wide to develop a plan to reshape the region’s economy in order to address the challenges and opportunities arising from the pandemic. Our shared vision is that the region will emerge greener, fairer and stronger as a direct result of the economic reshaping plan.

The plan for reshaping the economy lines up with the current government agenda, to protect jobs and develop opportunity for higher skills, yet will tailor this agenda to the local needs of York, whilst strengthening our collective ambition for York and North Yorkshire to become a carbon negative economy. The plan follows on from the immediate COVID response and aims to address the economic challenges businesses are continuing to face as well as focusing on stimulating growth over the next 18 to 24 months, accelerating a transition towards a carbon negative economy.

David Kerfoot MBE DL, the LEP’s Chair said; “This plan, brought together through meaningful and effective collaboration, will focus on stimulating growth over the next 18 to 24 months and lay the ground to make the most of whatever comes next. Our partners and all local authorities across the region have worked incredibly hard to shore up our economy through the crisis of the pandemic. Working together, we can reshape the economy, come through the crisis together and drive growth that will make York and North Yorkshire a greener, fairer and stronger place.”

Sean Bullick, Managing Director of Make It York, said ‘Our top priorities are promoting York, improving economic prosperity within the city, and increasing the wider wellbeing of our population.  We are fully supportive of York & North Yorkshire LEP’s Ten Pledges which will together reshape our economy, in both the short and the longer-terms, focussing as they do on supporting local businesses, rebuilding tourism, and continuing to attract investment to the region.’

The LEP is hosting a ten day collaborative campaign that will highlight the 10 pledges of the plan to reshape our economy. The campaign will highlight regional voices of leadership and give local examples of work already in action to reshape our economy to be greener, fairer and stronger.

Read about the pledge stories on the LEP’s news page here.

Read the full Plan to Reshape our Economy here.

Welcome to the Make It York weekly update, with the latest information and business support measures available, as well as updates on our activities and opportunities to get the most out of working with us.

A number of York’s cultural organisations have been this week awarded grants from the government’s £1.57bn Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF) to help them face the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure they have a sustainable future.

Yorkshire Air Museum and Allied Air Forces Memorial and The York Museums Trust were amongst 1,385 cultural organisations across the country who found out on Monday (October 12) that they had been successful in the very first round of the Culture Recovery Fund grants programme being administered by Arts Council England. York’s only producing theatre – York Theatre Royal, has also received the grant to continue bringing performances to enrich the cultural offer of the city, as well as The National Centre for Early Music.

Two venues that are crucial to the city’s grassroots music venue network – the Fulford Arms and The Crescent – have also secured a share of the fund, with support from the Music Venue Trust.

Bedern Hall, Castle Howard and Eden Camp were amongst 450 heritage organisations in England that have been awarded grants from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage – funded by Government and administered at arms-length by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Helen Apsey, Head of Culture and Wellbeing for Make It York, said:

“This is brilliant news for the cultural and creative organisations in the city who have received this vital funding. 

We have such a rich cultural offer in York – and such incredible creative practitioners, who have continued to innovate and find ways to create, share and inspire through their art, even during lockdown – and it’s heartening to see this recognised and supported, at such a crucial time for the sector. Many organisations are facing very difficult circumstances, unable to open as usual, and this funding provides hope in what are deeply uncertain times. 

At Make It York, we’re continuing to work closely with York’s creative and cultural organisations and we’ll continue doing everything we can to support this important sector.”

When retail and hospitality businesses re opened in 2020 following the Covid19 lockdown in York there was a great deal of apprehension felt by independent businesses about the coming months ahead.  

With much uncertainty and negativity centred around how businesses could attract people back to the high street and yet remain safe, the question on everyone’s lips was “How would shops, restaurants and other businesses cope in the months ahead ?” It was agreed by all that these concerns would become even more acute as the days got shorter in the Autumn.  

This problem was very much on the minds of those involved with Indie York which is a not for profit community association and has approximately 200 independent business members in York and which aims to encourage the public to support independent businesses.  

Johnny Hayes Chairman of Indie York said:

“How do you attract potentially thousand of local residents and visitors to use our independents in the City Centre and local high streets yet maintaining safe distancing? That was the conundrum, then somebody came up with the bright idea of a number of Treasure Trails around the City. In fact 9 Treasure Trails right across the City.  9 clusters of independents have produced nine treasure trails in the medieval streets and magical corners that make the city famous, along with a ghost hunt which only York can do so well. So the Medieval and Magical theme was decided upon that it is hoped will inspire local families and visitors alike to join in.” 

Angus McArthur of York Ghost Merchants added:  

“True communities come together during times of hardship. There’s little doubt that this has been a time of hardship on so many levels and there has been a significant impact felt on the shopping streets of our towns and cities. York’s independents as part of the tenacious Indie York community are joining together in a series of local clusters to bring something entertaining and interactive for locals and visitors alike during the October half term break.” 

Plans are now in place to hold a week long event during the October half term holiday with the Indie York’s Medieval & Magical Treasure Trail. Held from Saturday 24th October to Sunday 1st November. With over 100 Indie York member businesses and a number of York tourist attractions are taking part in the trail to promote the city’s independent businesses and highlight medieval and historical attractions in the City and local areas.  

“The half term holiday was the ideal time to run these trails. Particularly this year when children will not be able to do their traditional Halloween trick or treat visits to friends and neighbours homes because of Covid19. So we thought our treasure trails might offer a safe alternative for local families and visitors to enjoy an alternative trail.”

Said Johnny Hayes

Polly Bennett from the Indie York Steering Committee said:

“We are delighted to be joined by a number of York’s attractions who will be part of the trail including the JORVIK Viking Centre, Barley Hall, Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York’s Chocolate Story and The Bar Convent are all taking part in the trail, helping visitors to discover and residents to rediscover the great places there are in York’s City centre as well as the wonderful independent businesses there are around the City.”    

Sara Amil Smith, Indie York’s Administrator said:

“The event has been put together with the support of City of York Council, Make it York, York Business Improvement District ( York BID) and other sponsors including Bootham School and Redmayne Bentley. We have had amazing donations of prizes for the prize draw. This includes a £500 bike to the winner of the prize draw, A holiday weekend in a superb holiday apartment in Micklegate. Also 9 x £50 York Gift Cards that encourage shoppers to support City based businesses for each of the trails”  

Sara added “We are keen for York residents, local students and visitors to the to get involved. There will be unique clues in windows of participating member and historic attraction in the City. Each cluster will have its own set of clues so you can do as many or as few trails as you like.”

The clusters are: Acomb, Bishy Road, Central York, Fifth Quarter: Gillygate and Bootham, Fossgate/Walmgate, Goodramgate, Micklegate and the Shambles. The York Ghost Merchants of the Shambles cluster are organising a separate ghost hunt where Little ghosts are hidden for participants to find. There is a separate map available for the Ghost Hunt from all 100 Indie York venues participating. 

Angus McArthur of York Ghost Merchants and an Indie York member said:  

“At the Ghost Merchants we are co-ordinating The Shambles Cluster Ghost Parade, we have handmade 13 Ghosts in the style of medieval woodcuts and hope that many will come to hunt them down in the windows of the participating shops in and around the Shambles. We are auctioning these one of a kind Ghosts off for a local charity called The Island which supports vulnerable and isolated children through mentoring programmes.”  

On each of the 9 trails there are clues in each of the windows. But hidden in each of the displays are mystery objects and artworks that need to be identified. These include ghosts, ravens, jesters, knights, herbs and potions, nosegay bunches of flowers to hide the smell of death and decay, drawing and illustrations on magical and medieval themes.   

You can pick up hardcopies of both maps in any of the participating member businesses or attractions or collect one from Visit York Information Centre on Museum Street. Once you have the answers to the clues written on your map, you can email in the answers on a photo if you choose to hello@indieyork.co.uk to be entered into a Grand Prize Draw to win the brilliant range of prizes. Or you can write your answers and send to the indie York website if you prefer.  You will  see all the details of the prizes and other relevant information.  https://www.indieyork.co.uk/trail  

Sara Amil Smith added. “It’s free to take part, it’s fun and it celebrates the many wonderful independent businesses and historical highlights in our beautiful city of York for our residents to rediscover and visitors too.  

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If you require further information with regard this press release then please contact.  

Johnny Hayes, Chairman Indie York – 07804933690/johnnyhayes@hotmail.co.uk 

Sara Amil Smith, Administrator –
07307 209072 hello@indieyork.co.uk 

Welcome to the Make It York weekly update, with the latest information and business support measures available, as well as updates on our activities and opportunities to get the most out of working with us.

Welcome to the Make It York weekly update, with the latest information and business support measures available, as well as updates on our activities and opportunities to get the most out of working with us.

9 – 13 November 2020 

As York and its business community look ahead to recovery post Covid-19, York Business Week will be making a virtual return for 2020, for its 10^th year.  With an overarching theme of ‘Build Back Better’, the week-long programme will focus on economic recovery across York’s key sectors, inspiring growth and offering opportunities to spark creativity and innovation. 

The week-long event is organised by Make It York and hosted in conjunction with City of York Council, York & North Yorkshire LEP, Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Federation of Small Businesses, York BID, the University of York, York St John University and the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.  

To make the week as accessible as possible to all businesses, all events within York Business Week this year will be free of charge. Topical seminars, thought-provoking workshop sessions, online networking opportunities and the city’s first virtual York Business Conference will offer something for all York businesses from sole traders to global businesses, opening up access to industry-leading insights from the comfort of their own offices or remote working spaces. A special tourism mini conference will be held for businesses across the industry in the afternoon of the first day, as part of the wider Business Conference, to update on the city’s tourism strategy. 

Greg Dyke, Chair of Make It York, said: “Many businesses have faced overwhelming challenges in recent months, across all aspects of their operations.  It is important now, in this time of economic recovery, that we look forward as a city, showcase our collective strengths and be ambitious about how we drive growth for the future. Transformational capital schemes like York Central and the Castle Gateway Redevelopment are uniquely placed to give York huge opportunities for medium term economic recovery.   

York has proven in history that it has the ability to reinvent itself and now in 2020, alongside the city’s wealth of business expertise across multiple sectors, we are well placed to reposition York as a business destination of the future. York Business Week is an important annual event in the city’s business calendar which reminds us of our city’s strengths and supports our businesses to build back better.”

Once again, in keeping with the tradition of the week, the programme kicks off with the York Business Conference on the morning of Monday 9th November, welcoming a series of expert speakers sharing their timely insights and how we can maximise York’s sector strengths in this period of revival and renewed focus. Chaired by Make It York Chair Greg Dyke, the speaker line-up for the day includes David Kerfoot MBE DL, Chair of York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Andrew Digwood, President of York & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and Partner at Rollits LLP, with further speakers to be announced shortly. 

The focus for this year’s York Business Conference will be on recovery planning for the region’s businesses – looking at the challenges businesses face, how far we’ve come and the work still to be done to ensure the region successfully recovers – including how the EU exit will impact on this. The conference will also offer the first virtual networking opportunity of the week giving businesses the opportunity to connect with new and existing contacts across the city in an informal discussion-led lunchtime session.  

On Monday afternoon a special mini tourism conference will also be held virtually for businesses across the sector to get an update on the progress of the city’s tourism strategy and key milestones. Experts from across the industry will deliver a series of short sessions focused on tourism recovery, along with Make It York and City of York Council. 

Tuesday will offer a carefully curated programme of seminar sessions and workshops focused on the three themes of skills, start-ups and sales. A series of skills sessions will be delivered throughout the morning, with a workshop led by a York skills and education partnership. Despite the challenging business climate, inspiring entrepreneurial innovation remains high on the agenda for the city and start-up seminars delivered by AD:VENTURE will focus on the Early Stage of developing your business, Investment and Growth.  

‘Wellbeing Wednesday’ will tackle a host of relevant issues facing businesses of all sizes, in all sectors with topics focused on wellbeing and mental health in the workplace. Development expert and coach, Michelle Mook will lead a session focus on working remotely and how to keep teams motivated.   Langleys Solicitors LLP will be offering a guide to essential HR matters during lockdown and beyond, including restructuring businesses, mental health during a pandemic and business immigration in light of the EU Exit.  Mark Willis from York Mind will also be leading on a session titled Looking after you: 10 keys to mental wellbeing which will be an interactive session for individuals to help calm their minds in this Covid storm. 

Thursday will focus on the themes of Leadership and Innovation and businesses can choose from sessions throughout the day including ‘Leadership in Lockdown’ with Michelle Mook, and an ‘Innovation in Action’ session led by Dr Jo North from The Big Bang Partnership.  BioVale and York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership are hosting a food waste innovation workshop on 12 November, as part of the wider Circular Yorkshire Month which runs throughout November.  Throughout the day there will also be a ‘Business Growth Hub Pop-up’ with   experts on hand to offer short one to one sessions with businesses on a range of topics – from finance and HR to social media and marketing.  

The week will conclude on Friday with city focus sessions, including the York narrative project and how businesses can use it to tell their own story and promote themselves across the UK and beyond.  

Sean Bullick, Managing Director at Make It York, said: “Supporting the city’s jobs and businesses is our number one priority. We’ve all worked together very closely together through the covid-19 crisis, ensuring local businesses had the support they need, and bringing a range and breadth of businesses together through virtual roundtables alongside our key partners, to gather the intelligence to inform the city’s recovery plans. 

We’re very optimistic about the real strengths of York’s key business sectors and very positive about the future. We’re hosting York Business Week virtually this year and have an exciting programme, bringing together local, regional, national and international speakers and businesses to raise their profile and to discuss the current range of issues and challenges including post-COVID recovery, devolution, the opportunities of the knowledge economy, and the EU exit.” 

Executive member for Economy and Strategic planning, Cllr Andrew Waller, said: “Our key priorities through the pandemic have been the health and wellbeing of everyone in York and supporting the city’s varied and vibrant economy. Throughout the pandemic we have worked to support businesses through financial grants and a considerable amount of work went into reopening the city centre, and supporting the return of customers for retail and hospitality. We have recognised the importance to York’s economy of small independent businesses throughout. 

This is an important time for the city’s businesses to come together and get the support and information they need to continue their recovery. We are determined to work with Make It York and other partners to overcome the challenges presented by Covid-19 and enable York Business Week to make a virtual return. The programme offers relevant, timely and responsive information for businesses from all sectors and to help the city with our goal of building back better. It is only by working in partnership across the whole city that we will ensure the future prosperity of York’s economy with a fairer, greener economy with more local options to build new careers.” 

Tickets are available to book for York Business Week 2020 on yorkbusinessweek.com. For the latest updates and additions to the programme over the coming weeks, follow #YorkBizWeek20 on @makeityork Twitter. ENDS 

For further information please contact: 

Katie Parsons – Corporate Communications Manager  

Mobile: 07719 105 089 

Email: Katie.parsons@makeityork.com 

Ana Ignatova – Communications Executive 

Email: ana.ignatova@makeityork.com  

Notes to Editor 

Principal Partners signed up to date for 2020 include: 

• York City Knights 
• University of York 
• Hentons  
• Autohorn 
• BHP 
• Garbutt + Elliott

Welcome to the Make It York weekly update, with the latest information and business support measures available, as well as updates on our activities and opportunities to get the most out of working with us.