Key Priorities

Reading Central BID provides added value against six key priorities. These form the basis of the BID team’s work throughout the year and is a direct response to the feedback received in the last BID consultation, as well as being anchored on the successful services that have proved most popular over the past 15 years. All our projects and initiatives have a collective goal of promoting Reading as a prime regional destination to shop, work and visit.

More Business
Reading Central BID runs a number of business-focussed initiatives which aim to support the local economy and BID levy payers by making Reading town centre a more attractive and inviting place to be, encouraging footfall and driving visitors into the town.

Examples of what we do:             

• We fund and manage Reading’s annual Christmas lights
• We co-fund the Whatsonreading.com website to attract more visitors to the day and night-time economy
• We manage the Visit-Reading.com website to showcase Reading’s offer as a great destination to live, work and visit
• We deliver and support an annual programme of events and festivals
• We work alongside REDA’s (Reading Economy & Destination Agency) in-house Employment & Skills resource to promote job fairs and training opportunities to help underpin resilience and staff retention
• We produce over 100,000 town centre visitor maps
• We manage and license a range of agreed street activities, such as street entertainment, events and promotions

More secure
We manage and run a number of safety initiatives across the town centre as part of the Central Reading BID. We maintain a close working with partners including Thames Valley Police, Reading Borough Council, member organisations and the voluntary sector to maximise town centre security for visitors, residents and workers.                

Examples of what we do:             

• We employ two full time professional Business Wardens who patrol the BID area 7 days a week, helping to combat shoplifting, aggressive begging, drug taking, rough sleeping and anti-social behaviour
• We part-fund two CCTV operators to help ensure the BID area achieves security coverage
• We support the Reading Business Against Crime (RBAC) and Town Safe radio scheme used by over fifty businesses, linking them with CCTV, PCSOs, Business Warden and Police
• We fund two versions of ‘DISC’ a cloud-based system to share information on offenders and ban them from town centre premises

More attractive
We run year-round projects and initiatives to help ensure Reading town centre remains attractive and welcoming for both locals and visitors. From floral displays to street cleaning, our work ensures that the BID levy payers within the central district have a clean location to place their business and welcome visitors.

Examples of what we do:             

• We deliver enhanced twice-yearly seasonal and floral displays in summer and winter
• We’ve initiated (pre-Covid) a new annual summer floral festival which built on the BID’s awards in Britain in Bloom, across 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019
• We run a hugely successful free cardboard collection scheme which removes 4-6 tons of cardboard weekly
• We fund and manage twice-yearly deep cleansing and gum removal of 64,000 sq. metres of pedestrian streets
• We manage Reading town centre’s Christmas lighting scheme and Christmas trees throughout the festive period

More night-time
A second-tier levy was introduced to those businesses operating a licence after midnight, to fund additional services specifically for that sector. The monies raised is ring-fenced for initiatives promoting the evening and late-night economy, reducing crime and disorder and improving safety for the public, workers, the police and premises.

Examples of what we do:

• We provide a First Stop Hub facility at Reading Minster at weekends until 3.30am for NHS treatment, triage assessment and a place of refuge
• We have achieved Purple Flag Status, a nationally recognised award that celebrates best practice in operation and managing a vibrant, cultural and safe night-time economy
• We part-fund the Reading Street Pastors, volunteers who engage with town centre visitors and those in distress during busy weekend periods
• We support PubWatch to share intelligence with officers from Thames Valley Police and Reading Borough Council on licensing and crime

More connected
We recognise the importance of open communications with partners and businesses across the town and we continually fund and implement infrastructure to report on trends and share intelligence.

Examples of what we do:

• We provide enhanced professional intelligence/forecasting and information dissemination capability
• We hold regular BID member socials and networking events
• We have developed Visit-Reading and ReadingBID.co.uk and social media as key channels of communication
• We deliver marketing campaigns and activity to promote Reading Central more widely 
• We commission footfall intelligence infrastructure in the town centre
• We send weekly and monthly updates to the BID community with latest Reading-based news

More ambition
Following consultation in the Abbey Quarter district, Reading’s Economy & Destination Agency (REDA) embarked on an ambitious plan to deliver a second business orientated BID to compliment the Reading Central BID. This was successfully agreed and now the historic Abbey Quarter area of over 300 businesses and 11,000 workers has joined as a second BID: The Abbey Quarter Business District, from 2019.