Chamber of Commerce

HUNGERFORD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE COMMITTEE 

RETAIL MEETING 2^nd March 2006.

Present: Nick Furr, Jackie Penny, Ian Thompson, Anne Brown, Annie Griffiths, Ian Thompson

Retailers present: African Trackwoods, All Well & Good, The Toy Den, Divine Right, The Gentleman’s Shop, Furr & Co, Below Stairs, Hungerford Antiques Arcade, BMW, Little Hidden Farm, La Bella Figura, 1 Bridge Street, Somerfield, Crown Needlework, Roberta’s, Newbury Building Society.

Others present: Chris Ruhl, Roger Austin, Paul Baxter, Valerie Witton, Jason Haythornthwaite.

Apologies from: Fiona Hobson (Tutti Pole), Karren Sperry (UPS); Melanie Llwellyn-Price (3 Swans), David Small (CLM), Wendy Spring; John Skelton (Esprint)

1.        The Chairman  introduced

·         Paul Baxter: a third year university student doing a treatise on town centre economies

·         Valerie Witton: an adviser on access for disabled persons, from West Berks DC

·         Jason Haythornthwaite from “What Card”: to present a proposal regarding “loyalty” cards

2.        No matters arising from last meeting.

3.        Finance report – not available due to absence of treasurer.

4.        The date for the AGM was set, 6^th April 2006. The venue, to be confirmed, will be the Riverside Suite at The Bear

5.        Valerie Witton addressed the meeting about the requirements for making services and products available to the disabled and other issues that were relevant to retail outlets.

For further information and advice she can be contacted on 01635 519489.

6.        Farmers Markets – there was a discussion concerning the possibility of having a market in Hungerford on a regular basis. There were various opinions put forward both for and against, but the overwhelming consensus was that members of the Chamber would not benefit. 

7.        Hocktide – it was suggested that we should make more of this historic annual event. An Ale festival was thought appropriate, but it was pointed out that Shalbourne have a Beer Festival each year in July. The following suggestions were made: - Wine Festival, Traditional Arts and Crafts Fair, Orange Fair, Easter Egg Hunt, Window competition.

All of these events could be held in the High street possibly on a Sunday to bring people into the town to see what we have to offer.

The Chairman asked for volunteers to work on this individual project. Diane Billing (la Bella Figura) and Jill Bettell (Dick Lovett) subsequently offered to become involved with others to organise something appropriate.

8.        Jason Haythornthwaite addressed the meeting about the loyalty card ‘What Card’. This is a card that customers would purchase and then use in shops within the town where the retailer had signed up (with no charge) to give holders of the card an advertised advantage. Cards will cost customers £19.99 and they would receive a directory of participating retailers. 15% of card costs will be given to charity, this could work as a great advertising push. One major drawback was that Marlborough and Swindon would be included in the directory and it was thought that that might actually drive customers to those other larger towns.

9.        Tourist information points – these were discussed due to the temporary closure of the library. The Antiques Arcade would consider giving over a small area to printed info.

10.     Local communication – the Town Council are to distribute a 4-page leaflet to all residents.

Local Papers but an early invitation to contribute an entry introducing the Chamber had been withdrawn. It was suggested that we should push for more Editorial from The Newbury Weekly News. There is currently a Hungerford page but most of the time this is used for adverts, which are usually non-local. It is thought that maybe we should be writing articles to be included on this page on a regular basis and every event, whether large or small, should be photographed and written about. The Chairman asked for volunteers to work on this individual project.

11.     Hidden Britain – DEFRA has approved a £20k grant for the town to use on specific tourism material. £5k has already been assigned to the production of 4 town maps that will be ready to display (1 in each car park, 1 on Charnam Street and 1 at the station) by the end of March. The balance will be spent on the design and printing of 30000+ tourist leaflets that will be distributed in areas further afield. These will suggest places of interest, country walks, hotels to stay etc and will also include a local map in the same format as the town map. 

12.     A.O.B.

·          – the road sign on approaching Hungerford from the M4 has Marlborough and town centre only on it. It was thought that this could send drivers away from Hungerford because it is not mentioned!

·          Public toilets – Jill from Dick Lovett BMW Ltd was asked to find out why there was no sign on the toilets in their car park. Apparently this was a provision within the planning permission for the new showroom.  Jill to please report back to the chairman.

·         Post meeting note: Jill advises that a

·         “sign is with the designers and already well on its way.  They (the toilets) are open (for public use) when we (Dick Lovett) are open”

·         Andy Carroll from Somerfield was asked why the supermarket customer parking sign implied that the car park was for Somerfield customers only. It was pointed out that when planning permission was given the car park was to be for all visitors to the town providing they respected any time limits imposed.

·         Post meeting note: Andy subsequently replied:

·         “ref. a.o.b. Somerfield car parking signage – in response the signs were removed upon my return to store immediately following the meeting. At no point did we intend to imply that the car park is for the sole use of Somerfield customers, ……
it is disappointing that it is not recognised that by encouraging users to stay within the 2 hour time window spaces become available more frequently which directly benefits the retailers on the high street as many people use the car park to shop the high street often without visiting our store. Our approach has reduced the need to ‘police’ the car park and has virtually eliminated the issuing of parking tickets.”

·         Next meeting – Thursday 6^th April 2006. To include the AGM.

With the invitation to attend this meeting was a request for ideas: the following is a collection of comment returned from various members:

·         We live and work in Hungerford & run a business that actively promotes local recruitment.

·         We personally and the company use local suppliers wherever possible.

·         Most of our non-Hungerford-resident staff shop in Hungerford at lunchtimes.

·         We sponsor the roundabout.

·         In a much smaller way, we contribute to events like The Victorian Evening, The Carnival and other local group activities.We like to do our bit.

·         We buy at least 95% of our weekly shopping in Hungerford.

·         We use a local leisure centre at least twice a week.

·         We’d use a bus to get to and from work but there isn’t one from Newtown!

·         We buy at least 50% of our petrol locally.

·         I go to the High Street at least 3 lunchtimes a week in the town for non-grocery errands, the bank, card shops, the market etc.

Can everyone else in the Chamber say they do all of the above?

·         How about asking someone who doesn’t do all of the above, why they don’t and listening to their views.

·         Focus more on those people who don’t work in Hungerford. Those that do work here are spending the money. We need to get others to spend their money here and not out-of-town.

·         Your agenda mentions loyalty card. I think these are excellent when they work. I use 3 regularly a) The Total Garage to collect points that can be converted into either M&S or Boots Vouchers, b) Boots, the points are redeemable against boots purchases and c) Somerfield as the card allows you to get the special offers but I am not so convinced about that as the checkout operators use a ‘Manager’s type’ card if you haven’t got yours to allow you to get the discount. Some sort of loyalty card that is used across shops may work very well.

·         The 3 Swans recently had a very clever marketing idea where they offered a special pre-show meal for an event at The Croft Hall. There could be more of this during HADCAF. For maximum publicity, the promotions must get into the catalogue & maybe getting flyers done to give away with tickets as another reminder.  Maybe a page of ‘Where to get a quick bit to eat during Hadcaf.’ Maybe a special deal or inclusive meal plus drink offer. Whatever.

·         The Three Swans is willing to operate a reciprocal arrangement regarding leaflets etc. with other town businesses. We can put up to A5 size material in our room information booklets and in return other businesses could hold some of our brochures.

·         Hotel is also willing to be the venue for a regular farmers/French market. John Slee spoke to whoever operated the last French market regarding this. Our car park and lawn at the back provides a large enclosed space in which these things can take place.

·         We are attempting to promote local events through our website. I could do with some more information from organisers of events in order to keep the on-line diary flowing.

·         We are always keen to discuss advertising opportunities.

·         Adrian’s comment about shops helping each other – we could do a joint promotion associated with the pamphlet distribution e.g. If I am offering 10% discount to my customers perhaps the 3-Swans would join me and offer 10% off lunch?

·         The launch of the pamphlet could also coincide with a voucher scheme (not the one promoted last night which I am not in favour of) but you could have a book or page of vouchers to spend in participating shops that is distributed with the pamphlet. People can only use them once and they would be time limited. Perhaps the hotels could offer special overnight deals……

·         How about us getting together to advertise – if several businesses decided to advertise in, say, Berkshire Life or Out & About we could negotiate preferential rates as well as insisting on some editorial copy.  Good idea would be to time it for November as we could showcase Hungerford as a place to do the Christmas shopping, the lights and the Extravaganza all at the same time.

·         The new shop frontages that replace what was the Bedshop are a prime example of the style and quality of frontage that is required on the High Street. Could the several premises that fall far short of this ideal, not least the Co-op and No5, not make an attempt at improving their façade and in doing so perhaps attract more custom for themselves?

·         ……. lack of convenient ‘affordable’ parking is one of the key reasons for people shopping outside Hungerford and until this is addressed I believe we will struggle to move forward. In reality the pay and display car park adjacent to the station is rarely full but people are reluctant to pay – the idea I brought to the meeting is based on the approach taken in Andover, the council-run pay and display car parks are free after 4 pm. This encourages people to make use of the facilities later in the day when the traders are typically quieter and in addition spreads the volume of traffic across the day rather than peaking at midday as happens in Hungerford.

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