Business Development - Better together: Business Improvement Districts

Chris Kolek, of Kolek Consulting, plots the Rise of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs).

'Better Together’, a phrase that was used not so long ago by the campaign to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom, could also be appropriate as the mantra for the growing army of business owners and managers who are working together to revitalise their towns and city centres.

The places that most of us have traditionally used to meet our shopping and service needs have, in recent years particularly, been facing up to some of the most significant challenges that they have probably ever faced. The past decade has stirred up a perfect storm of financial crisis, economic downturn, public sector austerity, squeezed household incomes alongside low inflation, supermarket price wars, and the rapid growth of online retailing. The impact has been felt by almost every business in every town and city throughout the UK.