IN Touch - Issue 17

Inspired Nights is back

The popular street food market, Inspired Nights is returning to Aberdeen City Centre next month, at a brand new location – on Broad Street.

Inspired Nights kicks off in style, coinciding with the launch weekend of the hugely popular street art festival Nuart Aberdeen. Inspired Nights will feature music, street food, bars and creative spaces for children and adults and will run all weekend on Broad Street from 12 noon until 9pm on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 June and until 6pm on Sunday 12 June.

With over 84,000 people attending 2019’s events on The Green, traders and visitors alike have a lot to look forward to with a busy series of events planned for Broad Street.

Local food traders, craft and art retailers, entertainers, musicians and street performers who want to take part in the Broad Street event should email ewan.mclean@aberdeeninspired.com

Umbrella Project is nearly ready to shower the city in colour!

It’s not long until our Umbrella Project takes to the skies of Aberdeen. Working in partnership with the ADHD Foundation as part of a three-year programme. The iconic installation will feature a canopy of hundreds of vibrant, colourful umbrellas suspended across the city street.

To mark the launch of the Umbrella Aberdeen Project, a special weekend is planned on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 June from 12.30 to 3pm with free performances from local performers including Robert Gordon School pipe band, Sinclair School of Highland dancing, Citymoves, Danscentre, Rock Choir, Aberdeen Arts Centre Youth Theatre and more under the umbrellas on Shiprow and Bon-Accord Terrace.

We really hope you will join us at the launch weekend celebrations!

Comedy Festival - Call for venues and festival offers

At the beginning of May we put a call out for city centre businesses to get in touch if they wanted to act as host venues for Aberdeen’s International Comedy Festival. We have had a great response and will be in touch over the next few weeks to arrange a visit to check out the spaces on offer.

It’s not too late to be host a space for the festival. If this is something you are interested in, then please contact us info@aberdeeninspired.com

The comedy festival is running this year from 6 to 16 of October and is bringing in some of the UK's favourite and most hilarious comedians to the Granite City.

If you’re an accommodation provider, restaurant or bar you should also start planning festival deals for visitors to the city which will encourage them to stay, eat or drink with you during the festival days and nights. We will promote all festival offers in our marketing material and social channels so be sure to let us know what you plan to do.

Belmont Street Quarter Consultation

If you are a business or resident in or around the Belmont Street Quarter, Aberdeen City Council want to hear your views on the new permanent café culture development.

The £1.5million investment in the Belmont Quarter area from Aberdeen City Council will help to grow city centre employment, create a metropolitan look which will develop as an attractive food and drink destination, & become a culturally distinctive neighbourhood that will enhance the conservation area.

The proposals can be found online here.

People have until Friday 27 May to submit their views.

Best Bar None Scotland

The Best Bar None accreditation and award scheme will be returning this year and offers our wonderful hospitality venues the opportunity to highlight to customers the efforts that go into making Aberdeen a safe and welcoming social and cultural hub. Best Bar None works with the licensed trade to achieve excellence in hospitality, effectively making Scotland’s towns and city centres more attractive places for people to live, work and visit. It focuses on public safety and customer care and offers each venue an opportunity to demonstrate that it is committed to addressing important issues in line with five high-level objectives of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 as follows:

• Prevention of Crime and Disorder
• Public Safety
• Prevention of Public Nuisance
• Promotion of Public Health
• Protection of Children from Harm

The scheme focuses on public safety and customer care and gives each licensed venue the opportunity to prove that they meet a certain standard of operation - a standard which has been set at a national level through consultation with the government and the alcohol industry.

Partners

• Scottish Government
• Police Scotland
• The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Licensing Boards
• The Scottish Licensed Trade Association
• Purple Flag
• many other local partners.

What are the benefits to your business by becoming a Best Bar None accredited venue?

• Best Bar None gives you the chance to show your staff and customers that your venue has an interest in their safety and security on a night out.
• It increases the chances in seeing a reduction in crime and the fear of crime in your venue by following good practice guidelines.
• It improves communication with the police and licensing board so that there is a greater understanding of issues on all sides.
• It provides an opportunity to have an inspection carried out in your venue by a qualified expert to identify good practice and get advice on a range of issues.
• It gives you a chance to demonstrate your commitment to a cleaner, safer, better city.
• It gives you access to professional advice on community safety, crime reduction and business continuity issues for management and staff.
• Most importantly, it gives you the opportunity, through the application process, to focus on the key elements of the Licensing Act.
• Best Bar None raises the profile of our City as a safe place where people can enjoy a fantastic night out.
• Support from partners to raise your venues standards
• Reward your team with a night-out to the awards ceremony

If you are interested in your premise(s) taking part please indicate your intent by emailing ewan.mclean@aberdeeninspired.com

Further information attached here.

Grampian Pride is back for 2022!

Grampian Pride, Aberdeen’s LGBTQ+ festival, is back with a bang on Saturday 28 May. Brought to Aberdeen by Four Pillars LGBTQ+ Charity, the Pride event will consist of a march, various stalls, information about LGBT+ organisations and services, entertainment, key speakers, safe spaces, and a family area. Get your free tickets here.

Are you a business hosting an event for Grampian Pride? Get in touch with us here (grace email) and we will share this on our social channels.

Maggie’s Culture Crawl

Maggie’s Culture Crawl returns on Friday 24 June and is set to explore the hidden sites of Aberdeen all while raising money for a fantastic cause.

On the culture crawl, you'll see interesting buildings, enjoy live entertainment, delicious food, and get a taster of the life-changing support that Maggie’s Aberdeen offer.

The culture crawl will also take in some of the old and new Nuart Aberdeen murals and of course the city centre umbrella installations which officially launch the next day.

We encourage businesses along the route to stay open later for these events and give a warm welcome back to the city to the people taking part.

If you’re interested in taking part there are still a few spaces up for grabs , click the link to join the fun book now.

Celebrate with Grape & Grain

Earlier this month, Grape & Grain were highly recommended at the Scottish Entertainment Awards for the Best Speciality Spirit Bar.

They were the only venue in Aberdeen to have placed in the awards, so why not help them celebrate and pop by to try some of the best spirits Scotland has to offer! Check out their website here.

New treats in store at Haigs

Haigs is a family owned foodhall and butchery located in Schoolhill who have just recently signed a 15-year lease and revamped their store which now features an amazing hot food counter where you can create your own wraps & pies as well a delicious dessert counter. They have also created a ‘café area’ offering customers a nice informal space to sit in and enjoy a what they buy.

It’s wonderful that Haigs have shown their commitment to the city centre for another 15 years, so pop by, stock up of a few of Haigs butchery or grocery essentials and sit in or take away some of their yummy new treats. Visit their website here.

Come together- An international art experiment at Arkade Gallery

A free art exhibition being held at the Arkade Gallery situated in the Anatomy Rooms, will bring together ideas, art, people and performance from Friday 13 to Saturday 21 May

Arkade is a new dedicated contemporary art gallery and managed by the founding organisation All In Ideas. Arkade supports and features early-career artists through exhibitions.

For more information click here.

Gray's School of Art Degree Show returns in person

The Gray’s Degree Show celebrates the talents and achievements of Gray's final year students and takes place Saturday 11 to Saturday 18 June (10am-5pm). It is free to attend, with many of the artefacts and products being for sale.

The exhibition will showcase the exciting and inspiring final year projects of the students across a range of disciplines including painting, contemporary art practice, fashion and textiles, communication design three-dimensional design and photography, transforming the Gray’s campus into a large gallery space.

Gray’s School of Art comprises of mix of students studying undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and short courses across a range of Fine Art and Design disciplines. It is an influential multidisciplinary Art School that has been leading and defining culture and industrial development for over 130 years.

Step into a world of creativity and get a glimpse of our future art and design leaders.

More information about the Degree Show can be found here.

Kilt Walk is back in Aberdeen

Thousands of weary feet will mark the end of their 2022 Kilt Walk when they cross the finish line in the Duthie Park on Sunday 29 May.

Returning in its full glory for the first time since 2019 the Kilt Walk raises much needed funds for a huge number of charities and every single penny raised for charity will be topped up by a HUGE 50% thanks to the generosity of Sir Tom Hunter and The Hunter Foundation.

There are three walk distances to challenge yourself with so why not gather your friends, family or colleagues, don your kilts to walk one of the set three routes; Mighty Stride (26 miles), Big Stroll (15 miles) and Wee Wander (3).

If you or your colleagues are taking part then be sure to share you photos and stories with us by tagging @abdninspired so we can share the news with our city centre community.

There are still spaces available so to find out more information and details on how to sign up can be found here.

Gift Card

With over 220 businesses in Aberdeen City already signed up, the Aberdeen Gift Card is delivering a much-needed boost directly back into local economy. Funded by Aberdeen Inspired the scheme is free to join and does not cost your business or the consumer anything, it’s simply another payment method for the goods, services or products your business sells.

Father’s Day and the end of term is fast approaching, so if you are a business who accepts the gift card then it is in your interest to promote that you accept it! Research shows that on average people spend 65% more on top of the value of their card when they redeem it and that their likelihood of becoming a repeat customer is over 50%.

And remember if you or your family are involved in groups or contributing to an end of term school collections then the Aberdeen Gift Card is the perfect way to say thank you. With over 220 businesses in Aberdeen being part of the scheme, from food and drink to fancy footwear and everything in between there's plenty of choice! By suggesting that your group or teacher is rewarded with an Aberdeen Gift Card, it will not only be appreciated by the recipient, but it will ultimately benefit your business and Aberdeen City centre as a whole.

Gifting the card is simple. You can go to the Bon Accord Centre information desk or online here with the option of an e-card being sent straight to the recipient.

If you’d like to sign your business up to be part of scheme, then simply click here and we will do the rest!

Stagecoach Bluebird wins coveted prize at Northern Star Business Awards

Local bus operator, Stagecoach Bluebird, is celebrating after winning the prestigious “Driving Sustainability” prize at the 2022 Northern Star Business Awards, hosted by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce.

The Driving Sustainability prize was awarded following the operator’s major project to introduce 22 brand new electric double decker buses to the streets of Aberdeen. The company has invested £11.2 million in the project, with £4 million of support from the Scottish Government Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme.

Read more about this here.

Business Waste Collections Reminder

Aberdeen City Council is seeking to remind local businesses and third sector organisations (including charities, voluntary and community organisations) in the city centre about their duty of care for the disposal of their business waste.

The Council has received several complaints in recent months about overflowing communal bins caused by unauthorised business waste. Our aim is to work together with businesses to address these issues to improve the look and feel of our city centre for customers, residents and the general public.

The Council provides on-street bins for household collections of general waste, mixed recycling and food waste. Business waste, including food waste, should not be disposed of in these bins.

We ask that all businesses assist us by ensuring your staff understand your waste management plan and use only bins allocated and approved by your waste contractor and disposing of large items and cardboard appropriately.

The Council values local businesses and third sector organisations and recognises some of the challenges you face to manage your waste sustainably, including a lack of space to store bins. Where possible, our trade waste service offers bespoke waste collection arrangements to meet your needs. If you’d like to discuss potential options that may suit your business, you can contact businesswaste@aberdeencity.gov.uk

Meet the Locals

In March, we launched our ‘Meet the Locals’ campaign on our social media channels. The aim of this is to shine the spotlight on our local businesses and the people who run them and encourage the people of Aberdeen to come into the city centre!

So far we have caught up with The Greenhouse, Haigs, Bloom Lifestyle Salon and Kuoni, Michies & Country Ways to discuss what is going on within their businesses as well as their plans for the future, you can view these stories here.

Coming soon are features on Nickel and Dime, Cheerz and Primark. If you’re a city centre business who’d like to be featured in our ‘Meet the Locals’ campaign, please get in touch here.

Sing City Aberdeen re-open after a re-vamp

Aberdeen's only private karaoke rooms located on Chapel Street are back and better than ever after a re-vamp! Each room is fully equipped with a new state of the art Karaoke machines with over 10,000 songs to choose from, powerful sound systems, large LED screens, radio mics, mood lighting, waiter service and more. Book your karaoke room here.

Hola to Dos Amigos

Located on Justice Mill Lane, Dos Amigos is newly opened an independent authentic Spanish/Mexican restaurant.

Enthusiast and renowned chef Mr. Narendra Thapa and a local entrepreneur Mr. Manoj Neupane, two friends with the wealth of experience in the industry created Dos Amigos to deliver delicious dishes filled with generosity and skills. Having a decade long experience in Spanish and Mexican dishes, Mr Thapa is passionate to focus on seasonal menu with finest ingredients.

Aberdeen, being a food hub with a good network of residents and people from around the world, Dos Amigos thrives to serve authentic Spanish & Mexican cuisine along with drinks in the heart of Aberdeen city. Book your table here.

At our AGM on 31 March 2022, we were delighted to confirm the appointment of Amanda McCulloch, Chief Executive of TMM Recruitment to our board.

She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in recruitment. Read the full post about Amanda’s appointment here.

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