Welcome to your latest IN Touch newsletter
It’s good to talk, as they say, and we’ve been busy gathering the views of our levy payers and the wider business community over the past couple of weeks.
Around 60 people attended a special Business Network Meeting at the Douglas Hotel, where we heard an update on Aberdeen’s new bus gates and the recent changes to the roads layout and bus priority routes in the city centre.
The city council has a year to consider comments and feedback so we strongly encourage you to use this valuable opportunity to share your views.
We also hosted a lunch and learn webinar on the Aberdeen Gift Card, which invited TMM Recruitment, the Port of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University to share their personal experience of using the cards to reward and recognise staff.
The Aberdeen Gift Card has been a huge success, keeping millions of pounds in the local economy by encouraging its use across more than 300 shops, bars, restaurants, visitor attractions and other outlets, and it’s great to see the scheme continuing to expand.
We’ve also heard a rallying call from Belmont Community Cinema Ltd, which has been selected by Aberdeen City Council as the preferred operator of the Belmont Cinema, which sadly closed its doors last year.
The campaign steering group has been busy developing a plan of action for the refurbishment and re-opening of this iconic venue, and it’s now calling on both local residents and businesses to support the campaign and help to bring its vision to life.
It’s encouraging to see positive progress and real opportunities to help to shape the future of our city centre – so please do get involved.
Best wishes,
Adrian Watson, Chief Executive, Aberdeen Inspired
Stories
KEEP STAFF REWARDS LOCAL WITH THE ABERDEEN GIFT CARD
The Aberdeen Gift Card has been a huge success, keeping millions of pounds in the local economy by encouraging its use across more than 300 shops, bars, restaurants, visitor attractions and other outlets.
An insightful lunch and learn webinar this week heard from representatives from three Aberdeen businesses, who outlined how they are making staff rewards matter, and keeping it local, with the Aberdeen Gift Card.
Amanda McCulloch, chief executive of TMM Recruitment, and Bob Sanguinetti, chief executive of Port of Aberdeen, provided valuable insight as to how the Aberdeen Gift Card meets the diverse needs of their teams.
Julie Skinner, resourcing and benefits manager at Robert Gordon University spoke about why they chose to include the Aberdeen Gift Card in their staff reward scheme.
Click here for more information about the Aberdeen Gift Card.
To watch the webinar recording, click here.
CONSULTATION WILL BE KEY FOR THE BUS GATES
Aberdeen Inspired levy payers are being invited to air their views on Aberdeen’s new bus gates, following a meeting last week to discuss the changes.
Vycki Ritson, Aberdeen City Council’s traffic management team leader, gave an overview of the Experimental Traffic Regulation Order 2 (ETRO2) and the recently implemented changes. The new bus priority routes can be seen here.
A six-month consultation period began in August, following the implementation of the changes.
Aberdeen Inspired chairman Allan Henderson, who chaired the session, called on everyone to respond to the consultation and have their say in relation to the ETRO2.
Visit here if you have any specific concerns or feedback on the new scheme.
The council has the next six months to consider all the received comments, while also reviewing the performance of the measures, before concluding whether the ETRO should become permanent.
Vycki’s presentation was followed by brief comments from Duncan Cameron, managing director of First Group (Scotland) and Daniel Laird, Stagecoach’s commercial director.
The meeting was then opened to questions from the floor, with prominent figures from Aberdeen’s business community offering their opinions on the changes and asking questions.
The special Business Network Meeting, which was held at the Douglas Hotel, was attended by around 50 people from a cross section of affected businesses and concluded with remarks from local councillors, Ian Yuill and Sandra McDonald.
Aberdeen Inspired would like to hear the views of our levy paying business on the changes. Please help us by completing the following short survey here.
Springboard figures on footfall
The latest footfall figures for Aberdeen city centre show an increase of more than 20% compared to last year.
The report by Springboard for September 10th-16th shows the total number of visitors to Aberdeen city centre for the last 52 weeks was 20,406,591, a rise of 20.9% up on the previous year.
The total number of visitors to the city centre last week was 437,790, with Saturday the busiest day, when 76,179 visitors were recorded, and 6,266 visiting during the peak hour of 1pm the same day.
The total number of visitors for 2023 to date is 14,158,066, which is 21.1% up on the previous year.
You can view the weekly Springboard reports here.
Comedian Jason Byrne returns to Aberdeen
Accident-prone comedian Jason Byrne is to bring his painfully hilarious Ironic Bionic Man show to Aberdeen’s Music Hall on Saturday, 14 October at 7.30pm.
Hear his tales of being born with a dodgy eye, having a collapsed lung and his appendix removed, enduring cartilage being replaced in his knee, having his arm dislocated by a wave and living with a heart now functioning on six stents.
Priced at £27, tickets are available now from Aberdeen Box Office. Book your tickets here.
FIRST ABERDEEN TO OFFER 50% OFF 3-IN-7 BUNDLE TICKETS UNTIL 12 OCTOBER
First Bus has announced it will be giving Aberdonians a 50% discount on tickets from Thursday 14 September as formal operation of the new bus gates in the city gets set to ramp up, aiming to encourage more people to switch from car to the bus more often during this promotional period.
The offer, which will be available over a four-week period until Thursday 12 October, will allow people using First Bus services to buy half price ‘3-in-7 Day Bundle Tickets’ to be used on the First Bus app. This will give three full days travel across a seven-day period that begins when the first journey is made using the ticket.
First Bus has also reaffirmed its commitment to reinvest any savings made because of the bus priority measures into its network, accelerating plans to introduce more services and greater value tickets for our customers. This will result in more sustainable travel opportunities for Aberdonians including the use of new zero emission buses, frequent services, improved journey times, comfort on board and contactless payment options will all show why bus travel is a great, more environmentally friendly alternative for traditional car users travelling in the city.
Read more here.
To redeem and for full details, click here.
Image credit - Code the City
Hack the city
Civic hacking initiative, Code the City, is teaming up with Our Union Street for a weekend dedicated to the past, present and future of Union Street and Aberdeen’s city centre.
CTC30 is a two-day hackathon which is taking place in Aberdeen this Saturday and Sunday (23-24 September). Read more here. Book your tickets here.
Belmont Community Cinema as the preferred operator for the Belmont Cinema
The ‘Save the Belmont Cinema’ campaign was formed in response to the closure of the cinema in October 2022. The campaign steering group has been developing a plan of action for the refurbishment and successful re-opening of this iconic venue, and is now calling on local people and businesses to support the campaign and bring this vision to reality.
Read more about the group’s plans here.
Pictured - Councillor Martin Greig with Stefan Scott at Revolucion de Cuba.
Prestigious National Awards, Best Bar None returns to the Granite City
City pubs and nightclubs will have the chance to be named the Best Bar None in a revived awards and accreditation scheme. The project aims to set a high standard in customer care and safety and will include a campaign to cut crime in the city centre.
With many city licensed premises already signed up, the scheme will culminate in an annual awards ceremony at the Douglas Hotel on 8 February, recognising excellence in the licensed trade.
Read the full story here.
Win prizes for getting on your bike this September
Love to Ride has launched Cycle September, and it’s not too late to get involved!
The fun, free and friendly biking challenge is the perfect opportunity for you and your colleagues to get active.
To take part, all you have to do is ride your bike, anywhere, anytime in September. Remember to log your ride and you’ll soon be racking up points. It’s quick and easy to log rides, this can be done on www.lovetoride.net, using the Love to Ride iOS app or by connecting to Stava or Map my Ride.
Participants earn points every time they log a bike ride or encourage someone else. And, as we all know, points make prizes! Getting on your bike could see you jetting off on holiday –one lucky person will win a £4,000 holiday.
Head here for more information and to register.
Meet The Levy Payer: Specsavers
Specavers on Union Street have a clear vision of what the future holds for them, their customers and the Granite Mile… and it’s looking good.
We caught up with Specsavers' Ophthalmic Director David McGinty on Union Street, who has been a partner for 23 years, to find out more about the business and their plans.
Read David's interview here.
Wish to be featured in a coming Meet the Levy Payers interview? Email Scott.begbie@aberdeenspired.com
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