Parking Angels Fly in to Add Spa’kle

Parking Angels Fly in to Add Spa’kle

Shopping in Royal Leamington Spa over the festive season will now be heaven on earth thanks to the help of a group of Parking Angels.

A flock of Parking Angels has been recruited to help shoppers find car parking spaces, to provide change for parking meters, offer maps and advice and generally add a little bit of cheer into the day of shoppers.

BID Leamington has launched the new project which aims to enhance the shopping experience and add some magic in the town centre from the moment visitors arrive.

The BID has recruited a group of four angels who will be spreading festive cheer by advising the town’s visitors on where to park, including which locations have the most space and which are best value.

The Angels will also be watching over the town centre ensuring that parking services are easy for customers to use and helping with change.

The Parking Angels will be easily spotted by their white puffer jackets, sparkly white wings, brass trumpets and bells, which may sound when they do good deeds.

To add a little extra festive fun, they will also be carrying some offers from local businesses, Neals Yard festive spray, Body Shop glitter and Angel perfume, so visitors are encouraged to stop and say hello.

Stephanie Kerr, executive director of BID Leamington, said: “Working so closely with those who shop, dine or trade in Leamington, we are very aware of the importance of having customer friendly parking services.

“Offering a magical shopping experience is very important and it is very easy to undermine the amazing service our businesses offer if customers have to struggle with finding a space or ticket when they arrive.”

“Royal Leamington Spa is a fantastic place to visit at Christmas time with a wide variety of shops, wonderful lights and great service, so this was something that could help at this busy time of year.”

“We also hope it will help make people smile, add to the festive cheer and goodwill and help enhance the existing positive rapport between traders and their customers.

“BID Leamington is always trying out new ideas to drive custom into the town centre and ensure it offers an unrivalled retail and dining experience.”

“We therefore are delighted to launch the new Parking Angels initiative which we hope will create a fun, festive atmosphere with added Spa’kle and encourage more visitors to spend time in the town centre.

“The idea has been warmly welcomed by local businesses with one even offering to volunteer as an angel on their day off! Based on this we may consider recruiting more to help at other busy times throughout the year”.

The angels will be on duty at weekends until Christmas from 10.00am – 4.00pm, on Fridays from 11.00 – 3.00pm, and during Christmas week Monday to Wednesday from 11am to 3pm.

For information about long stay parking please see the map below. Covent Garden Multi-storey (P1) is great value at £3 all day! It is accessed via Russell Street (CV32 5QB).

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Our parking angels created a media storm, receiving national attention in the press, TV and radio! Listen to just some of the BBC 6Music radio coverage above from the Steve Lamacq Show.

The Annual Lantern Parade Lights Up Leamington!

The Annual Lantern Parade Lights Up Leamington!

More than 2,500 took part – the biggest turnout in the event’s five year history – with over 1,000 handmade lanterns paraded from the Pump Rooms to the Town Hall.

Leading the lanterns was Snowey the Friendly Giant, designed by five-year-old Olivia Beard who won a competition to create the awe-inspiring focal point of the parade.

Snowey, the largest lantern in the parade, was accompanied by two stilt-walking festive snowflakes, provided by local company Vortex Creates.

Olivia’s design was built at the Spa Centre – by Olivia with the help of community artist Fran Godwin, from the Community Arts Workshop – while all other lanterns were designed and made by local families who attended lantern-making workshops in the run-up to the parade.

Stephanie Kerr, from BID Leamington, which organises the lantern parade, said: “This year’s event has been by far our most spectacular yet.

“We had a wonderful turnout and it was absolutely incredible watching everybody come together to exhibit their astonishing creations and make it into such a brilliant community event.

“The lantern parade is a free, family-orientated event that attracts people of all ages and backgrounds each year, and with this in mind we wanted to tap into that community spirit by holding a Christmas toy appeal which collects toys for local children.

“As always the appeal was very well supported and many generous donations were made.

“Huge thanks must go to all our dedicated volunteers who help at the workshops and parade as well as CJ Events and Pete Smith from Tandy UK who always go the extra mile.

“We’re also grateful to Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum for hosting lantern workshops for toddlers as well as town centre businesses that continue to support the event and of course, all those who attended on the night.”

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For more pictures please see the article in the Leamington Observer

Love Leamington Online is Launched!

Love Leamington Online is Launched!

Do you want to enjoy the convenience of online shopping, while supporting Leamington Spa’s wonderful Town Centre stores?

Well now you can by visiting www.loveleamington.com!

A new initiative to help town centre retailers make the most of online shopping has been launched by BID Leamington in the Leamington Spa Town Centre.

The idea is to help local retailers in the town highlight their online profile to allow them to make the most of the growth of internet shopping.

Stephanie Kerr, BID Leamington Director, said, “This is particularly important for many of the town’s independent shops, who do trade online but find it difficult to get noticed on the major search engines and are competing with global brands.

Those same local stores do have a very loyal customer base as they offer great products and a very good service, but not all their customers are aware that they are using e-commerce and we hope this site will alert them to that fact.”

To support them, all the independent retailers who trade online are featured in a special section website to help them get noticed: http://www.loveleamington.com/category/independent/

The website is very customer friendly, with other businesses featured in the following categories, each are local businesses with both a high street and online product or service!

Stephanie added: “We hope that shoppers – if they are equipped with the information – will choose to keep their online spend local, and support a town centre business at the same time.”

So take a look  … www.loveleamington.com

FREE Christmas Present Wrapping in Town Centre Cafes!

FREE Christmas Present Wrapping in Town Centre Cafes!

Christmas will be all wrapped up for Leamington’s shoppers thanks to a new initiative with the town’s independent cafés.

To help make the shopping experience Spa’kle, a number of independent cafés are offering FREE present wrapping materials, so shoppers can take the opportunity to have a coffee break and wrap their newly-bought items at the same time.

Cafés offering free wrapping supplies are conveniently spaced out around the Town Centre and include:

A number of these are also joining other retailers to stay open until 8pm each Thursday until December 17th. These include Rosie’s Vintage Tea Room, Spa Town Coffee and Ginger Ace.  Opening times may vary between cafés so please check online before visiting.

This is being offered as part of BID Leamington’s Christmas campaign which aims to make the town centre welcoming and magical at this special time of year. Adding to the Christmas spirit, the wrapping paper and supplies have been kindly donated by Leamington-based storage company, Titan Storage Solutions.