Winter Newsletter 2017

Welcome to 2017.. With a tough 2016 behind us many of you are reporting a turnaround in trade and are hopeful that things are finally returning to pre flood prosperity.

Cleaner Greener Kendal;We received £7,500 from an SLDC managed funding pot to provide 20 secure bike boxes in Kendal and three additional bus shelters as part of a larger cycling tourism agenda. The bike boxes are now installed in three locations in town; M&S Carpark, Westmorland Shopping Centre and Lakes Leisure Ltd. We are still awaiting on Cumbria County Council to approve the final elements of the bus shelters. We put forward a project that comes under the auspices of creating a cleaner Kendal by reducing pollution and encouraging alternative modes of transport.

Rediscover Kendal the Mintcake Way: We received £5600 from 2 sponsors towards Rediscover Kendal Day where we also launched the Kendal Gift Card and asked people to follow a trail. This was extremely successful, people had no idea that some businesses existed, it not only raised the profile of Kendal but also the Kendal Gift Card. Businesses were given blue mintcake to offer to customers as a promotional tool and over 3000 pieces were handed out at the Torchlight Carnival.

Following a dedicated and independent survey of businesses regarding Kendal BID’s continued support of festivals, Kendal BID supported the new and successful Kendal Torchlight Carnivals Street Party, The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival and The Kendal Mountain Film Festival. We also supported Kendal Town Council with funding to help with the Christmas Lightsswitch on. As we promised the lights in Stricklandgate continued to shine throughout the Christmas period with the addition of Mini Christmas trees on Sandes Avenue, Blackhall Road, Allhallows Lane and Kirkland. Kendal BID installed (where necessary and for those who wanted to participate) new generic brackets and extensions in Allhallows Lane and Kirkland, that can be used in future years for not only Christmas trees but also for hanging baskets in preparation for events such as Kendal in Bloom.

The Kendal Gift Card, one of the flagship projects, is a success with over £6000 being sold in the first 3 months, that’s over £6000 being spent in the Kendal rather than on out of town and internet shopping. The Kendal Gift Card is the first ever UK Town wide Gift Card that is all inclusive. It is not confined to our independent businesses but works for every business in the defined area- in this case it’s the BID zone. It is designed to capture some of the £5billion worth of sales lost to the likes of Amazon every year and put that revenue back into the local economy. There is no contract, no hidden feesand will even work in conjunction with your own pre-existing gift card scheme.

Swipii: Kendal’s loyalty card system continues to be a success. We have had a number of businesses decide that it’s not for them but equally we have a number of businesses subscribing. With over 14000 people in the Kendal area possessing a card and 85000 visits to independent businesses on record, your customers obviously like it! We also have collected figures from participating businesses and can attribute substantial bottom line improvements, to the scheme.

Kendal BID is the major sponsor of the long-awaited Kendal specific website Kendal BID has pledged its support for its upkeep over the next few years. As part of the website there will be the opportunity for businesses to be listed and it is important that as many businesses as possible populate it. Get in there early and upload your information to this will automatically populate the new visit-kendal website.

Kendal BID has also financially supported the creation of the new Kendal leaflets that again are Kendal specific and are part of the overall marketing of our town. These will be distributed to all major tourist locations.

Thanks to Kendal Town Council and Kendal Futures for their hard work in our joint project.

Couple more things...SAVE THE DATE The Kendal BID AGM will take place on 14th March more info to follow.

FREE TRAINING!Several of you attended a course on social media last year that Kendal BID gained funding for. The Chamber of Commerce, as part of the Skills Program is able to offer a variety of free training in many subjects in association with service providers. Please contact Derek Armstrong (BID Board member) on to book your free training assessment. This training is for ALL businesses and for all different types of training.

Business Review Questionnaire; if we have your email address you should have received a questionnaire that helps Kendal BID understand how Kendal is performing in these hard and uncertain times. Please take the time to fill it out. The questionnaire will also be posted on

@mintcakeandmore: Kendal BIDs consumer facing Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts continue to attract attention, likes and followers. Where possible we try to tag businesses in, please continue to follow these accounts and tag us too. The more activity these accounts generate, the more successful we will be in attracting attention for Kendal.

There is no better time to accept The Kendal Gift Card!

There are currently over£6,000of Kendal Gift Cards out there in circulation and this is money which can only be spent in Kendal businesses that have registered to accept the card. It’s really easy to register to join the programme...
If your business accepts card payments... You can join in! It takes 30 seconds to add your business.

How does The Kendal Gift Card work?

  • The Kendal Gift Card is a pre-loaded Visa card which people can buy as a gift for friends and family.
  • The lucky recipients can then choose to spend their gift card in any of the registered Kendal Gift Card businesses.
  • As it is a Visa card, any business which already accepts card payments can register.
  • There are no changes required to your existing card terminals.

Where are the benefits?

  • People that have been given a Kendal Gift Card will be able to spend it in your business
  • We will provide you with Marketing Materials (window stickers and till stickers)
  • We will include you in future Kendal Card marketing materials and activity

What are the costs?

  • Its free to join the Kendal Gift Scheme.

How do I get Involved?
Just let us know! Email
Over 120 Kendal businesses already accept The Kendal Gift Card including:
Beales of Kendal, Gees, Kendal Sports, Pizza Express, Mountain Warehouse, Todds of Kendal, Grandmas Puppet Shop, E. H Booths, Maya Maya, Robinsons Electrical, Cobbler John, Armstrong Ward, Kendal Fisheries, The Moon Highgate, The Brewery Arts Centre, The Studio, Pumpkins Bistro, Forget Me Not, Watson and Woollard, The Key Cobbler, Deja Vue, Charlies, Reticule, Brew Bros, Room, Finkles, Origan, Market Place Books, Hair Bazaar, Made In Cumbria, James Edward Furniture and many more.. Add your business to take the card!

The money can only be spent in those businesses that have signed up to the Kendal Gift Card. If you have signed up and have recently changed your terminal you will have to be added again!!