July CEO Update from Helen

Wimbledon town centre really does come alive at this time of year and we work hard to ensure the town is presented well. You will have seen our pavements being jetwashed (see more) and this year we have taken it upon ourselves to clean, repaint and dress the taxi shelter at Wimbledon station (see more). This along with the rainbow pedestrian crossing makes Wimbledon a town we can all be proud of, particularly at this time of year.

Our Big Screen is set up and ready to welcome you once again to The Piazza to catch all the live coverage from The Championships. This year we’re serving up a double with our Big Screen sponsors Elmlea, whose head office (and BID business) Upfield is based in Wimbledon Town Centre. Thank you to Abbottswood Flooring, another of our BID businesses, for their terrific service and expert fitting of the astroturf (see more) on The Piazza. We’re proud of these local partnerships as we work hard to connect BID businesses to our busy events calendar.

I attended the Merton Council scrutiny meeting for the report of the parking consultation last week and it looks like the proposals will be approved and accepted for implementation in September. This is particularly disappointing for Wimbledon as many parking costs will increase by 100%. I will update you more on this as soon as we have further confirmation. (Read our response to the Parking Consultation).

To finish on a positive note, I attended a reception at the Houses of Parliament hosted by Jake Berry MP who confirmed that BIDs are very important to the economic development of town centres and that those area that have Business Improvement Districts are responding well to the changes in retail.

We look forward to seeing you on a deckchair or a picnic bench very soon!

Find out more about our Big Screen Tennis and Summer Sit Out and other Summer Events.