The Sudbury Town Team have been working hard over the last 3 years on improving the promotion of Sudbury, it’s businesses and all Sudbury has to offer. The Town Team was set up to apply to become a Portas Town and to help maintain and enhance the town centre. It is a non-political, non-profit making group (…)representing the interests of local businesses, many of which took part in a survey in 2014 to establish their priorities, the results of which formed the basis of much of the work done by the Town Team with the support of one part time, self-employed member. The overwhelming majority of businesses who responded to the survey considered the most important factor to their success in the future was maintaining free car parking in Sudbury (at least for the 3 hours currently available). Although we understand that the possibility of charging for car parking is only under review, the Town Team is ensuring that the views of both the businesses and the public are known by all Babergh District Councillors and a petition will soon be available in shops as well as on the Town Team website.
The introduction of the new website and the associated social media has been widely praised as it not only provides details of where to shop and eat in Sudbury but also has details of where to stay, visit, latest news, what’s on and offers. Sam Bawden, the Chair of the Town Team and Partner at Holmes & Hills Solicitors said “Sudbury has such a great community spirit and many businesses are keen to get involved in the town. It is therefore important to have a website which promotes all that Sudbury has to offer. As with many businesses in Sudbury, we support not only events such as the Taste of Sudbury but also get involved where possible with window displays for the celebration of the Town Twinnings 30 years twinning with Clermont and the Christmas Window Display which are all organised by the Sudbury Town Team and this all helps build a healthy community.”
The Town Team sees keeping shops and the businesses in town up to date, not only with their projects but with information on grants and support which is available to them, and being a line of communication, as an important aspect of what they do. Apart from the bigger projects like the Taste of Sudbury Food & Drink Festival and the new website and mobile app to promote Sudbury, the Town Team provides monthly “What’s On” articles which are published by the local press, newsletters and magazines and is available on several websites and promotes not only events but also The Quay, Gainsborough’s House, markets, restaurants, walks etc. The Shop Local Campaign has been promoted widely over the last couple of years in December and details why everyone should try to shop locally whenever possible. In 2015 it included the Christmas Window Display and Best Mince Pie Competition. The Town Team also organise distribution of local leaflets for many organisations including their new events leaflet to Tourist Information Centres throughout East Anglia, London and visitor destinations in the area. They support Art About Town, where local artists can display their art in local businesses and Sudbury businesses were pleased to be able to display more art than any other town in Suffolk in 2015. They also work with many groups on promotion and last year with Gainsborough’s House on a survey of shoppers in Sudbury.
More details of the Sudbury Town Team go to https://seeanddosudbury.co.uk/about/