‘A Better Bristol to me is a city where businesses can thrive and people want to live, work and visit’

As head of Bristol City Centre BID, Vicky Lee leads a team to deliver innovative projects, initiatives, partnerships, and events that have a significant positive impact for city centre businesses and those who work, live, study and spend leisure time in the city.

Across the last five years, Bristol City Centre BID has delivered Bristol Light Festival, Hearts in Parks and Christmas Lights to attract visitors into the city, launched TAP for Bristol and introduced new services including a seven-day-a-week cleansing operation, and several safety partnerships to make the city more welcoming.

In Bristol City Centre BID’s next five-year term, the business plan supports a future-focused city that attracts business, investment, and people to create a resilient and welcoming city. The BID team plans to further enhance, promote, protect, and support the city centre and its businesses to deliver a better Bristol for all.

Bird’s eye view of Bristol City Centre BID Hearts initiative on College Green – photo: Plaster

What’s the one thing that inspires you to get up in the morning?

I feel very lucky to live and work in a city that I love, and support some of the most passionate, creative, and resilient businesses in Bristol. The main objective of my role is to continuously look for ways to help city centre businesses thrive, this could be through events that encourage people to spend leisure time in the city, by developing new partnerships with Bristol organisations to tackle specific city centre challenges and really understanding what our levy paying businesses need from their BID.

We have such a fantastic city – that just keeps getting better – and being part of its journey and supporting its business community is a real privilege.

The other thing that inspires me to get up in the morning is coffee or of course my son waking me up!

TAP for Bristol are contactless donation points dotted around Bristol – photo: Bristol City Centre BID

If you could pick one thing to change about Bristol what would it be?

I feel that the right transport infrastructure could have a significantly positive impact on how the city operates and how people choose to use it. When you look at cities in Europe, with an efficient subway or tram system, it really indicates how Bristol could benefit if travel in, out and across the city was easier and affordable. Traffic in the city remains a challenge, so greener, cleaner public transport must be a key focus to create a system that really works for Bristol.

What does a Better Bristol mean to you?

A Better Bristol to me is a city where businesses can thrive, people want to live, work and visit, a city that is safe for all to enjoy whatever time of day or night, and a place that is welcoming and appealing to everyone. Bristol is such a progressive city, and we are lucky to have so many creative minds that want to do things differently and push for continuous improvement. By supporting new ideas, being brave and always seeking a better way, Bristol will continue to evolve as a city for the future.

This year’s Bristol Light Festival – photo: Andre Pattenden

What action could you as an individual take? What action could your company take?

At the start of the year, we started to experience post-pandemic recovery with increased footfall and spend in the city centre. Leisure and entertainment businesses benefitted from an increase of £85,000 spent between January and March, while hospitality businesses saw an increase of over £10m across the same time.

Since then, businesses have been challenged with the cost-of-living crisis and inflation, meaning they must constantly think of their feet and adapt with the changing economic landscape. Bristol’s eclectic mix of businesses and its strong independent collective helps to make the city what it is, and we need to support them during these challenging times by choosing to shop local, explore and spend leisure time in the city, and indulge in everything Bristol has to offer.

A key part of Bristol City Centre BID’s business plan for the next five-year term is to further enhance the city centre and bring residents, employees, and visitors back into the heart of our city.

We understand the importance and requirement to create free leisure time activities and events in the city centre that give another reason for people to visit, such as our annual Bristol Light Festival which brought an additional spend of £3.4m into Bristol businesses in 2022 and seasonal events which help to increase footfall across the year.

We want to build on the successes of the last five years and continue to support city centre businesses on the road to recovery and beyond, by connecting and representing the business community, delivering projects and partnerships that help improve safety, and by shining a light on our city for tourism, education, and investment.

What do you want to see from the Bristol business community in the next five years?

The next five years are going to be really important for the Bristol business community in their journey to Net Zero. Bristol’s ambition is to reach Net Zero by 2030, twenty years sooner than the national government target of 2050.

Bristol City Centre BID will be focusing efforts on equipping businesses with the tools to reduce carbon emissions over the next five-year term, offering advice, guidance and support so that we can achieve the timeframe set for the city.

Main photo: Bristol City Centre BID

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