YOURBUSINESS ISOUR BUSINESS
THE YEAR 10 PLAN
GO! Southampton is committed to making the city centre a more attractive place to work, live and visit.
To achieve this, we are working with our partners to provide a vibrant environment for businesses to grow, attracting more footfall and lobbying on your behalf.
Welcoming people to stay and enjoy the attractions, the amazing heritage of the medieval walls and the incredible range of hospitality and retail requires us to coordinate and deliver a safer, cleaner city centre.
Over 40,000 students choose to live and study in Southampton each year. Working in partnership will enable the Universities to be competitive in a global market. Students want diverse cultural experiences, which will enrich their time here and encourage them to stay in the area, retaining their talent and skills for our city’s growth.
BUDGET BREAKDOWN *
International tourists are an important part of our economy, and we have thousands arriving at the port each week, let’s make them feel welcome. We will continue our work to attract and direct cruise passengers into your venues and shops, encouraging them to stay longer, explore and spend more.
We are optimistic and through our lobbying to local and central government for our businesses we will provide a better place, which has the lifeblood of the hospitality sector, the range of retail and exciting leisure experiences. Times may be tough, but we will all be stronger working together.
Stephen Manion (Executive Director)
GO! SOUTHAMPTON’S ‘TOP 5’
Take a look at the ‘ Top 5’ priorities for each of our theme groups in 2026–27. If you’d like to know more about any of them, we’d love to hear from you.
BETTER MARKETING CULTURE, EVENTS & PARTNERSHIPS
Develop the new Visit Southampton website to meet the needs of all readers, including improved travel and accessibility information and bespoke pages
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Explore ways to market the city to cruise passengers and crew via the Visit Southampton channels and physical advertising in the city
Offer relevant marketing services and advice to BID members, acting as a critical friend where needed
Deliver key marketing campaigns throughout the year including Love the Old Town, Summer of Sport and Christmas, to increase awareness, dwell time and spend
Raise Southampton’s profile as an exciting and vibrant visitor destination via our work with Blakeborough PR
Offer the Events Sponsorship Scheme, providing small and large organisations the opportunity to secure events grants of up to £6,000
Work with third-party event organisers, to capitalise on opportunities that come with larger events being hosted in the city, including promotion of BID members to attendees
Host business events such as city networking and trade/sector meetings to strengthen connections
Deliver at least two city-centre trails across the year, including the Snow Windows, encouraging movement around the BID area and increasing dwell time
Collaborate with city partners to strengthen the local economy and wider tourism offer to help businesses grow
GREATER CITY CENTRE EXPERIENCE
Our nationally accredited business crime partnership (SBCP) and dedicated on-the-ground security team will support joint crime reduction initiatives such as Operation Predict and the Business Crime Navigator project
Build on our year-round lighting scheme with street animation and activations to encourage visitors and increase dwell time
Deliver our annual Big City Clean and continue our regular cleansing service to businesses which goes above and beyond the statutory duties of the Council
Work with the Licensing Link collective to keep the night-time economy a vibrant and safe place as well as maintain the Red Card Scheme and retain Purple Flag status
Continue work on connecting the city through improved wayfinding and visitor information within the public realm
STRONGER BUSINESS
Champion city improvements to drive economic growth, including delivery of the Renaissance Vision and the Growth & Prosperity Plan
Represent businesses with a strong, coordinated voice, lobbying for better support from Government and beyond
Provide additional footfall counters targeted at cruise tourists, to inform smarter business decisions alongside existing spend data
Secure procurement savings on energy, insurance and waste collections via our Business Cost Reduction Service
Deliver employee training via SEEDL and in-person sessions to help businesses save money whilst enhancing workplace skills