By Rebecca McGirr
Noelle McAloon, Enniskillen BID Manager is ‘delighted’ by the 86 percent yes vote from businesses for BID to continue in Enniskillen for the next five years.
‘We are very happy to get another five years to really show what else we can do,’ she said.
Enniskillen BID’s first term finishes at the end of April and a renewal ballot was held during the last six weeks for eligible businesses to vote on a second term.
Looking forward, Ms McAloon said BID hopes to grow and expand on some of their successful projects. This includes the Enniskillen Gift Card, which they hope to get sales up to a million pound in the next five years, continuing with the ‘Experience Enniskillen’ brand, providing the business contribution towards Christmas lights and CCTV and also developing a vacant unit strategy.
Ms McAloon said she hopes to tackle the issue of vacant sites in Enniskillen which has a vacant rate of 14 percent which is less than the UK and the North’s average and intends to reach out to businesses particularly businesses that are not located in Enniskillen.
This comes after recent news emerged that popular coffee chain Bob and Berts could be setting up a store in Enniskillen.
A company spokesman from Bob and Berts said, ‘We’ve been looking for a site in Enniskillen for a number of years but nothing suitable has been available.
“We are currently speaking to three landlords and have put in offers regarding sites in Enniskillen and it is our intention to open a store in the town once we find a suitable site.”
This statement is similar to comments from co-owner of Bob and Berts, Colin McClean in 2017.
He said, ‘We have made a number of attempts to secure a unit in Enniskillen but to date we have not been able to find a suitable site. We will open in Enniskillen as soon as we get a site which we are actively trying to get.”
Ms McAloon said, ‘BID has not been in direct contact with Bob and Berts but we want to reach out to companies in all sectors and provide support, information and footfall figures, which will give businesses a little bit of confidence if they are looking to set up their business in Enniskillen.’
As we approach the summer months the ‘staycation’ could be set to stay in trend as Ms McAloon said, ‘There is definitely a prediction that we are going to have another good summer of staycationers even though there are no Covid restrictions I think that world activities such as what is happening in Ukraine and the cost of living going up will encourage more people to stay local.’
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