gumption blog

£10m for Bradford to become a 'super-connected' city?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:52:00 GMT

The UK government has announced the 14 cities eligible to bid for money to make themselves "super-connected" and help kickstart the economy.
This is to bring investment to create a 100Mbps fibre network to 10 urban areas and make it available to Bradford at a much reduced cost of current commercial levels. It would also bring free wifi to Bradford city centre and support inward investment and other regeneration intiatives.

The four UK capitals - London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast have already been announced and among cities eligible to bid are Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester and Sheffield.
Dave Melling of Bradford Council is spear-heading to bid and is seeking support from the Bradford community for:
- examples of how this could support and develop enterprises including business chains.
- ideas for education, information and demand building for these services.
- ideas for raising skill levels to equip people to benefit from the technology re jobs opportunities etc.
- Your backing and support in general for the project.

If you're able to help, please email him straight away via dave.melling@bradford.gov.uk or call on 01535618095.

Rent an office with a bar?

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:07:00 GMT

We continue to invest in Glyde House and have now opened a fully licenced bar to enable us to add value to our space and help re-model the business. We also hope to have a lot more fun with customers too!

The Library Bar is decorated with antiquarian books and we project old black & white silent movies onto the wall to add to the atmosphere.

There's a full range of optics, a draft bitter and lager as well as a number of bottled beers from Bradford breweries too. Enjoy :)

Bradford to get its very own official MONOPOLY game!

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:52:00 GMT

Winning Moves, manufacturers of this version of the MONOPOLY game under license from Hasbro, say the new official MONOPOLY: Bradford Edition is coming about following the city recently being crowned the very first ‘UNESCO world City of Film' as well as officially becoming ‘England's curry capital'.

Winning Moves say Bradford, Ilkley, Saltaire and Haworth will all feature on the board, which will see the famous MONOPOLY London streets taking on a distinct Bradford flavour and feel, as well as other customised themes.

Gumption's very own co-director David Robertson-Brown is also Chair of www.destinationbradford.co.uk, a tourism network of hoteliers, conference venues and attractions. David says" "This is a marvellous fun initiative for the people of Bradford.

"It stems from a growing recognition of the truly fantastic offer the district has - with global brands such as the Brontes, Delius, Hockney, a UNESCO World Heritage Site at Saltaire, the UNESCO world City of Film status and England's Curry Capital to name but a few.

"The launch of the game also ties in nicely with the opening of the new City Park in Bradford. This is again something no other UK city has and will definitely turn a lot of heads with envy".

The public will be asked to vote for property spaces on the new board in general - with around 30 regional landmarks replacing the likes of Oxford Street and Park Lane - as well as offering suggestions for the board's most expensive site in particular, which is exclusive Mayfair.

The MONOPOLY: Bradford Edition will be available at leading stores from October (2011) including at: Amazon.co.uk, Asda, all four Bradford Visitor Information Centres, Debenhams, HMV, PLAY.com, Tesco, Toys R Us, Waterstones and WH Smith.

Voting starts at Midday on Tuesday March 22nd and ends midday on 22nd April 2011. Votes to: bradford@winningmoves.co.uk

The Odeon - a viable proposition?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 10:14:00 GMT

In this period of austerity measures and spending reviews, there's inevitably going to be further delays on developments such as the Odeon / New Victoria.

In a perfect world, we'd all love to see a ballroom, a 2000 seat auditorium for theatre, music and film. We'd all love to bring the romance and charm back into this centrally located building. But there are things that concern me about this:
How will it compliment and not compete with the Alhambra, St Georges Hall and the various other venues currently displaying fine creative wares. How will it compete with the new 12,000 seat arena about to be constructed in Leeds?
So my main concern isn't where the money would come from to build it - if Bradford people want it, add a precept to their council tax bills and see how much they want it. My main concern is the mid to long term sustainability of the venture. Where is the business plan with real numbers in it that stack up into a viable proposition? The bottom line for this is that the ticket prices would need to be very high, negating many local people and that in the end, the Bradford council tax payer would be paying for it forever. I'm not convinced that this is clear to people.

Here's an alternative that you might want to consider. I haven't written a business plan for it, nor will be. I've a business to run.

After reading various web content about the Odeon, I asked people what was it that was so special to them. Why were they so emotionally attached? Why were they so against the New Victoria project, for example? The over-riding response was to keep the towers and domes that form part of our contemporary city centre landscape - "they can flattenen the rest". NB, This was not a representative poll carried out with 500k residents!

If this is the case (and I am mindful of the famous Wembley towers and domes!), how about a compromise solution that meets a modern function, maintains a respect and connection to the history of the site, requires very little public money and builds on where we are today?

We are in the UNESCO World City of Film and Bradford would be stupid not to build on this. "UNESCO Creative City" should be our strap line to quickly state who we are and help differentiate us from other cities. The new City Park (UK's only & Europe's largest) will be hosting large open air events estimated to attract an additional 2 million visitors. The current screen is great but only really serves the customers in the bars area. A much bigger one would really make a major national statement and can be incorporated into some large scale events.

After attending a recent meeting aimed at city centre retailers, safe car parking is a major issue as it for the Alhambra and the National Media Museum (the most visited museum outside of London). Additional capacity is required for the workers at the new Business Park being planned. Trains and buses are not nearly enough if Bradford is to grow.
NCP would be welcome, but ideally one of their competitors would be best to build it so there's no city centre monopoly.
The ground floor would locate the usual retail offering and hopefully attract McDonalds and Mumtaz or other big brands. Further creative treatment can be given to the external appearance to make it more aethetically pleasing, as in the car park at the Royal Armouries. It should NOT look like a normal car park concrete block. The towers remain as stairwells leading to each level.

On a more fanciful level, could the top floor become a Drive In cinema with a free-standing contempory roof and be serviced with drinks, etc by McDonalds below? Could Bradford College bring its Yorkshire Planitarium to the roof to add to the wider Bradford tourism offering and learning experience? It all fits.

This concept is sustainable if the council is serious about maximising the potential of the City Park. It's an opportunity for Bradford to differentiate. Our planners can target car park developers to invest (ie, no public money). It serves a modern Bradford need and builds capacity for further developments. It builds on our UNESCO Creative City status, gives us a more compelling reason to shop in Bradford (in time hopefully encourage new retailers) and keeps a link with the past, including the treasured towers and domes!

new victoria place

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:21:00 GMT

This project is now just subject to final planning permission.

"While the loss of the Odeon's turrets and façade would be regretted, we are satisfied that the benefits of the proposal would outweigh the harm which it would cause. English Heritage would therefore support the revised scheme."

Check out the PLANS. On balance, we think it has to happen.

does westfield care?

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:32:00 GMT

Welcome to the "Westfield Shopping Experience"!

With their focus on opening Westfield Stratford in time for the London Olympics http://uk.westfield.com/stratfordcity, it's probably going to be some time before they're back in Bradford.

Yes, we also have the credit crunch, but whatever the reason(s), we believe they have a moral responsibility to carry out some interim landscaping to this central location in our city centre. The costs would be negligible for such a global company.
Was this just an over-sight by the top execs in Oz or maybe they simply don't care?

brand tips

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:42:00 GMT

Post your tips on branding here to help others and we'll give a web link back to your site as a reward!

Here's a quicky... and a classic. A brand is not a logo or the colour of your web site.

A brand is the personality, tone, thought, feeling, character of the business - often about the business owner him/herself. Once you understand this, it can manifest itself into everything you do, the font you use, the choice of words, imagery, humour, promotional channels, etc, etc. Also, it usually takes a long, long time to develop a brand that can truely command the premium price you want for your service. And what's more, when you start out you'll never really know if you'll ever get there! One step at a time...

welcome & plug yourself here

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:05:00 GMT

Please click on the title of each blog to see the comments or add your own. We may even reward you with a free web link if it's really interesting!

Please also stay close and spread the word for us - click on Recommend below to tell your friends, RSS to receive regular feeds or follow us on Twitter @GumptionCentres.

We hope to inspire and provoke fresh thought.

marketing tips

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:04:00 GMT

Please give your general marketing tips here. Anything from branding, design, customers, selling, segmentation to PR. We may give you a free web link back to your site as a reward! Here's a quick one...

Most companies make the classic mistake of only outlining their services in their promotional materials. But that's about you. The customer wants to read about them and how they can benefit and without thinking too hard about it. If you can show typical/target customer types experiencing the benefits of your services, readers will engage more and you'll get a better response.

Gumption is no different. We're now in the process of gathering lots of testimonials from lots of happy customers. It's better for us that their story is told.

web tips

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:10:00 GMT

Give your Web Tips here and we'll give you a live link back to your own site as a reward!

External links to web sites that come from well ranked, relevant sites usually take a long time to build. But they are extremely important to help you to get higher up the Google rankings.

If you want a free web link from us, add your tip here!

networking tips

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:04:00 GMT

At networking events, many people are reticent to engage because they are used to being sold too. Once you introduce yourself, give them all the focus and ask what you can do for them.
It will help the conversation flow much better and they will eventually want to know more about you.

There's nothing more off-putting than somebody launching into a sales pitch of their latest new widget.

Just be human!

what is teletracker?

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:04:00 GMT

Hot off the press!

We've been developing Teletracker for about 10 months out of frustration of not knowing which adverts or promotional activities brought us sales enquiries. And it has been a busy time!

The concept is very simple: Put a different Teletracker number on each advert (or just use one on your web site) and watch them compete, in real-time, for your continued spend. There are lots of graphs & charts to help you make a judgement about the success or failure of your campaigns.

We've got millions of numbers in our database and even the 'memorable' ones are the same price, so don't get ripped off elsewhere! There are also big discounts for volume users. Please take a look at the TELETRACKER pages & images for more info, then you can start tracking your sales calls at the ONLINE CONTROL SITE.

Please post your questions here.

our £25m back garden

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:06:00 GMT

We love the park concept of making Bradford city centre more welcoming to families and our visitors. It's also Gumption's back garden too!

One plea - as a dad of 3, I just hope they include an enclosed playground for little kids too. We'll be shopping in Bradford much more (Westfield or no Westfield).

Click HERE to see the video and tell us what you think.

so what's next

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:05:00 GMT

Okay, we somehow gathered 130 people to the first www.bradfordnowhere.com event last month and expect 200 at the October event.

But what should we do to channel these fantastically positive-minded people into a trading unit, or should we just leave up to people to 'use their gumption' and get together?

Thoughts?

working from home?

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:49:00 GMT

We're developing a national virtual office service and want to get it right. Please take a look at our virtual office pages and tell us what else you'd like us to build in.
The new virtual office site will be launched in the autumn and include other credible business addresses across the UK, book a meeting room & hotel, helpful toolkits, etc.

What's the one thing you need?

We won't publish your details if you ask us not to.