Cardiff Business Improvement District (BID) has this week launched their team of Street Ambassadors, recruited to give local businesses a voice and make sure visitors to the city have the best possible experience during their stay.
The Ambassadors will take to the streets seven days a week and will be the BID’s eyes and ears, recording issues affecting organisations within the BID area making sure that Wales’ capital operates effectively for the businesses and their customers. The uniformed team will also be on hand to provide a warm welcome and helpful information for people visiting the capital.
Established in July 2016, Cardiff BID covers 130 streets across the capital city stretching from Principality Stadium to Newport Road and Butetown to Cathays. One of the largest BID areas in the UK comprising over 900 levy payers, the Ambassador scheme is just one of the many programmes of work the BID has planned for their five-year strategy to make the city more welcoming, vibrant and influential.
In addition to the Ambassadors hitting the streets, there is a full programme of work in the pipeline to prepare the city for its prestigious Champions League final at the start of June. The planned work includes, but is not limited to, reinstating floral decorations, a deep cleansing programme across the city centre and placing additional taxi marshals in key areas to help people find taxis and have a safe journey home.
Executive Director of Cardiff BID, Adrian Field, said: “We are delighted to be able to introduce our new team of Street Ambassadors to Cardiff, it is just one of a number of significant projects we have in place to make a real difference to the city centre. With their existing passion and knowledge of the city and some comprehensive training, they now know Cardiff inside and out. We are confident that by working with businesses on a daily basis, their enthusiasm and love of Cardiff will help us to learn more about our businesses and visitors so we can continue to create and develop initiatives that work for everyone coming into to the capital.
“The approaching Champions League final will mean that the eyes of the world will be on Cardiff and provides us with an unrivalled platform to show off our fantastic city and encourage people to visit time and time again. That’s why we have also committed resource to deep cleaning, additional taxi marshals and even nice touches like the floral decorations.”
City Centre Ambassador, Louise O’Hanlon, 48, said: “I’ve lived in Cardiff for 40 years so I’m really excited to have been chosen as a Street Ambassador. I think improving areas of the city and increasing footfall is really important; especially to the quirky arcades and small businesses, people don’t visit them enough! I’m really looking forward to getting out there and meeting people. I’d love people to stop me and say hi.”