Rotherham Town Centre News

Rotherham's Street Market is Britain's No 1.

31/01/2012

Following the positive comments made by Mary ‘Queen of Shops’ Portas Rotherham’s Street Market has now been recognised as the ‘Best Street / Outdoor Market’ at a national awards ceremony and with 44 stalls offering over 34 product lines and a queue of traders wanting to join, it’s easy to see why Rotherham’s Tuesday Street Market came out on top.
The award was presented to Robin Lambert, Markets General Manager and Cllr Gerald Smith Cabinet Member for Town Centres, Economic Growth and Prosperity. Cllr Smith commented, “We knew following the Mary Portas visit that we had got things right in Rotherham but to be voted the best in the whole country is a significant honour and one that we are rightly proud of. A great deal is being done to ensure that Rotherham is an attractive place for all shoppers and this significant award should go even further to attracting people to this wonderful town.”The winners of this year’s prestigious KPR Midlink ‘Market of the Year’ competition, organised by the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA), were announced at the ‘Changing High Street’ day event in Birmingham on 26th January. The first award of the day saw Rotherham as outright winners of the Best Street / Outdoor Market Award. Robin Lambert, Markets General Manager, is delighted that the market continues to be so popular, “The market attracts traders from across the region and beyond and offers a range of quality goods at great prices the market gives shoppers a great reason to Shop Local and the comparably high number of visitors in the town centre on street market day gives the town a real buzz. I’d encourage anyone who’s not visited before to give our award winning market and sample the great value fresh food, clothing & accessories, electricals, textiles and home-ware.’’

MW Entertainment - Official Opening Friday 3rd February

31/01/2012

MW Entertainment at 23 Wellgate are having their official open day on Friday 3rd February, visitors to the Town Centre are welcome to join business owners Mick and Sean from 11am onwards, Mayor Shaun Wright will be cutting ribbon at 11am
MW Entertainment are the official stockist of Help for Heroes merchandise and Memorabilia specialists and are now managing corporate events and exhibitions for Adrian Lewis World Darts Champion. They organise sporting and corporate events, day trips, guest speakers and celebrity appearances, why not pop in for drinks and nibbles on their official open day and take a look at what they have to offer.

Follow the Yella Brick Road.... to Success

12/10/2011

Rotherham Town Centre continues to offer shoppers something different and provide niche products and services with the expansion of a successful independent business.

Yella Brick Road, located in the re-vamped Imperial Buildings, have expanded their already successful shop into the previously vacant unit next door, helping to create an even more unique shopping experience.

Opened in 2009 and specialising in “wickedly stylish and vintage fashion”, as well as “kitsch jewellery”, Yella Brick Road has been a success story for owner Dannii Roden who will now use the extra space to stock menswear and expand her range of quirky giftware.

Bitter Sweet Boutique now open !

12/10/2011

Owner Laura Bullock is excited about her new venture and is confident that she has something Rotherham Shoppers will want to buy.

She said: “The furniture and accessories I’m stocking are individual pieces, shoppers can furnish their homes and be confident that they will have something different to their friends and neighbours.

“It’s great to be located nearby the independent businesses in Imperial Buildings as, collectively, we are appealing to a new type of shopper who want something different to what’s available in clone shopping malls and retail parks.’’

Both Yella Brick Road & Bitter Sweet Boutique have benefited from support from Rotherham Council as part of its Business Vitality Grants Scheme and Bernadette Rushton, Retail Investment Manager is delighted to see the scheme making a difference.

Bernadette commented: “Rotherham town centre continues to grow and the shopping offer gets stronger with each month.

“The grants scheme is all about delivering the products and services that our shoppers told us were missing and Bitter Sweet Boutique is a great example of a local entrepreneur identifying a gap in the market and giving customers even more reason to visit the town.

“The fact that after less than 2 years of trading, Yella Brick Road is expanding is testament to the quality and individuality of the products which have proved a hit with Rotherham’s shoppers.’’

Also, latest figures show that Rotherham town centre is bucking the national trend in terms of shop vacancies too. The vacancy rate on Primary Shopping Streets now stands at 14.4%, providing evidence that retailers are seeing Rotherham as a great place to set up shop.

Rotherham shoppers bucks national retail trend

12/10/2011

While major cities have seen a drop in footfall rates, many smaller regional towns such as Rotherham have seen the number of people in their town centres rise. Rotherham's rate for September 2011 has risen by a dramatic 32.3% compared to the same month last year.

A range of initiatives are helping drive the increase in shoppers and help reduce vacancy rates for town centre shops. New stores have been opening regularly including the recent launch of the Bitter Sweet Boutique selling a special range of gifts, jewellery, furniture and items for the home.

Those initiatives include the hugely popular Shop Local loyalty card, which currently has over 11,000 subscribers, making it one of the most popular of its kind in the country, helping to spearhead a retail renaissance in Rotherham town centre. With over 100 town centre shops signed up to provide discounts and offers to cardholders, since its inception last year, the Shop Local Scheme is a significant success.

This summer also saw a range of town centre events and the opening of the Minster Gardens public open space in the heart of the town centre.

Bernadette Rushton, Town Centre Manager of Rotherham added: "In September, Rotherham experienced a huge increase in the number of shoppers visiting the town centre which we can attribute to initiatives like our Shop Local scheme. The scheme has actively addressed gaps in the town's retail offering and we now have an extensive range of independent and specialist stores such as a chocolatier and a home interiors shop."

Rotherham Reveals Town Gallery - opened 30th September

04/10/2011

The artwork is displayed on shops and well known buildings such as Rotherham Market, the Eastwood Building, Pop nightclub, along with several pieces on College Lane, alongside the B&M store and the walkway from Corporation Street through to the town centre Tesco.

The project is the brainchild of a group of local entrepreneurs working alongside the Rotherham LSP (Local Strategic Partnership) Board who came up with the idea as a way to regenerate the town centre, attract more visitors and to help create more trade for local businesses.

Nick Cragg, local entrepreneur and member of the Rotherham LSP Board, who is spearheading the project, said: "You only need to look at places like Bilbao in Spain or Liverpool, where art and culture has helped to regenerate whole cities and really put these places on the map with visitors and shoppers. The beauty of this exhibition is that it's not elitist art - it's art from all over Rotherham as well as from across the world and it's here for the foreseeable future to be enjoyed by everyone."

A number of parties are involved with Gallery Town, including Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Welcome to Yorkshire, with the aim that the project will evolve and eventually attract a national, as well as a strong following locally.

A large amount of community art will be on display and
Schools exhibiting include St Bernard's Catholic High School, Thornhill Primary, Kiveton Park Infant School, Monkwood Primary, Abbey Special School and Swinton Queen Primary School, as well as a number of pieces supplied by students at Rotherham College.

Mrs Sharon Joyce, headteacher from Swinton Primary School said: "It is fantastic that artwork from our students is being displayed in the town centre for people to see. It has given the pupils involved a real boost and we hope it will inspire even more young people that they too could be seeing their work on show!"

Local artists who have contributed their work include Chris Bird, Zahir Rafiq, Leslie R Black, Sara Platt, Nigel Senior, Bernadine Stocks and Daniel Barnett.

Nigel Senior, who lives at North Anston, is looking forward to seeing his painting 'Fugue' displayed on 20/20 Westgate.

Sara Platt's paintings Moods 1, 2 and 3 are displayed on the Chantry Buildings leading to the Riverside Precinct.

Sara says: "It is fantastic to see an innovative exhibition like this in Rotherham which makes contemporary artworks available for everyone to enjoy and I am delighted that my work is part of it."

Stephen Smith grew up in Swinton and currently lives in Bramley. His commissioned painting of Roche Abbey is one of only a few landscape scenes he has painted.

These local works will be featured alongside pieces by Monet, Da Vinci, Cezanne, Henry Moore, Van Gogh and Rousseau, to name but a few. The art has been carefully selected on two main themes - human form and landscapes through the ages, with unique zones running through the town centre. .

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire, said: "This is just the start of what will be a hugely exciting project for Rotherham, benefiting the local community and giving art enthusiasts from across the county, and the whole of the UK, another reason to visit the town and explore the local area."

For more information, visit the website www.gallerytown.org.uk.