Formed in 1992 as a not for profit organisation the Worthing Town Centre Initiative aim to aid the towns growth by both promoting it to the local community and by working on schemes to help support local businesses.

As a Community Interest Company they work on a number of areas including:

• Running a Town Centre newsletter
• Providing signage and seafront information boards
• Organising events, i.e. The Worthing Birdman and Ice Rink
• Increasing floral displays
• Managing and supporting Shopwatch
• Representing the business community
• Managing advertising sites within the Town Centre

Reporting and reviewing street activity and footfall figuresIf you are a local business the Town Centre Initiative not only works on promotion but can also help to maintain a safer and more welcoming town. With two town centre rangers patrolling the streets, the Town Centre Initiative are able to deal with enquiries from both the public and businesses first hand, as well as discovering any issues which may need to be worked on.

The aim of the Town Centre Initiative is to also reduce the crime within the area which they do through their Shopwatch Scheme. If your business is a BID levy payer this scheme is available to you completely free of charge! The idea behind this is to help build a local business community who look out for one another, in turn forming a safer environment for everyone.

When an incident occurs members are able to share details both through radios and on the Shopwatch website where all bans and people with anti social behaviour orders can be found. The more businesses work together, the safer Worthing Town Centre will be for locals.

Heroes Welcome Scheme

The Heroes Welcome Scheme has newly been launched within town thanks to the Worthing Town Centre Initiative. This nationwide campaign allows for businesses to show their support for the British Armed Forces Personnel and their families. If you are a local business and would like to get involved, whether you give a discount, special offer or even just a warm welcome please get in contact with the Worthing Town Centre Initiative to find out more.

Increasing Visitors to the Town Centre

In order to boost footfall within Worthing, the Initiative both organise and run a number of events. This includes their weekly general market held every Wednesday at the Montague Street Precinct which attracts over 2,000 shoppers, all the way to their bigger annual events which include the Birdman. Without the Town Centre Initiative and BID scheme the Worthing Birdman, a main event in local peoples calendar would no longer be held in Worthing, but would have moved to Brighton. This would have amounted to losing between 15,000 and 20,000 visitors to the town across the August weekend. Worthing Ice Rink will also return this Christmas and will bring with it between 17,000 and 25,000 skaters.

Both of these large events help make Worthing a vibrant town to visit with plenty of activities going on. They also come hand in hand with promotion and marketing of the event which in turn increase visitors and footfall in the town centre.

Worthing Town Centre Initiative are at the forefront of making Worthing both a cleaner, safer and more vibrant town. Whether you are a local business or just live within the area we all want to see the town centre thrive and grow so please visit their website to find out how you can show your support and get involved.