City businesses vote to scrap improvement group by big majority

BANGOR B.I.D. HAILS ‘DECADE OF SHARED PURPOSE AND PROGRESS’ BUT WILL BE WOUND UP AS OTHERS SAY ‘COMMON SENSE PREVAILED’

- By OWEN HUGHES Chief Reporter

Bangor's Business Improvement District group will be wound up after a proposal to extend it to 2031 was heavily defeated

THE Business Improvement District (BID) group in Bangor will be wound up.

Bangor First was set up in 2015 after businesses backed the regeneration project that saw them pay a levy to help attract more shoppers to Wales’ longest high street and the wider city centre.

A new vote was then held in 2020, when it was once again supported with a mandate for another five years.

But in the latest ballot, firms have rejected continuing the group.

It comes after a decade of setbacks for the city centre as key retailers left and the number of empty units increased.

The vote saw a comprehensive defeat ~ with just 11 businesses from the 43 who voted wanting the BID to carry on for another five years.

One entrepreneur said “crack open the bubbly” after hearing the vote decision.