Over the past month we have been working on our first B2B event and on the upcoming Service Excellence Awards. Many of you have taken the time to vote in the awards, whether online via the Watford Observer or by completing the voting postcards that each of finalists had in their business premises. The BID team and our local businesses really appreciate your support. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on February 28.

The awards are a wonderful way to build stronger relationships among the local business community. When we talked to businesses ahead of preparing our BID five-year business plan in 2015, many told us that retaining good staff was a recurring issue, with London on our doorsteps and the town’s excellent connectivity working against it. We hope that the awards will help grow a brand loyalty to our town centre and staff retention in the town centre will improve, and the town will be associated with ‘excellent customer service’.

This is particularly important as the town centre undergoes a period of massive change. A reduction in footfall is inevitable with the middle section of the High Street temporarily turned into a building site, but it is important that Watford continues to be seen as a vibrant centre which residents and visitors continue to enjoy using.

We use our ‘Watford For You’ brand - to be the one stop shop for all that is going on in the town and to showcase Watford in a positive and enthusiastic light. We don’t pretend Watford doesn’t have its issues – issues that are replicated in town centres up and down the country – rather we focus on the many good things Watford offers, working with local stakeholders to influence change, where it’s needed.

On 7 February 7, as I mentioned, the BID will be hosting its first B2B event in the town. As part of the day’s activities we will running a series of rolling workshops; covering everything from marketing to protecting yourself against online fraud and food hygiene. We would encourage all local businesses and as many of their staff to attend as possible.

As we head towards celebrating our first year in businesses we hope that local businesses and those who use our town centre will begin to see some of the positive things that can have been achieved by working together.