Purple Flag seeks to raise the standard and appeal of towns and city centres between the hours of 5pm and 5am. The award recognises those towns and city centres that offer an entertaining, diverse, safe and enjoyable night out for local residents and visitors.
Salisbury has been awarded the Purple Flag accreditation since 2012.
The appplication has been funded by Salisbury BID and has been supported by Salisbury City Council, Wiltshire Council, Wiltshire Police and businesses.
To support the application, Salisbury BID and Salisbury City Council commissioned a perception survey to be carried out that shows Salisbury has a safe and vibrant night-time economy.
The high number of responses (744) indicates that people are passionate about Salisbury and engaged in their city. 91% of those surveyed were positive when referring to Salisbury city centre after 5pm. 78% of people said they felt very safe or fairly safe when arriving in the city centre and over 400 people surveyed have expressed an interest in working together with evening economy stakeholders to help further develop the night-time offer.
Robin McGowan, Chief Executive of Salisbury BID, said: “Not only is the Purple Flag accreditation important for the city, but the actual application process is a hugely valuable piece of work as it takes us through a comprehensive review of our standards and processes which are designed to help transform our evening and night-time economy.
“The BID supports Salisbury’s evening and night-time economy with a number of initiatives including funding for the Purple Flag accreditation, CCTV funding and support for Pubwatch.”
Cllr Pauline Church, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for South Wiltshire Recovery, said: “It’s great to see so many organisations committed to working together to provide a greater and more welcoming night-time offer and to help make people feel safe in the city. Our submission demonstrates that we are meeting and, in some cases, surpassing the Purple Flag standards of excellence in managing the evening and night-time economy, which is a testament to everyone involved.”
Inspector Pete Sparrow, from Wiltshire South Community Policing Team, said: “Salisbury’s submission for renewal of the Purple Flag status gives confidence to our residents and visitors that Salisbury is a safe city in which to live, work and socialise.
“We work hard with our partner agencies, including Wiltshire Council and Salisbury City Council, to ensure people are able to safely enjoy the various attractions that our night-time economy has to offer.
“As we build up to the Christmas season, I have confidence that our partners in the night-time economy continue to work together to provide safe nights out over the festive period.”
Amanda Newbery, Chair of the Purple Flag Steering Group, added: “The re-accreditation will recognise the crucial work being carried out by the night-time stakeholders which has been instrumental in supporting various strategies and activities during Salisbury’s period of recovery, helping to sustain vibrancy and safety in our night-time economy.”
To mark the submission a special event, hosted by The Chapel Nightclub, focuses on celebrating Salisbury’s business after 5pm and will also mark the launch of the Best Bar None scheme in Salisbury and Amesbury by Robert Humphreys MBE, Chairman of the national Best Bar None scheme.
A range of Purple Flag events are also taking place between 20 and 26 October 2019 including games and quiz nights, films, salsa dancing, live music, Salisbury Carnival and much more.
In partnership with VisitWiltshire, Salisbury BID co-fund the Visit Salisbury website to promote the city to visitors. The Visit Salisbury website has a full events calendar for Salisbury.
