Town team meet up to boost business in Hucknall

THE newly-formed Hucknall town team is planning to gauge public opinion with a special survey.
Hucknall Town team meeting with town centre manager Mark Armstrong.Hucknall Town team meeting with town centre manager Mark Armstrong.
Hucknall Town team meeting with town centre manager Mark Armstrong.

Members of the group will take up positions on High Street and at Hucknall’s tram stop in a bid to find out what encourages people to visit the town.

The team is thinking in terms of seeking quick answers to questions and noting these down on clipboards.

The new organisation has taken over the role of Hucknall Business Voice, including about £2,000 in its bank account.

Ideas are being sought to boost Hucknall and fit these in with a masterplan for the town centre, which is set to be transformed by the proposed inner relief road.At a meeting in Hucknall’s Under One Roof centre this week, the team decided to form sub-groups with specific aims.

One will be an action or pressure group while others will focus on publicity and promotion, events and funding. Ashfield District Council’s town centres and markets manager, Mark Armstrong, urged the team to try for ‘quick, medium and long-term wins’.

Possible activities include a craft fair run by a professional operator and a children’s competition in the style of an Easter egg hunt.

It is also proposed to ‘piggy-back’ existing events such as the Byron Festival, the Christmas Carnival and a major fun event on Titchfield Park.

For a future meeting, It is hoped to attract a speaker from the Sutton-in-Ashfield town team, which has been successfully operating for several years.

A key objective is to rally more businesses to get involved with the Hucknall team. Only three were represented out of 22 people who attended this week’s meeting.

Schools will be invited to play a part in the form of a competition to choose a name and come up with a logo for the town team.

One idea to stimulate trade in the town is by means of on-line shopping, which would hopefully encourage customers to visit the businesses they traded with.