Shoppers urged to 'get behind Mansfield' as it begins post-pandemic recovery

Your Chad revealed last week how a Mansfield Council report said town centre incomes and footfalls are still below pre-pandemic levels – although, Andy Abrahams, Mansfield mayor, said, the town has been ‘hit less hard’ than others.He said: “Covid obviously had an effect deterring people from Mansfield town centre, as it has everywhere.

“Some statistics suggest the pandemic hit Mansfield less hard than other places in the UK.

“We are not complacent, we know we’re going to have to work hard to encourage people back into the town centre, away from online shopping, as things start to normalise.

“So we’ve organised lots of special extras, including street entertainers to make shopping trips more of an ‘event’, something the whole family can enjoy in Mansfield.

The redevelopment of the former bus station site in Stockwell Gate North,with a new hotel and restaurants is also expected to enhance the town.

Masterplan

Mr Abrahams said: “In the longer term, the council is progressing its town centre masterplan, bidding for government grants to aid our regeneration and as part of the council’s growth, aspiration and place priorities.

“Central is Mansfield Connect, the plan to relocate the council headquarters and other public sector organisations to the former Beales building.

“This will increase town centre footfall, in turn encouraging new retailers and support for existing shops.

“We’re also making Mansfield town centre cleaner and greener, with a new pocket park behind the Old Town Hall.

“There are also plans with Severn Trent Water to have new rain capture gardens, enhancing the town as well as being a sustainable flood prevention measure.

“The council has worked hard at supporting businesses to encourage new outlets, with grants available to independent traders taking a vacant shop space – an extra £30,000 has been added to the council’s economic stimulus fund to support these efforts.

“We may have lost some of the big high street names, like many other places across the UK, but we have also drawn in retailers which you wouldn’t find anywhere else, such as the Toffee Hut, on Regent Street and Robins Return, in the Old Town Hall.

“These outlets make our town centre special – they are our ‘unique selling point’. What we need now is for local people to get behind their town.”

Among business support services, the council is also funding six peer-to-peer sessions, in partnership with the Mansfield and Ashfield 2020 business development group, for retailers plus an additional one-to-one consultancy to help identify strategies to improve their business.

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