Winchester BID - News

Jamie Oliver to open new Winchester restaurant

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:37:47 +0000

CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver is opening a new restaurant in Hampshire.

The Jamie Oliver Group has taken a 25-year lease on a building that was a former Pizza Hut, and will open a Union Jacks restaurant later this year.

The branch in Winchester is thought to be the first Union Jacks outside London, where several branches have opened in the past six months.

The restaurant offers something new – a British pizza. The pizzas have more traditional UK toppings such as Cheddar, red onion and pork, Stilton, crackling and watercress.

A spokesman for Green and Partners, the letting agents, said Union Jacks was due to move in to start fitting out in the next two to three weeks.

The restaurant is expected to create about 35 jobs and is due to open in mid-summer, said a spokeswoman for Mr Oliver.

She added: “Winchester is a beautiful city and we feel we’ve found a fantastic site for the restaurant. We have had some great feedback from the first Union Jacks in London and so hopefully we can bring something really special to…

New Winchester tour programme launched for 2012

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:34:58 +0000

A NEW programme of Winchester tours has been launched for 2012.

Winchester Area Tourist Guides Association (WATGA) is returning with a host of old favourites including the ‘spooky’ tours and the Chesil Tunnel tours. Two ‘Sporting Winchester’ tours will look at leisure activities in the city from medieval times to the present day while the Tuesday evening series of walks returns in Easter until September.

There will also be two free taster tours – a lamplight tour on March 2 and a ‘Winchester Through the Ages’ tour on March 10.

During the Olympics, there will be three daily one-hour tours showing off what the city has to offer to encourage visitors to stick around.

It is the third year WATGA have been working in partnership with Winchester Business Improvement District which has seen numbers on tours double since 2009. Chris Turner, Executive Director of Winchester BID, said: “Supporting organisations such as the Winchester Area Tourist Guides Association is vital to maintain the great tourism and growth Winchester has developed over the years.”

Winchester BID is also sponsoring production of the annual ‘Discover Winchester’s Secrets’ leaflet that provides details…

Winchester Business Excellence Awards 2012 Website

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:33:28 +0000

BUSINESS leaders gathered in Winchester last week to celebrate the launch of the 10th Winchester Business Excellence Awards.

The awards seek to promote all that’s best about local business, foster competitiveness, and reward excellence across the Winchester district.

The annual competition is organised by the Hampshire Chronicle, Winchester Business Improvement District (BID), and Hampshire Chamber of Commerce.

Principle sponsor is Winchester-based law firm, Dutton Gregory, and it is also backed by NatWest. Dutton Gregory is also sponsoring the top prize, the ‘Dutton Gregory Solicitors Business of the Year Award’.

Previous winners of the Business of the Year award include Guy Kremer Salon, which picked up the top prize at last year’s ceremony.

Categories range across different sectors of the business world, and this year two new prizes are on offer: ‘Small Business of the Year’, and ‘Employee of the Year’.

Representatives of Dutton Gregory and Winchester BID said this year’s awards would be a great opportunity for businesses to battle back from the current uncertain economic climate.

Mark Broad, partner at Dutton Gregory, said: “This is an opportunity for…

Winchester preparing for 2012 Olympics

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:05:31 +0000

Winchester businesses are gearing up for the 2012 Olympics with a full programme of events set to take the city by storm.

With thousands of tourists coming to these shores and a global audience of four billion, Winchester City Council and Winchester Business Improvement District are teaming up to promote tourism in the city.

Among the events will be an ‘Olympic Trail’ around city centre shops, a similar activity to the annual Easter egg hunt. Families will be given passport-style stamp cards and encouraged to visit 20 shops which have all adopted a local athlete, collecting rubber stamps at each they visit. While families are in the shops they will learn all about the particular athletes, which include Olympic heroes like Ben Ainslie, and when all 20 stamps are collected participants will receive gold medals.

But the trail plan has divided some members of the business community.

Tony Whyman, of Childhood’s Dream toyshop and chairman of the BID committee, said that the Olympics could distract customers away from businesses rather than promote them. “I want to make sure there is no complacency and this does not become a negative,” he…

Giant screen to show Olympics at Winchester Cathedral

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:03:05 +0000

WINTONIANS will be able to soak up the sun in the cathedral grounds while watching the Olympic Games. A giant television screen will be placed outside the historic landmark during the sporting showpiece.

It is part of the city’s Best of British Festival which aims to celebrate the Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Organisers including civic, business and cultural chiefs held a meeting in Winchester last Wednesday (January 4).

It was chaired by Chris Turner, executive director of Winchester Business Improvement District (BID).

He said: “It was a very good meeting and it seems we’re going to have a very full programme from May 25 to July 26. “I think there’s huge enthusiasm behind this and there’s so much going on already and this will be a good way to tie it all together.”

He added that the Hat Fair and Winchester Festival, which take place in July, were both involved. Several other events are taking place just before or soon after the two-month period of celebrations.

It includes the BID-backed Winchester Chamber Music Festival in April, along with Winchester Film Festival. Plans are also being drawn up…