St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback St. Patrick’s Day Business Feedback Report April 2019 0 St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback St. Patrick’s Day Business Feedback Report 2019 *c/o Belfast City Centre Management 2nd Floor Sinclair House 95 – 101 Royal Avenue Belfast BT1 1FE 1 St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback Contents 1. Executive Summary Page 3 Figure One: Map of parade route Page 4 2. Results Pages 4 – 9 Figure Two : Footfall on Sunday 17th March, 2019 Page 5 Figure Three : Sales from St Patricks Day 2019 Page 5 Figure Four: St. Patrick’s Day sales performance comparison 2017 – 2019 Page 6 Figure Five: Do you think the event was inclusive? Page 6 Figure Six: St Patrick’s Day inclusiveness comparison 2017 – 2019 Page 7 Figure Seven: Businesses that witnessed anti-social behaviour comparison Page 7 2017-2019 Figure Eight: Types of anti-social behaviour recorded by businesses Page 8 Figure Nine: Did Retailers believe the event was organised and marshalled Page 9 properly? 3. Year on Year Comparison Pages 10 -11 Figure Ten: Footfall comparative results 2014 - 2019 Page 10 Figure Eleven: Sales comparative results 2014 – 2019 Page 11 Figure Twelve: Survey results comparison 2014 - 2019 Page 11 4. Conclusion and Recommendations Pages 12-13 5. Appendices Pages 14-16 Appendix One: Business Feedback Form Page 14-16 2 St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback 1. Executive Summary 1.1 In March 2019, Belfast City Centre Management undertook a comparative survey of retailers based within the city centre to gauge their opinions on the St. Patrick’s Day civic celebration. We received 40 responses from businesses. This was to ascertain whether the event had an impact on a variety of issues ranging from footfall, sales, anti-social behaviour and inclusiveness. 1.2 The St. Patrick’s Day celebrations took place on Sunday 17th March 2019, in conjunction with the ‘Craic’ 10k run. After consultation with businesses following the 2014 event, Belfast City Council agreed to hold the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations on 17th March, rather than the closest Sunday to the 17th March as was the case in 2014. In 2014 the St Patrick’s day parade and events was held on Sunday 16th March instead of the Monday 17th March. This was done as it was believed that this would cause less disruption to businesses as the parade would have passed through the city centre before businesses opened for trade. Although feedback on the 16th March was generally positive businesses reported that on the Monday 17th March they also experienced disruptionin terms of the number of large groups of youths that came into the city centre to celebrate St Patrick’s day. With no events or activities happening on this day businesses found that the large crowds of young people moved through the city centre causing disturbances for businesses. BCCM received feedback from businesses on the decision to hold the event on the closest Sunday to the 17th March and 64% of businesses did not agree with this move commented that the Sunday parade and the associated disruption on the Monday 17th meant that businesses suffered two days of disruption. In 2017 St Patrick’s day fell on a Friday and in 2018 it fell on a Saturday. These are both busy shopping days with city centre opening hours 9am – 6pm. In 2019 St Patrick’s day fell on a Sunday which has a shorter window for opening hours of 1pm – 6pm. 1.3 The ‘Craic’ 10K run left City Hall at 9am, travelled up Castle Street via Queen Street into West Belfast before travelling into South Belfast through Botanic to Ormeau Park where the race finished. Road closures were in place from 8.30am on Sunday 17th March. The new route for 2019 meant that there were less road closures in the city centre as previous years. Ormeau Park was chosen as the finish line for the race as it offered a more sheltered location for runners. There were a few activities held in the park on the same date to add to the festivities. 1.4 The St. Patrick’s Day parade took a new route this year due to the cordon being in place at Castle Place. The parade left City Hall at 12:30pm and travelled via Chichester Street, Victoria Street, High Street, Bridge Street and Donegall Street, finishing at Writer’s Square. The concert took place at Custom House Square at 1:30pm and was well attended. Events were also held at St George’s market with music, dancing and food tastings from 10am – 4pm. 3 St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback Figure One : St Patricks Day Parade Route 2019 2. Results 2.1 The businesses were asked whether they opened on St. Patrick’s Day. 70% of businesses who responded were open on Sunday 17th March. This is a decrease on previous years when 100% who responded were open in 2018 and 84% in 2017. However, as the 17th March fell on a Sunday a smaller percentage of stores open on that day with many independent retailers choosing to close on a Sunday. 2.2 The level of footfall was measured by each individual business compared with the same date in 2018. Of the businesses that opened on Sunday 17th March; 45% stated there was a reduction in footfall compared with 75% the previous year and 52% in 2017. 24% stated there was an increase in footfall compared with 25 % the previous year and 19% in 2017. The average figure for footfall on Sunday 17th March from those that provided their figures was -22.1%. This is a higher figure than the 2018 figure of -18% and 2017 which was -19%. City centre footfall is also recorded by Belfast One’s footfall cameras. Footfall for Sunday 17th March 2019 compared to Saturday 17th March 2018 was down by - 52.7% for the city centre as a whole and -54.5% for Donegall Place and -53.7% for Royal Avenue. 4 St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback 2.3 Figure Two : Footfall on Sunday 17th March 2019 2.4 Along with instore footfall, sales performance was measured. Of the businesses that opened on Sunday 17th March 2019; 29% of businesses recorded an increase in their sales compared to 21% in 2018 and 10% in 2017. 39% recorded a decrease in sales compared to 79% in 2018 and 52% in 2017. The average figure from stores which provided their sales figures indicate that on average sales were down 33.9% this year, compared to -14% in 2018 and -22% in 2017. This could be as a result of the shorter trading hours from 1pm- 6pm on a Sunday, compared to the two previous years from 9am-6pm when the event was held on a Saturday in 2018 and a Friday in 2017. 2.5 Figure Three: Sales from St. Patrick’s Day 2019 5 St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback Sales performance 2017-2019 9.52% 2017 52.38% 38.10% 21.05% Increase 2018 78.95% Decrease 0% No change 28.57% 2019 39.29% 32.14% 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00% 100.00% Figure Four: St. Patrick’s Day sales performance comparison 2017 – 2019 2.6 Belfast City Council strive to make the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations a family event that is inclusive and comfortable for everyone to participate in and enjoy. 83% agreed that the event was inclusive which is an increase on the previous year when 55% of respondents felt it was inclusive and 22% felt it was inclusive in 2017. 3% of respondents felt that the event was not inclusive which is a significant decrease from the 30% of respondents in 2018 and 43% in 2017. 14% of respondents did not see the parade which represents a decrease from the previous year’s figure of 15%. The figure in 2017 was 35%. Figure Five: Do you think the event is inclusive? 6 St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback Inclusiveness Comparison 2017-2019 21.74% 2017 43.48% 34.78% 55.00% Yes 2018 30.00% No 15% Didn't see it 82.76% 2019 3.45% 13.79% 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00% 100.00% Figure Six: St Patrick’s Day inclusiveness comparison 2017 – 2019 2.7 Businesses were asked whether they witnessed anti-social behaviour during the event; 34% stated that they did. This is a 21% decrease from 55% in 2018 and 83% in 2017. Businesses that witnessed anti-social behaviour 2017-2019 2017 83.00% 2018 55% 2019 34.00% 0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00% Figure Seven: Businesses that witnessed anti-social behaviour comparison 2017-2019 7 St. Patrick’s Day 2019 – Business Feedback 2.8 Businesses were asked the types of anti-social behaviour they witnessed. Of the 34% of business who reported having witnessed anti-social behaviour; 90% of these stated that they witnessed on street drinking, 70% witnessed people causing annoyance, There was 0% reporting witnessing illegal street trading. Most of the comments from businesses reported witnessing under-age drinking by crowds of teenagers coupled with intimidating and unruly behaviour. Figure Eight: Types of anti-social behaviour recorded by businesses 2.9 There was a significant decrease from the 2018 report in relation to businesses requiring the assistance of, or contacting, the PSNI on the day.