Sylvia Oates is owner of Six Till Six Ltd and is a keynote speaker at the BID’s Renewal event this month …
A little about my business: We are specialists in leisure, hospitality, and night-time economy management. We help create safer, more vibrant, and attractive places to enjoy food, drink, and leisure activities. We also support towns and cities to develop projects and policies to support the licensed trade and we foster partnerships between licensed premises, local authorities, police, and other partners.
My passion for the sector: I have worked in the leisure and hospitality sector for 24 years and have a genuine passion for the sector. From 2009 to 2014 I ran the Nottingham BID, the members of which all held a licence for alcohol or late-night food.
The BID launched the Nottingham Food & Drink Festival, led the city to achieve Purple Flag status, and introduced taxi marshals and the country’s largest Best Bar None scheme. It supported numerous other initiatives such as the largest Street Pastor team outside London and one of the world’s first Safe Spaces.
Partnership working: I believe passionately in the power of working in partnership with businesses, local authorities, police forces, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), voluntary organisations, health bodies and other partners. In Nottingham I was part of the Night Time Economy Partnership group, which developed one of the world’s first night time economy strategies for the city. We hosted numerous visits from the Home Office, who still holds the city up as an example of best practice in partnership working to this day.
Since setting up my own leisure and hospitality consultancy I have worked with town and cities across the UK to write night time economy strategies, achieve Purple Flag status, review policies, set up Best Bar None schemes and deliver other projects that support a diverse, vibrant and safe leisure economy.
And finally: Partnership working between businesses, statutory bodies and other parties will be key to successfully recovering from the impact of Covid 19.
Renewal Event
Join Sylvia and town centre businesses at the BID’s Renewal Event on Tuesday, September 22. This event will focus on the changes, challenges and opportunities for leisure and hospitality businesses.
Sylvia will be joined by local businessman Paul McManus, owner of McManus Pub Co Ltd, which owns an estate of traditional pubs, country inns, sports bars, and gastro pub restaurants in Northamptonshire.
Register your interest for this event HERE.
