Bury BID Activities
Bury BID (Business Improvement District) is a business-led and business-funded body committed to enhancing and promoting Bury Town Centre as well as making it a great place to live, learn, visit, shop and work.
The BID has 4 key objectives that it focuses on to be able to provide its services to the town, these include: Marketing and Events, Backing Business, Access and Facilities and Safe and Clean.
Since its introduction in 2022 the BID has hosted various Town Centre wide events, in an effort to meet the goals that it aims to achieve and bring prosperity to the town centre. These events have been largely successful in helping the BID to work towards its objectives, to develop the Town Centre into a thriving, prosperous environment.
On Sunday the 15th September 2024, the Bury BID 10K will be taking place in collaboration with Bury Council and promises to be a fun day for all involved, no matter whether you are an experienced runner or just starting out your journey. The run starts and ends at The Rock and will take you through the town centre and out into the surrounding area around Bury.
On the 30th of June 2024, Comic Con returned to the town centre bigger and better, this time featuring a Jurassic area in Kay Gardens as well as guests such as Sylvester McCoy, Clive Mantle and Nigel Parkinson. The event saw iconic movies vehicles, superhero statues, a trader’s area, a comic book creation zone, and a Doctor Who zone situated at various venues around the town centre. The cosplay competition also made a return with nearly 200 people attending, as well as a new event, Comic Con Pen Paper and Pose and Movie Make Up and Prop demos from the University of Bolton. Over 24,000 visitors came to Bury town centre to enjoy the trail.
In April 2024, Bury BID worked in collaboration with Bury Council, and Greater Manchester Police to host a month-long installation of the iconic Knife Angel sculpture to the Town Centre. Over the course of the month many events took place around the Knife Angel, including a photography competition, a programme community and schools engagement events and workshops highlighting the dangers of knife crime, sport, art and drama workshops exploring the theme of knife crime prevention, school visits and culminated in a community vigil.
Also in November, Bury BID in partnership with The Met hosted a seasonal community gathering that invited children and families to create their own lanterns to accompany the large-scale lantern parade puppets. Over 100 local people took part in the parade the processed from The Met, up the The Rock to St John’s Square where they were entertained with music and street performers and returned via the Mill Gate to Kay Gardens. The parade culminated with live music, a fire garden, and sculptural installations making for a great evening for all those in attendance.
In November 2023, the BID hosted a Networking event for business owners in the town centre featuring guest speakers Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Councillor Eamonn O’Brien who spoke to the businesses attending the event. Over 70 businesses attended to hear about the strategic plan for Bury and Greater Manchester and take part in a Q & A.
Bury BID introduced Bury Comic Con, a town centre wide celebration of all things comic and pop culture related which has since become a recurring event enjoyed by thousands of people. In its first year the town welcomed many special guests, including Colin Baker, Mickey Lewis, Colin Mathieson, Willie Copen, and George Copen, as well as hosting a cosplay competition and much more which proved to be an enjoyable day for families and Pop Culture enthusiasts.
In April 2023, the Bury BID hosted its first event in the town centre, this being the Easter Silent Disco in the Millgate shopping centre. This event proved to be a fun time for both kids and their parents, whilst introducing the town centre to the BID and its work in the Town Centre.
