• PROJECTS

BID Success Stories

The BID actively supports initiatives that deliver maximum value to our levy payers and the wider community. Through partnerships with business, community and local government forums, we strategically invest in projects that enhance Penzance. We also play a key role in attracting funding, including the £21.5m Penzance Town Deal.

Here’s a snapshot of what the BID has achieved for Penzance since its inception in 2015. Our projects are divided into four categories: Events and Marketing, Physical Improvements, Safety and Security, and Business Support.

EVENTS AND MARKETING

Helping local events happen, and spreading a Penzance-positive message nationally and internationally.

Local events and celebrations

You may have noticed the blossoming of many community events and festivals in recent years. The BID has helped support and facilitate Golowan, Montol, Humphry Davy Lantern Parade, Christmas Lights Switch On, street markets, and the hugely successful Penzance Food Festival. Many of these events simply wouldn’t happen without support from the BID.

Website promotions

Our Love Penzance website promotes our town and dominates search for Penzance and Cornwall-based keywords. If you perform a Penzance-based Google search for accommodation, eating, drinking, events and things to do, you’ll find Penzance-positive write-ups at the top of results. Furthermore, each levy-paying business can promote its offer on a dedicated Love Penzance page. The website enjoys 16.5k visits per month from Google and is complemented by lively social channels promoting PZ and local businesses.

PR

PR activity in publications such as The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Coast Magazine, Country and Town House Guide to Cornwall, The Daily Telegraph, The Cornishman and Western Morning News has reached 688.8m readers, encouraging more people to visit our beautiful town.

PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS

Creating a colourful and vibrant retail environment to attract locals and visitors to our town.

Beautifying our town

We have worked with the Penzance Community Flora Group to bring more planters and hanging baskets into the town and also supported their work planting and maintaining vibrant flower beds. This work is complemented by more attractive seating and miles of colourful bunting. From the stunning floral displays by the Wharfside to the flags fluttering above our streets, Penzance is becoming increasingly vibrant.

Tackling empty shops

The scourge of empty units is a UK-wide problem, but we’re actively working to bring new businesses into vacant outlets. The BID works with landlords to find suitable tenants and is a key holder for many empty properties, showing prospective tenants around. When we do fill spaces, we actively promote new businesses.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

Making Penzance safer for retailers and visitors.

DISC app

The DISC app system, paid for by the BID, allows levy payers to rapidly log and report a crime so the police can respond accordingly. As well as reassuring business owners, this app has also helped the police build a picture of activity within Penzance and plan their own strategies for tackling crime.

Street marshalls

Data from the DISC app helped build a case for our winning £25,000 funding for street marshalls, who you may have spotted around the town. These dedicated Penzance marshalls can’t be redeployed elsewhere, bringing a reliable and reassuring security presence.

CCTV

In partnership with Penzance Town Council, we’ve established a focused, 24-hour CCTV system dedicated specifically to our local area, replacing the previous Cornwall-wide scheme. As a major financial backer, the BID funded essential infrastructure including new hardware and a control room.

BUSINESS SUPPORT

Helping pave the way for once-in-a-generation inward investment and new business-related technologies.

Transformative funding

This is perhaps the biggest story of the BID’s work and possibly the least known. Since its inception, the BID has been closely involved with other local stakeholders in securing and influencing millions of pounds of capital investment into our town. Essentially, it has played a significant role in shaping the regeneration of Penzance.

Over the second term, the BID secured over £500,000 in additional income to supplement the BID levy. This has helped us to fund key projects and initiatives.

The BID was also integral in securing the £21.5m of Penzance Town Fund capital investment. The seven projects in the Town Fund include the renovation of the Market House, which will feature a food hall and a restaurant with views over the town. It also includes the £2.45m in Enterprise Grants that are helping local businesses grow. We are at the table influencing how the £21.5m Town Deal funds are spent, ensuring that your interests are protected. Find out more about our role in generating funding opportunities.

Business intelligence

We are determined to do everything possible to give Penzance businesses an edge. That includes installing nine Geosense footfall readers in the town that capture anonymised data from mobile phones. This information helps us to understand visitor behaviour and will inform us where to place signage to direct people into the retail centres. It will also provide businesses with invaluable information to inform their own strategies. For instance, the data tells us that in the summer, Sunday is as busy in the town as Wednesday right until the end of September. Could this information inform your opening hours?

Town-wide free Wi-Fi

From 2025, Penzance will offer free WiFi across the town via a town app. This app will also give BID levy payers the opportunity to talk to visitors about sales, offers, discounts etc. This exciting development will also provide further anonymised information to inform our understanding of visitor behaviour.

If you’d like to find out more about what the BID has done so far and our goals for the third term, you can download our Third Term Business Plan 2025-2030 from this page.