Chester BID Grants Drive Growth and Increase Accessibility for City Centre Businesses

Chester businesses are taking advantage of grant funding available through Chester BID, as part of its ongoing Supporting initiative for Chester BID members.

The BIDs Supporting initiative provides businesses with the help they need to run as effectively as possible and includes everything from direct business guidance to sector representation. In addition to this one-to-one support, Chester BID offers various Business Grants to help businesses seize opportunities and bring ideas to life.

Currently there are two types of grants available, the Business Growth Grant (BGG) and the Accessible Growth Grant (AGG), both funded through additional income generated by the BID and separate to the BID Levy. Chester BID has so far issued dozens of grants to its members, helping them to grow, improve their accessibility, and enhance the visitor experience within the city.

It’s incredibly important to us that any additional income generated by the BID is reinvested directly back into our business community.

Our grant schemes ensure those funds go back into the pot to support, strengthen, and enhance our members.

The Business Growth Grant, allows eligible Chester BID members to apply for up to £500 to support projects that help their business grow, drive footfall into the city, increase consumer dwell time and/or encourage customer spending. Previous recipients have used the funding for a range of initiatives, including a fit-out for Brow Spa at H Beauty, a new event, Craft Week by Karigarwala, and general improvements at Bridge Street Café & Bistro.

The grant motivated us to make important improvements, and the BID’s support made the whole process much easier.

The Accessible Growth Grant enables businesses to invest in improvements that make their premises more inclusive for people with disabilities. Grants of up to £500 are available for equipment, training, or enhancements. Examples of funded projects include upgrading hearing loop technology at Storyhouse, and new accessibility equipment such as shower chairs and step-ups at Cheshire Medical Group.

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This grant helped us expand our assisted listening offer with a new state-of-the-art system, future-proofing Storehouse’s offer for years to come. Thank you!

It is important for us that access to our health, spa, and wellbeing services is accessible for all.

The grant provided by BID has helped us to go towards our goals. This money helps us to support service users with visible and invisible disabilities.

It’s fantastic to see how our members are using these grants to make a real difference!

Whether that’s improving their offer, attracting new customers, or becoming more accessible. The creativity and commitment shown by businesses across Chester is inspiring, and these grants are here to help bring those ideas to life.

Chester BID encourages all its members to explore the grant opportunities and apply for funding to support their next business initiative.