Prestfest Wins National Recognition

Prestfest, a campaign introduced by Preston’s Business Improvement District (BID) in association with the city’s night time economy businesses, has been highly commended as one of the best projects in the country at the ATCM national awards.

Prestfest was officially recognised by industry leaders for “outstanding achievement in town and city management”, in particular for “developing the early evening & night time economy”.

Prestfest went head to head with projects from across the UK and was recognised during the Association of Town & City Management’s Annual Awards Dinner in Dundee.

Prestfest, a twice-annual campaign, held recently across the May bank-holiday weekend, brought together the city’s night time attractions and promoted a wide range of in-venue and on the street activities and events.  77% of venues across the city centre who took part in the campaign reported that footfall was up year on year across the Prestfest weekend.

Jessica Toomey, Chair of Preston At Night said:  “We are thrilled to have been officially recognised for our work in promoting Preston’s night time economy, particularly having beaten of stiff competition to be highly commended for Prestfest.  Preston BID and city centre night time economy businesses worked really hard to pull out all the stops to ensure Prestfest visitors had a great time”.

She continued: “No one across Lancashire celebrates their evening leisure offer like Preston does, we’re resolute that we have to keep promoting the best of the city and encouraging new people to visit and those that do visit, come more frequently.  Events like Prestfest are important because they bring businesses together for the common good and offer something a little bit different to visitors.  This recognition only strengthens Preston’s position as the best night out in Lancashire”

Prestfest is to return to the city centre later this year and was introduced in order to promote the city centre’s Purple Flag accreditation for a safe, vibrant and enjoyable night out. 

Preston is still the only destination in Lancashire to have successfully secured the accreditation.

 Ends…

Noted for Editor:

Prestfest was introduced and co-ordinated by the city’s BID, which is funded by city centre businesses.  The event was supported by the Preston At Night group, made up of senior representatives from city centre bars, clubs, restaurants, entertainment venues and hotels.

 The campaign was organised to promote Preston as a destination to visit, based on its Purple Flag accreditation, the only town/city in Lancashire to boast the prestigious award.

Pictures / Interviews available on request.

Contact: Mark Whittle on (01772) 653000 or email [email protected]