Changes attract more visitors

Changes in Ilford Town Centre are attracting more visitors market research shows.

Continued improvements to the Town Centre, and the opening of the new Primark store, are helping to attract a larger number of visitors to Ilford. Market research carried out in June, as part of an ongoing monitoring of public perception, revealed that 63% of those interviewed had definitely noticed changes in the Town Centre that would make them visit more frequently.

This finding was backed up by additional figures which showed that 57% of interviewees were visiting the town centre to meet family and friends or to go shopping, compared with 53% in September last year, and a further 12% came specifically to shop at Primark.

This tallies with another finding, that this year 14% of those asked stated that Ilford was the Town Centre that they used most frequently for leisure shopping, comparing very favourably with last September’s research, which showed that only 3% were using Ilford most frequently.

When asked about the cleanliness of the Town Centre, of the 100 people interviewed, 22 said that they thought it was cleaner than a year ago, and 54% rated its cleanliness between 6 and 10 (10 being excellent).

“This response suggests that since the Ilford BID team implemented a town centre cleaning programme, perceptions of cleanliness have continued to improve, so that the majority of visitors now believe the area to have a good cleanliness level,” commented Neil Davis, Town Centre Manager.

Similarly, the majority of respondents rated safety in the Town Centre between 6 and 10 and just over half said that the police presence was on a par with the previous year, when it had noticeably improved. 17% thought that there was a more visible police presence than the previous year.

“We feel that the work we have done to attain good levels of cleanliness, safety and police presence is paying dividends in terms of perceptions amongst visitors,” continued Neil Davis.  “Almost half of our visitors are from the Ilford area and visit the Town Centre at least twice a week, so they are well positioned to notice improvements. We continue to aim for better standards in the ambience of Ilford Town Centre, but it is also gratifying to see that more people are coming into the Town to shop and meet friends and to make use of anchor stores, such as Primark. These visits benefit all of our businesses.”