As the nights become lighter and our mornings brighter, thoughts turn to being outside – from gardening to beer gardens with vitamin D abounding! The smell of grass being cut, the buzz of lawn mowers on a Sunday morning and the spring blooms, I can almost feel the sun on my face!
There is no doubt that just the thought of warmer, brighter, longer days can lift the spirits.
With the green shoots of renewal, businesses often start to feel more optimistic and with a summer music programme of events having been just announced by Crawley Borough Council, hospitality businesses; especially in the historic High Street can look forward to a music boosted summer!
The benefit of events to businesses
Local and national acts are being planned and curated by the team at the council and with these acts along come family, friends, supporters and fans. More people equal improved footfall and quid pro quo that means improved spend levels and dwell times. It gives the hospitality businesses the opportunity to show case what they can offer, and it also provides a wider opportunity for people to experience Crawley and its thriving town centre.
With the hospitality sector under immense pressure of late, with many pubs, clubs and bars closing their doors for the last time, these refreshing weekly events should literally be music to their ears! More than the obvious benefits of improved footfall and spend, enlivenment of an area also reduces criminal activity. It promotes feelings of well-being and community along with civic pride.
A great example of this type of enlivenment is Friday Lates, in 2024 Horsham District Council started to provide free music and entertainment in the Bandstand at the Carfax and it was so popular that they brought it back in 2025 and from 6pm-8pm, every Friday evening in June, July and August, the town came alive to the sound of music, of all genres, free of charge … a community came together and enjoyed the lighter evenings.
I hope that this can be replicated in Crawley. I wonder how many of us hear a song that can take us back to a certain time or place in our lives and invoke vivid memories, anything 80s certainly does me!
Reinventing the “High Street”
In my day job, one of my challenges is to consider how to improve footfall in the early evening to support the night time economy, it might be controversial to raise this, but as the population is aging, and with younger people shunning alcohol as a recreational pastime, perhaps it is time to look at adapting our offers and future proofing our leisure services? With so much media attention on the allegedly ‘dying High Street’ surely the attention would be better spent on making sure that experiences with retail or leisure at their heart are fit for purpose and more importantly fit for the future population?
Will café culture take over from pubs? Lots of areas are now looking at how they can encourage al fresco dining, could this spell the end for more pubs and restaurants? With less disposable income in everyone’s pockets, will popping out for a cup of tea and a slice of cake (the cake is optional but if you’re out with me it’s not!) become the new ‘popping out for a pie and pint?’ Or ‘dinner and drinks?’ For the record I have never popped out for a pie and a pint. When I envisage a café culture it makes me think of sophisticated street scenes in capital cities all over Europe, and I think that there are certainly plenty of towns, villages and indeed cities in East and West Sussex that can pull it off – it will be great to see how this unfolds!
I think like most things there will be a gradual evolution to what suits us as a nation best, consider vinyl, compact discs and now streaming and then back to vinyl for some folks – it may be that there is just more variety with cafés, pubs and restaurants sharing the high street until the next big thing comes along.
I don’t have the answers to any of these questions but if anyone has any bright ideas I would love to hear them, it will really help me in my day job and possibly my life too!
In the meantime, enjoy the lighter, brighter days, wear sunblock, enjoy your gardens and perhaps I will bump into you at one of the Crawley High Street music evening events one evening soon.
About Wendy Bell
Wendy is a Town Centre Manager with a knack for bringing places and people together. She champions thriving high streets, strong local businesses and vibrant communities. She’s also Chair of a business association and a charity and, a trustee of another charity, ample evidence she likes to stay busy making good things happen. Known for her energy, creativity and calm-under-pressure approach, Wendy is all about collaboration, positive change and getting stuff done (usually with a smile). Want to know more? Get in touch via wendy@cgcnetwork.co.uk
If you enjoyed this post about Wendy Bell and Crawley, you may also like:
