Carlisle business owners want ‘collective voice’ to promote city

Simon Harrison, owner of the Halston Hotel, said he supported the BID because businesses needed an organisation to represent the whole of Carlisle.

“We have a World Heritage site, we have a cathedral, we have a castle, we’ve got an amazing museum, we’ve got a growing population and we’ve got the university moving into the city centre,” he said.

“But after all this money [is] spent, you need a vehicle, you need an entity that all the businesses can trust – to animate the city, to put on events and to be a collective voice of the city.”

The Carlisle BID also intends to hire its own grant application writer, who will work with small businesses to help them access funding.