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Saturday and Sunday 30 June and 1 July 2012

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Stratford Businesses Look Forward To A Bumper Year

Delighted with the massive increase in shoppers and visitors in the run-up to Christmas, the organisers of Stratford’s business improvement district are anticipating a bumper year for the historic town.

Stratforward Bid project director Chris Gregory said that even allowing for the snow that affected the 2010 figures, there was a substantial increase in footfall towards Christmas.

“Stratforward invested substantially in promoting the town as a must-visit destination and it really paid dividends,” said Mr Gregory. “As poor economic conditions badly affected the country’s high streets, footfall in Stratford was up by more than 11 per cent in November and by as much as 37 per cent in December.”

Mr Gregory, whose organisation represents some 500 shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants in the town centre, said that visitors this year could expect many more markets, new shops and more promotions, alongside a host of festivals that have helped to attract many thousands of visitors.

The Bid helps organise a number of annual attractions, such as the Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations (April 21 – 22), the Fringe Festival (June 2 – 10), the River Festival (June 30 – July 1), the Food Festival (September 22 – 23) and numerous Christmas events.

In addition, during the year there will be literary and poetry festivals, fashions shows, musical events, regattas and a Halloween festival.

“There is always something new happening at Stratford and this year we can look forward to the Olympic torch passing through during the River Festival weekend and lots of additional events to link to the Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics and the World Shakespeare Festival,” he said.