It’s not often that Bedford makes the national news. Every couple of years, The Times or The Telegraph includes us in their ‘best places to live’ guides, but they’re mainly puff pieces to do with property prices and private schools.
Universal has recently shone a spotlight on the area, but it’s not Bedford that’s the main attraction. As a result, any national coverage of Bedford is big news and shapes the public consciousness of our town.
Towns like Bedford have to work hard at ‘building their brand’. Good PR takes years to build up; It doesn’t happen overnight.
It can be subtle, nuanced, cultivated around feelings and emotions. It’s about capturing hearts and minds and meaningfully changing people’s minds.
To be honest, due to poor PR management over the last couple of decades by those who are, or were, paid to promote the town, there have been hundreds of missed opportunities to build the Bedford brand.
Instead, local people stepped up and volunteered, in their own way, to fight the good fight and bang the Bedford drum.
From events in empty shops to festivals, we and others have tirelessly been working to bring people into the town centre and put Bedford on the cultural map for over 15 years.
And through the Bedford Clanger, we’re continuing to shine a spotlight on what makes our town brilliant.
Read: An open letter to Mary Portas
As part of the five-year Bedford Film Festival project, we aimed to show local businesses that they didn’t need to be a cinema to create events (and more revenue) through film. Cafes, bars, restaurants, music venues, and bookshops joined in.
While the film festival project ended in 2017, some still hold film screenings, and local theatres continue to screen regular film seasons, which they didn’t before.
Other local volunteers have also organised new film festivals showcasing different styles and genres of film.
When we launched the Bedford Independent, seven years ago today, we made a conscious effort to contextualise the issues Bedford faces to show that they are not unique to our town.
Austerity, global recessions, the pandemic, online shopping, out-of-town supermarkets and retail parks and changes in working patterns have all contributed to the decline of traditional town centres.
Alongside this, we chose to use our platform to celebrate Bedford, through the Clanger, our Everyday Heroes Awards and through balanced and independent reporting.
Read: Bedford Clanger
Our aim has always been to raise the profile of Bedford and make people proud that they live here.
Case study
In 2021, England and Italy reached the finals of the men’s Euros (European Football Championship).
With the largest Italian population in the country, emotions in Bedford were bound to be running high.
The preceding weeks had seen jubilant celebrations by Bedford’s Italian fans along the embankment; Fiat horns were heard blaring from the minute the final whistle blew.
We knew from past experience that the national press would take any opportunity to exploit this rivalry and paint a very different picture of Bedford’s multiculturalism.
We took the decision to drive a positive narrative, celebrating both sets of fans and declaring that whoever won, it would be a victory for Bedford. We shared this strategy with the council, BID, business owners, and the police and urged them to follow suit. They did.
Ahead of the final, we walked through the town and interviewed fans from both sides, discussing the friendly rivalry. We reiterated the pride that the vast majority of Bedfordians take in the town’s cultural diversity.
This approach may have made a difference; it may not. But what we can be sure of is that there was not one iota of civil unrest when Italy won the final match, and no negative national press coverage of Bedford.
Some publicity is bad publicity
Unfortunately, bad PR is instantaneous and can wipe out years of hard work and energy.
A recent national news article was a lost opportunity to shape the public perception of our town.
From morris dancers to shopkeepers, free runners to rowing clubs, music venues to art projects, guerrilla gardeners to volunteer fixers, buskers to market organisers, street food vendors to urban sketchers, theatre groups to paddle boarders…
From film buffs to walking groups, rugby fans to museum curators, football supporters to cycling clubs, food bloggers to Langar projects, running clubs to Parkruns, cricket teams to youth workers, River Festival organisers to running festival stewards…
From Dholl drummers to ballroom dancers, bagel makers to eco warriors, cafe owners to pub quizzers, lace makers to chocolate-toothpaste bakers, barbers to bin men, posties to farmers, Bedfringers to bell ringers – every single person striving to make their corner of Bedford better contributes towards the town’s positive image.
Every person working hard to make a difference in Bedford is creating a ripple effect and inspiring others – maybe just in their small community, but they are bringing positive change.
It doesn’t happen overnight, it can’t be quantified, but it also can’t be ignored.
All of this work feels like it has been trampled on by one poorly placed story and the words of one tabloid journalist.
And adds grist to the mill of the Facebook naysayers who rarely visit or contribute to the town, but have plenty of opinions about how awful it is.
What a missed opportunity to put Bedford in the spotlight.
An opportunity to highlight the great things about the town despite the loss of several landmark retailers (the same in every town), the increase in antisocial behaviour (the same in every town), a rise in knife crime (a national epidemic), the impact of Amazon and online retailers and the changing function of town centres – something that bigger and better brains than ours have been grappling with for some time.
Raising pride and positivity will do far more to encourage people into Bedford than spreading fear and negativity.
Read: The Bedford Independent Everyday Heroes Awards
Last weekend’s Bedford Flea (organised by Laura Holmes), community litter pick (organised by the council), and the Silver Square public planting sessions (organised by Tony Le Britton of Not Another Jungle) will do more to engender civic pride and have far longer-lasting repercussions than any newspaper article.
When we took on an empty shop in Bedford town centre for six months in 2013, we inspired four actual shops to open, and inspired countless other projects and events.
Meaningful change takes time, but there are thousands of people doing their bit to create that change right now, every single day, often without being paid and almost certainly without any public thanks.
They do it because they love Bedford and they know that what they are doing makes a meaningful difference.
And they are the people that must be protected at all costs. Bricks and mortar come and go, shops ebb and flow, but it is the hearts and minds of the people of Bedford that will remain.
