Business Awards

For the last 3 years, Rochdale Town Centre Management have been running the Rochdale Town Centre Business Awards.The Awards were launched to acknowledge Rochdale businesses for the friendly, personal service that they provide and to restore the pride and faith of the community in our town.

The main section of the awards are based on ‘Mystery Customer’ visits that take place from around March - August in many different Town Centre businesses including shops, bars, restaurants, banks, and more. Rochdale Town Centre Management asks a Market Research organization to carry out a Mystery Shopping programme of visits. Every business is then visited by one of the researchers who commented on their experience with reference to seven key areas including Staff Approach, Customer Service Staff Image and their Overall Satisfaction, to provide a store rating for that business. The results of these reports are then compared in order to determine the winners and runners up of each award. The awards are presented at a lavish ceremony in September, which is 2007 and 2008, took place at China City in Rochdale and was a fantastic event for all involved.  In 2009, Rochdale Town Hall was turned into a Bollywood extravaganza for the evening; read the news item here.

In 2007 110 businesses took part in this voluntary scheme, and in 2008 this figure went up to 120.

In 2008 and 2009, in addition to the mystery shopping program, Town Centre Management (in partnership with GMP, RMBC Licensing, RMBC Community Safety and the Fire Service) will also be running the Best Bar None scheme to judge the bars, clubs and pubs in the town centre. This scheme aims to reward licensees who provide good management, a safe and enjoyable environment for customers, discourage binge drinking and prevent alcohol-related crime. It encourages licensees to act responsibly and take pride in their premises and surroundings and, in doing so, put something back into the Town and their local community. Many of the town centre businesses volunteered to be part of the scheme in order gain accreditation. For more information vist the Best Bar None section of the website.

For each award, the businesses are in with a chance of winning £500 and the categories can be seen on the left hand side.

The awards are sponsored by Rochdale Borough Council.  Council leader, Alan Taylor said: "The council is proud to be sponsoring the town centre awards. We have some fantastic businesses in the town centre and it's right that their excellent service is recognised."

The next Business Awards will take place in September 2010...watch this space or contact us for more details.