Jon Munn, Faversham Salvation Army - At The Heart, Faversham Guildhall

Discover Faversham Postcard Campaign

With thousands of people moving to Faversham, it’s more important than ever to make sure they are aware of and encouraged to support local businesses and attractions.  We’ve been working with a group of local organisations on a postcard campaign to promote Faversham. This comprises a pack of attractive postcards (one for each participating business) to be distributed to 1,000 new build properties along with a wider distribution to local accommodation providers and estate agents in particular.

Hopefully by working collaboratively and splitting the cost, this could be an affordable option for many local businesses to reach new residents and visitors.

Overview:

  • To raise the profile of visitor-related businesses and attractions in Faversham among residents moving into new housing developments
  • To be given out by local estate agents to house hunters and people moving to the area
  • Can also be placed in B&Bs and hotel rooms for visitors
  • Surplus postcards can be printed for sole use of participating businesses
  • Attractive postcards, each featuring a participating business themed as ‘Discover Faversham’
  • Packs of postcards delivered in colourful, branded envelopes will be hand delivered to each new build property, local estate agents and Faversham accommodation
  • There are 1,000 new properties in Faversham, with more being developed
  • We need at least eight businesses to participate for economies of scale

Timings:

  • Businesses to confirm their participation by 2nd July
  • Postcards and envelope designed by 16th July
  • Printing completed by 23rd July
  • Distribution to take place 24th July onwards as school holidays commence

Price:

  • 2,000 postcards printed, included in branded envelopes and delivered as above – £250 per business
  • To print an additional 1,000 postcards for sole use by business – £50

If you’re interested in being part of this and are a business of interest to visitors and shoppers – please email [email protected] by end of 2nd July 2021.

Fabulous photo by Jon Munn for Capture Faversham.

Papa Bianco is taking part in Faversham Fiver Fest.

STANDARD QUAY SUPPORTS FIVER FEST 2021

About Standard Quay

With its medieval warehouses and attractive businesses – Standard Quay is becoming a very popular place for people to eat, drink and shop in Faversham.

The quayside destination is just a short walk from the town’s historic Market Place down the gorgeous Abbey Street. It also boasts beautiful views across the Creek to Faversham Marshes.

Supporting Fiver Fest

Standard Quay is very keen to support the businesses located on its lovely site. It also wants to promote Faversham as a wonderful place to visit, live and shop. To this end, they have kindly lent their support to Fiver Fest Faversham.

The fabulous Fiver Fest offers you can pick up at Standard Quay include:

  • Papa Bianco’s buy one pizza and get a margarita for £5 Special deal
  • and What Now? at Baltic House’s five pound tickets to their comedy club (a tiny venue which is attracting some really big names!).

Standard Quay’s businesses

Standard Quay itself contains some very appealing businesses including a number of antiques and vintage businesses, selling everything from old Beano albums, to dining tables, to vintage tools and everything between.  Pierre & Dom has a fine selection of vintage pictures, paintings, photos and prints. Aladdin’s Cave, as its name implies, includes an eclectic collection including tea sets, vintage clothing, jewellery and more.

There are also a number of shops selling fresh produce including the Butcher of Brogdale, Herman’s Plaice Fishmongers and Salt & Spice, which as well as blending its own spice mixes, sells wonderful fresh fruit and veg.

If you need a break and fancy some breakfast, lunch or tea – then the Secret Garden Café at Standard Quay is a lovely spot to enjoy freshly prepared, locally sourced food.  If the weather is being kind, there’s a peaceful outdoor garden where you can enjoy your meal.  The café is dog-friendly too – ideal if you’re also enjoying a walk along the Creek.

Papa Bianco’s delicious, freshly prepared pizzas are an extremely popular attraction at Standard Quay where you can sit and watch the sun set over the Creek while enjoying your meal.  Both What Now? and Papa Bianco offer a lovely spot for a drink or two on the Quay too.

Easy to visit

Parking at Standard Quay is free and many visitors use it as a base to explore Faversham, as the town centre is only a ten minute walk away.  Or if you’re feeling adventurous, you can hire a Surrey Bike and explore the area by pedal-power!

For more information on Standard Quay visit http://standardquay.co.uk/

Screenshot 2021-06-16 at 18.05.44

BUSINESSES – HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OUT OF FIVER FEST FAVERSHAM

Fiver Fest is organised at a national level by Totally Locally, it’s a celebration our independent high streets and businesses which, during lockdown, have proven that more than ever, our local businesses play a pivotal role in the wellbeing of our communities. 

FIVER FEST is the chance for independent businesses to use their collective power to encourage people back to our town centres and to use local businesses. To say thank you to customers who supported them during lockdown and to prove once again, that the small guys can compete with the online giants & the supermarkets. In fact, they beat them hands down in many ways, but most of all their contribution to our local economies. 

There are over 100 towns involved in this year’s Fiver Fest, but in Kent there are only two towns taking part and they are both in Swale (Totally Locally Sheerness and Fiver Fest Faversham). This gives us a chance to target the “staycation” and day visitors market that we all know will be very busy this year and promote via Visit Faversham, Visit Swale, Visit Kent and beyond what is going on during the fortnight, show your offers to the visitors market as well as locals and showcase what you have to offer throughout the remainder of 2021.

What can I do to promote my business?

  1. Firstly, check that we know about your offers. The latest list is here. If Something is wrong let us know and we will change it.  https://infaversham.co.uk/fiverfestoffers/
  2. Share your offers.  Put up posters in your windows, share them online.  Here is a link to the official graphics https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u13xve7oagy8rbw/AAD7TpzCLy1yYc69nl_01ItFa?dl=0  Be sure to mention your company name as well as your offer.
  3. Tag.  Always tag @totallylocally @infaversham @fiverfestfaversham.  Totally Locally have already shared a number of Faversham businesses posts, they have large followings and can put your offer in front of a whole new audience.  This is especially good if you have an online element to your business.
  4. Hashtags.  People do actively search through hashtags so always add #FiverFestFaversham and #FiverFest as standard.  You may also want to think about adding #Faversham #VisitFaversham #HelpKentbuylocal plus any relevant to your business/offer
  5. Join our group.  We have set up a participants’ group on Facebook to share hints and tips of how to make the most of Fiver Fest.  Join it here (and remember to contribute!) https://www.facebook.com/groups/612291416136462
  6. The InFaversham volunteers are running a market stall again on Friday.  We are handing out literature and telling shoppers about Fiver Fest.  We had a fantastic response from this last time, there were some lovely comments about how much shoppers enjoyed the last event and how excited they were by this one. Make sure they have some info about your business to take away.  You can give us literature/discount cards or freebies such as pens/keyrings etc either on the market stall or drop it into Creek Creative.
  7. Goodie bags.  In addition to the market stall, we will be selling our Love Faversham Goodie Bags online throughout the remainder of the year.  All of the businesses that we have literature or goodies from will be included.  Think about what may make the owners of these bags want to investigate your business.  Postcards, keyrings, badges, facemasks, pens etc are all relatively inexpensive and are generally held onto much longer than a flier.  Maybe offer a special goodie bag discount?
  8. Donate a raffle prize.  We are running a raffle to win a hamper of goodies from Faversham Businesses in aid of The Faversham Umbrella.  Each business will get extra publicity and it is always lovely to be associated with supporting local charities.
  9. Share other businesses offerings.  Have you taken up a Fiver Fest deal? If so, take a picture and share it (remembering to tag the business you bought from).  The more you share other people’s deals the more interest in the event and your business. Plus, it generally shares a little love around the town.

What are you doing to promote my business

Fiver Fest Faversham is run in a different way to most of the other towns taking part.  Other towns organise Fiver Fest either directly from the participating businesses or the have organisations such as Traders Groups, Business Investment District or council run Shop Local initiatives giving them access to money and resources.  

Fiver Fest Faversham is organised by InFaversham who are a team of volunteers that mostly own noncustomer facing businesses and have no direct benefit from taking part.  Why do we do it?  We do it because we believe in the shop local message and we believe it has an impact on the local economy which is a benefit to everyone.  Plus, we love all things Faversham.  

We have been very lucky this time in that we have been able to get support from Faversham Town Council and have sponsorship from businesses who also believe this is a worthy event and love Faversham.  Thanks to William Property Management, Brogdale Farm, Standard Quay and Faversham Flooring we have been able to provide more benefits to the businesses taking part in the event this time around.

Here is a list of what we have provided so far:

  • Town maps.  We have produced a town map featuring businesses taking part.  The maps have been handed out physically and digitally around town.
  • Market Stall.  This year we have taken on two Friday market stalls to engage with shoppers and spread the Fiver Fest message We also had out literature from participating businesses.
  • Public Relations.  We have already had Fiver Fest Faversham featured in a number of publications including Kent Messenger, Community Ad magazine, Visit Kent and Swale.  Radio Kent and BBC South East are talking to us about features also.
  • Posters and social graphics.  We have printed posters for businesses to use and provided digital versions for online use.
  • Social media shout outs and shares.  We are sharing on everyone who has mentioned the event to our two Facebook pages and Instagram accounts (plus local groups when relevant). We also are using stories to maximise their reach.  Many local Faversham businesses are already being featured on the Totally Locally network of followers and are being shared by followers.
  • Bimble.  We have added a Fiver Fest Faversham Guide to Bimble.  We have added all of the participating businesses into there.  If you don’t know what Bimble is, it’s best described as a cross between TripAdvisor & Pinterest. We think it’s more like Spotify – for your favourite places: a way to hold onto them, share them, support them, hear from them and discover new ones shared by the community.  The Bimble team are promoting the Faversham Guide via their own social media channels https://bimble.com/lists/fiverfest-faversham-june-2021/6733813442936832?fbclid=IwAR1gu4ouaSRL9PEIeZeIL7PXvexDmu5L1iTt-ikLYL0lUSMXnrfQXa-9ies or download the app.
  • Facebook group.  We run a participants’ FB group offering help and advice throughout the fiver fest fortnight
  • Raising a bit for charity.  In addition to all of this, we are running a raffle to win a hamper of Faversham goodies, giving businesses donating prizes another chance to get there name out there and raising some money for Faversham Umbrella.

We hope you are really enjoying being part of Fiver Fest Faversham and would love to hear your views.  If you have any questions or thoughts please email us at [email protected]

Mark 4

Meet the Sponsors – William Property Management

When you think of independent businesses on your local high street, you could probably be forgiven for not thinking of letting or estate agents straight away. However, certainly here in Faversham, there is one agent that is very much part of the community. 

Without William Property Management stepping in to sponsor the first Fiver Fest Faversham last year, we wouldn’t have got this initiative off the ground. For the second Fiver Fest fortnight, whilst we managed to gain the support of Faversham Town Council and additional sponsors, we are delighted to welcome William Property Management back as our main sponsor again.

To find out why they are so behind the Fiver Fest iniative, Fiver Fest Faversham organiser Liz Jeffery sat down with Mark Greenwood who is the Managing Director of William Property Management.  

Mark, why did you decide to sponsor Fiver Fest Faversham for a second time? 

When I heard about the Fiver Fest initiative I thought it was a fantastic concept.  It’s a good idea generally, but after the effects of Covid and town centre access restrictions, businesses really did need support and they continue to do so, so sponsoring for a second time was a no brainer for me.

I really like the whole £5 message, it makes people think about how their spending directly impacts the local economy and the whole event really does create a community spirit and a real buzz around the town.

Have been involved in supporting the local community in other ways too?

Yes!  Apart from trying to shop local where possible and attend as many events as I can (when they are able to run)  I was also a founder member of the Faversham Traders Association.

Do you have a £5 offer to run during Fiver Fest?

We’ve created our own £5 offer, giving new landlords their first month’s property management fees for £5 if they sign up during the Fiver Fest fortnight.

About William Property Management

William Property Management was established in 2009, after noticing the need for a good letting service that was approachable and transparent.  They are now recognised as the leading letting agent in Faversham due to their outstanding customer service.  They have been awarded GOLD by the prestigious British Property Awards for three years running, judged the Best Letting Agent in Faversham.

To find out more about William Property Management’s commitment to outstanding customer service and to find out how they can help you, please visit https://www.williampropertymanagement.com

brogdale-12

BROGDALE FARM EMBRACES FIVER FEST

Located on the outskirts of Faversham, Brogdale Farm is a hidden gem – well known amongst visitors around the country and horticulturists nationwide – but often relatively undiscovered by Faversham locals.  Hopefully all that is about to change with Brogdale Farm’s support of Fiver Fest Faversham.  With seven businesses at Brogdale running some amazing special offers – we’re sure their involvement will encourage plenty of shoppers and visitors to check out Brogdale Farm and see what it has to offer.

Home to the National Fruit Collection

Brogdale is set in a gorgeous location with hundreds of acres of orchards which are home to the National Fruit Collection – the largest collection of temperate fruits in the world – right here on Faversham’s doorstep! They have examples of every type of apple, pear, cherry, quince, medlar and Brogdale Collections is the charity based at Brogdale Farm created to enable the public to access these orchards and the Collections.  The site is home to some amazing events as well as tours of the orchards and there are also great educational facilities for children such as a Wildlife, Weather and Music Gardens and a playground too.

Did you know there’s also a cracking little miniature railway which pootles round Brogdale’s orchards and is a massive favourite amongst children of all ages!  We can’t wait for it to open again once the pandemic is over.

Great independent businesses

The Market Place at Brogdale Farm is a lovely large courtyard bathed all day in sunlight and a lovely spot to enjoy a bite to eat or pop to one of the shops.  The Courtyard is a family-run café serving delicious freshly prepared breakfasts, lunches and cream teas with plans to soon open in the evenings too. The Tiddly Pomme is the Market Place’s gorgeous shop selling a wide range of fruit-related products and gifts including local ciders, fruit juices, preserves and liqueurs.

Brogdale Farm is home to Country Practice which specialises in offering a delightful range of therapies and treatments for your emotional and physical well-being – including their very popular hot stone treatments and massages.  For even more pampering, Vicki Lord Hair has recently moved to Brogdale Farm and she offers a complete range of hair styling services.

Grow at Brogdale is known nationwide for growing and selling a terrific range of fruit trees and other plants – many grafted from the unique trees at the National Fruit Collections at Brogdale – making them very special indeed. They are currently open for appointments only.

Some terrific local food and drink producers are based at Brogdale including craft brewers Mad Cat Brewery and Kakawa who make the most delicious chocolate, caramel and fudge.

Fiver Fest Offers at Brogdale

A large group of businesses at Brogdale Farm are taking part in Fiver Fest Faversham which gives local residents the perfect excuse to come up and say hello to everybody.

Please find a summary of Brogdale Fiver Fest offers below:

  • wo Brogdale Apple or Pear Juices for £5; one Brogdale Cherry juice for £5; two chutneys or jams for £5.
  • £5.00 off any hair service.

A massive thank you to Brogdale Farm for embracing Faversham Fiver Fest this year and we hope they are well-supported by local shoppers and visitors.

Find Out More

For more information about Brogdale Farm and its businesses – take a look at their website www.brogdalefarm.co.uk

For more information on Fiver Fest Faversham and participating businesses’ offers – check out their website

Beers from Mad Cat Brewery
Market Place at Brogdale
Juices from Tiddly Pomme