Great to see Burnley and Padiham buzzing again | Rachel Bayley

It’s great to see Burnley and Padiham high streets fully re-open (indoor hospitality pending) and there’s been a great buzz about the place.

And the Lancashire sun has certainly played its part, meaning sitting outside to eat and drink has been a lot more enjoyable than it could have been!

The next step is indoor hospitality on the May 17th and hopefully many of you will have seen Burnley’s Early Evening Experience video, which Burnley.co.uk, burnley.social, the Burnley Express and Discover Burnley all came together to create.

But we couldn’t have done it without our fantastic venues letting us in to film.

Head over to Burnley.co.uk’s Facebook or Instagram to see what I’m on about. On our Facebook alone it’s had almost 11,000 views, with many of the comments from people saying that they forget that Burnley town centre has such a diverse early evening offering.

Palazzo, Astoria, Illuminati and Empire Theatre Bar were just a handful of venues to take part, but we have over 40 cafes, bars and restaurants within a mile of the town centre for us to enjoy.

Getting out and about

Of course, it’s not just our hospitality sector that is coming back to life on the high streets, but also our “non-essential” retail and other businesses.

Many of our borough’s businesses have been continuing as usual, albeit working from home, although some have managed to safely keep going at their usual premises.

With lockdown over, I’ve been going round several of our businesses from our Burnley Bondholder scheme.

Burnley Bondholders is a private sector led, private/public partnership dedicated to raising the prosperity and profile of the borough; an innovative and successful scheme which has been growing for ten years and is made up of over 200 members.

In short, Burnley Bondholders are passionate about the benefits of being based in Burnley and where the borough is heading. And I certainly picked up on that enthusiasm when I visited.

Many told me that their staff were asking to come back to work as they were getting a bit fed up at home and I can sympathise with that sentiment.

Although Teams and Zoom have been invaluable in keeping up contact with our colleagues, it can all get a bit draining. And if you have distractions at home, it’s easy to see why you would crave face-to-face interaction over a coffee and some cake.

Of course, many businesses across various sectors have been impacted over the last 12 months, but what has come out of every conversation I’ve had is that our business sector is positive, they expect to grow and they’re still championing having a base in Burnley.

From the incredible work-life balance we can enjoy working here to the affordable premises businesses can operate from compared to nearby towns and cities, Burnley continues to be on the up and I’m excited to see what 2021 brings for everyone based here.