My Burnley: Burnley's Place Brand Manager Rachel Bayley gives us her views on the town

This week’s My Burnley is Rachel Bayley whose job is to positively promote all aspects of the town, a role she took on in 2020.
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Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Rachel Bayley, I am 35 and the Burnley Place Brand Manager. My job is to positively promote Burnley as a place in which to work, invest, live, explore, play and study. You may recognise some of our brands - Burnley.co.uk and burnley.social, as well as Burnley Lifestyle Magazine and InBusiness Burnley magazine. The role is incredibly varied - one minute we can be helping production companies find film locations, the next interviewing really exciting people doing amazing things in our borough, reporting at events like Retro, going round different businesses in Burnley to see what they're up to, organising big events like the Burnley Business Awards - it's something different every day.

How long have you lived/worked in Burnley?

This week's My Burnley is Burnley's Place Brand Manager Rachel Bayley who gives her views on the townThis week's My Burnley is Burnley's Place Brand Manager Rachel Bayley who gives her views on the town
This week's My Burnley is Burnley's Place Brand Manager Rachel Bayley who gives her views on the town

I've been in this role since April 2020 - not a great time to start a new job, but people were so welcoming. I'm originally from near Rochdale and live in Pendle now, but I used to go out in Burnley every week. My nights out were from the days of the Brun Lea Wetherspoons, Lava Ignite, Posh, XS...I'm delighted Smacks is still going and I've had the delight of bumping into the Burnley Express team in there on occasion!

Why did you choose to live/stay/work in Burnley?

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East Lancashire has some beautiful houses for very affordable prices, so when my husband and I were house hunting around 10 years ago now, we knew we wanted to stay in the area. At the time I was working in Manchester, so it was well connected. We also adopted a puppy and the dog walking is, of course, fantastic. Now we have two young girls, I love how much there is to do around here - and that includes the many soft play options. I also feel safe, that's really important.

What do you think are the best parts of the town?

The countryside is fantastic, I recently did the Clowbridge reservoir to Singing Ringing Tree circular walk and couldn't help but take tonnes of photos. There are some fantastic independent shops, bars, restaurants and accommodation in both Burnley and Padiham. The people make it though - everyone is friendly, willing to help one another out and come together in times of need.

Is there anything you dislike about Burnley?

Sometimes when we post stories on our Burnley.co.uk and burnley.social social media platforms, a small minority of people can be really critical. Of course, everyone is entitled to an opinion and we're always open to that, but we do feel like sometimes you can't win. For example, when we updated about the progression of Pioneer Place, we had some comments that it had taken 15 years to happen, probably won't happen, the derelict land looks a mess etc. Now it's shooting out of the ground at record speed, there are comments about who can afford to eat out in a cost of living crisis etc. These projects take years to get going and you can't just pause them mid-build due to the ongoing climate at the time. I think we're lucky that we have a council who is investing heavily so we don't stand still, or even worse, fall backwards compared to nearby places. It would be lovely to see more of the pride that has come out off the back of the ‘Bank of Dave’ film.

How would you describe Burnley to a visitor who has never been here before?

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A really positive, friendly and resilient place - whatever is thrown at us, we keep going in good humour. You can find everything here - from high-tech companies and cool independents to stunning countryside and great places to grab coffee and food. It's also a passionate place and you need to be prepared to be able to dish and take banter in equal measure.