Meet the man tasked with turning around Colchester town centre

As Our Colchester’s Business Improvement District manager he has the vital and perhaps unenviable job of being the voice for the majority of businesses in the town.

The group’s board of directors reads like a who’s who of businesspeople in Colchester, with decades of experience between them.

But Mr Good says representing them is not a daunting prospect.

He said: “Age has never been a problem for me and I am happy to prove myself.

“I am on a board of successful business managers and directors but my whole career I have always been the youngest person in my role.

“It is not a barrier to me and I hope my work speaks for itself.”

Mr Good, a father of one with another child on the way, first trained as a chef and in front of house skills at Colchester Institute.

After leaving education he travelled to Australia, where he worked both in the kitchen and as front of house in a number of popular restaurants.

Most recently, he worked as general manager for Cosy Club in Ipswich, but he has also been an NVQ assessor and managed a restaurant in his hometown of Harwich, the Ship.

Mr Good said: “I have been everywhere and tried everything. I am impatient, if there is something in my head, I like to get it done.”

Perhaps understandably then, the setting up period for the Business Improvement District to get moving has been difficult for him.

READ MORE: Our Colchester BID to make town centre more attractive

He said: “The real tough thing has been the BID was expected to launch from day one.

“The levy payers have put their money in and quite fairly they are looking for results straight away. But we have just created a business from scratch.”

Eight months on and businesses are starting to see the fruits of all the hard work which has gone on behind the scenes.

In year one, the plan was to focus on cleanliness and empty units and, with the help of Colchester Council, Mr Good feels significant progress has been made.

He says just 5 per cent of units in Colchester are empty, compared with a regional average of 8 per cent.

Colchester Council’s deep clean project has also brought the town centre up to scratch and further work is being done by the BID to make the town more attractive to visitors.

A new website will launch soon promoting every member of the group and money will be made available for one-off or ongoing projects organised to boost town centre trade.

But the BID has also been forced to face up to the changing nature of retail and of high streets up and down the country in order to formulate a plan for the future.

READ MORE: Our Colchester BID ready to make its mark on the town centre

Mr Good said: “People want experiences, they don’t want to just come into town and shop any more. People will come into the town centre for things they cannot get online like hairdressers, coffee shops and restaurants.

“Instead of trying to beat online shopping we need to think about how we make the best out of a bad situation.

“It is about creating a good environment not only to shop, but to live and work.”

READ MORE: Colchester Council bid for up to £5m to reinvent high street

With Colchester’s unique strengths, there are also unique problems, however, and congestion and air quality are issues Mr Good has promised Our Colchester will attempt to help solve.

Potential pedestrianisation of the high street has been talked about for years, and Mr Good says Our Colchester will have a seat at the top table of any future discussions.

He said: “The moment pedestrianisation is mentioned there are alarm bells ringing.

“I am not educated on these things well enough to tell you whether it will work.

“But we are keen to be at the table when discussions take place to be the voice of businesses.

“We are not there for my opinion or the board members opinions it is for the benefit of businesses in the town.”

Over the next five years, Mr Good promises Our Colchester will think bigger and bigger.

The organisation worked with Colchester Council on its bid for up to £5 million of Government funding to turn the town into a regional hub for heritage and culture.

READ MORE: Applications open for new £12k fund to boost town centre projects

Mr Good believes the future of the town centre looks bright.

He said: “We are really excited whether or not we get the funding because we have now got a plan for the high street.

“I am a big salesman for Colchester.

“We have got some serious competitors with Ipswich, Chelmsford and Braintree Village but I do not think we are in trouble because we have great foundations with the history and cultural assets in the town.

“We have a lot of strengths we can play on.

“There are issues with perceptions in terms of the town centre but a lot of combatting that is about dispelling myths.”