What is the Purple Flag Standard?

The night time economy contributes £66bn annually to the UK and employs about 10% of the total UK workforce.* The Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) recognises that this is a significant contribution to the UK economy and therefore worthy of note.

Similar to the Blue Flag for beaches, Purple Flag is a scheme developed to enhance the appeal of city centres at night ie. between 5pm and 6am. The scheme is managed by the ATCM working alongside the Purple Flag Advisory Committee – made up of central and local government, local police, business and consumers.

The team at Purple Flag work hard to help make places cleaner, safer, more attractive and more accessible to encourage more people to come out at night. There’s also a real focus on offering a larger range of diverse activities, improving public transport links, encouraging participation in Pubwatch schemes and supporting the work of Street Pastors. Companies like Venture Security have a crucial role to play in contributing to the safety of patrons and security of venues in the centres.

Benefits to town centres of obtaining the standard include:

·         A raised profile

·         Improved public image

·         Overcoming negative public perceptions

·         Increased visitors

·         Increased expenditure

·         Reduced anti-social behaviour and crime

·         A more successful economy

Since the scheme began a total of 36 cities have now been awarded the status. Within Venture’s area of influence Winchester has been accredited under the scheme for three years running, Bournemouth for two and, more recently Salisbury was awarded the prestigious Purple Flag status in October last year.

For further information about the Purple Flag standard please visit their website.

*Source, ATCM