BID Rangers – welcome to our town

Commentary

Among the most popular projects delivered by BIDs around the UK are teams of Rangers. Rangers, Hosts or Ambassadors, names vary from place to place, provide a uniformed but welcome presence to many town and city centres. Many have no enforcement powers but they perform a variety of valuable roles from welcoming visitors to supporting businesses on a day to day basis and working closely with the Police acting as valuable eyes and ears on the ground.

When we bring our Rangers, Hosts and Ambassadors together from our various BIDs across the UK for their regular training, updates and sharing of ideas days, they all express the same enthusiasm for their work and dedication to showcasing the best of their towns and supporting their BID businesses.

Out in all weathers they face new challenges on a daily basis. With the means to communicate by phone or radio they provide a valuable mechanism to ensure that issues which may impact upon the visitor experience or affect businesses are dealt with in some way. They don’t have a magic wand on their utility belt, but calling upon their training in customer service, conflict management or first aid, they do what they can and summon support from other services such as local authorities, police or other agencies.

The Rangers’ body camera footage and Begging Logs are proven to help in successful prosecutions of individuals who would have otherwise been left un-checked to inflict their anti-social behaviour on visitors and those who work in the town. A focus on business liaison and keeping businesses informed of town/city initiatives, BID projects, opportunities for promotion and help in issue resolution gives BID Levy payers tangible benefits for their levy.

They do not attempt to replace the police or any other service which works towards making a  town centre great, but their presence goes a long way in moving a town or city centre from simply a functioning environment to a friendly and welcoming place for everyone to enjoy.