Purple patch continues for city safety

The purple flag crew

When people choose where to go for a trouble-free night out, Sheffield remains a safe bet after it scooped two prestigious night-time economy awards this week.

Purple Flag is a town and city centre award – similar to the Blue Flag award for beaches – which aims to raise the standard and broaden the appeal of town and city centres between 5pm and 5am.

The flag will remain pride of place in the city’s Peace Gardens for another year, showing that the city remains one of the country’s safest for a night out.

But this year there’s an extra piece of silverware heading for the Town Hall, after Sheffield won the Jim Ratchford Award for outstanding contribution to safety and diversity as well as the best partnership at this year’s Purple Flag Awards.

Councillor Paul Wood, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community Safety at Sheffield City Council, said: “Keeping people safe in Sheffield is not something we take for granted. We have a fantastic partnership which is always looking at what we can do to promote safety, especially as the city grows its night-time offer with so many more restaurants, clubs and pubs in the heart of the city.

“We are also pioneering new initiatives to keep door staff safe and working in partnership with our excellent pub and club community to promote safety for us all. These purple flag awards show that we are flying high among UK cities for this work and for our wonderfully rich offer in evening entertainment that’s only getting better and better.”

Sheffield City Council works with partners such as South Yorkshire Police and Sheffield BID to make the city a safe place to live, work and party in.

Areas awarded the Purple Flag are recognised for providing a vibrant and diverse mix of dining, entertainment and culture while promoting the safety and wellbeing of visitors and local residents.

In Sheffield the partners involved in the work include Sheffield Business Improvement District (BID), South Yorkshire Police, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield City Centre Residents Action Group, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, U-Night and Sheffield City Centre Retailers Group.

Sheffield is now a much more vibrant place after 5pm thanks to Sheffield BID’s Alive After Five campaign. Recent additions to the city centre night-time offer include Kommune, The Light cinema, a new bowling alley and several new award-winning bars.

Diane Jarvis, Sheffield BID Manager, said:

“The Sheffield BID, through our dedicated police sergeant, Matt Burdett, works closely with South Yorkshire Police and Sheffield City Council to help deliver a safe and welcoming city centre for all.

“The partnership is focused on the longer-term problem solving of issues affecting the city centre, particularly around the night-time economy. The evening experience is such a crucial part in making our city centre work and we’ve made fantastic progress in recent years, with initiatives such as Best Bar None and SmartWater.

“It’s extremely satisfying to have the partnership’s night-time economy work recognised nationally with two awards at the Purple Flag Awards. Congratulations to everyone who has played a role.”

Purple Flag Awards

BID police sergeant Matt Burdett added:

“We are delighted and extremely proud that Sheffield has won these two national awards for our night-time economy.

“Sheffield has one of the best Partnerships in the country. These awards recognise the ongoing commitment and hard work involved in delivering a number of significant projects across the city centre, which help keep people safe when enjoying a night out in Sheffield.

“This success is down to the passion and dedication of all the people involved across the city’s services, who work tirelessly to keep our city centre one of the safest and friendliest in the country – they deserve this recognition.”