We’d like to say a big thank you to those businesses who have paid their BID Levy recently. As you know, Marble Arch London BID is continuing to provide vital frontline services, supporting businesses through the Covid-19 crisis and helping to reset the district for recovery. The BID is the single external agency that is entirely focused on the Marble Arch and Edgware Road area.

As the smallest BID in Westminster, and being not for profit, we have relatively low reserves. This time last year our BID levy collection rate was 51%. Today it is 22.5%.

We need your help to maintain our cashflow so we can continue to provide our vital services and drive recovery. If you have yet to pay your share of the BID’s levy, please could we ask you to review below what the Marble Arch BID team is still delivering, but that is only possible with your continued support.

• Our Street Team are out six days a week, reassuring customers and businesses, keeping premises safe and reporting incidents to Westminster City Council and the Metropolitan Police. The monthly cost of the street team is £18,000.
• We have saved businesses over £180,000 in business rate relief since April alone, through our lobbying efforts.
• We continue to campaign to Raise the Bar from £51,000 to £150,000 Rateable Value for eligibility for cash grants to those businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sector.
• Ensuring that the district is safe for staff, guests and customers to return is top of our recovery agenda. We are working hand-in-hand with Transport for London and Westminster City Council to ensure that the pavements are safe, that there is adequate cycling parking and that people feel confident about returning to work, shop, study and visit. We are actively lobbying for changes to the licencing and trading hours regime to enable businesses to open and remain profitable.

• Our Covid Resource Centre is a one-stop-shop for all advice, guidance and recovery information, and is updated daily. All the information your business, staff and customers might need can be found in one place.
• We provide regular intelligence to Westminster City Council about which businesses are trading online and offering delivery services, to form part of their Shop Local map and campaign.
• Our Community Programme is ensuring that businesses and staff continue to feel connected to the community. We have seen a surge in people volunteering remotely to support charities and schools in need during the Covid-19 crisis. We’d like to thank hotels, offices, shops, the casino and supermarkets for donating surplus food to charities and for reaching out to isolated and shielded local residents to provide friendly voices and faces.
• Our public realm improvements continue – junction and crossing works on Edgware Road will resume shortly, and new schemes at Burwood Place and Sussex Gardens are at design stage. These schemes are even more important now, as we create the right environment for business and communities to recover and flourish.

If you are struggling to pay your BID Levy

We understand a proportion of our business members are unable to trade at the moment, and if you are struggling to pay the BID Levy, please do get in touch with us so that we can make separate arrangements.

If you need a replacement BID Levy Bill

If you are able to pay your BID Levy bill but do not have access to the paper bill, we can arrange for a soft copy duplicate to be emailed, please just get in touch.

As we all look forward to the easing of the Covid-19 related restrictions, you and your company can play a key role in ensuring that the BID’s key services continue to be provided. Your financial support for this vital work is very important and will, collectively, have considerable impact on an area which is now attracting major investment (as seen by the major construction projects on site) and flourishing both as a business centre and a diverse community.