After more than 20 years outside the top tier of English football, Ipswich Town’s return to the Premier League will have a huge impact on fans, businesses and the entire town. As such, Ipswich Central is launching a new campaign that will celebrate the impact of the Premier League on local businesses.
Over the course of the season, Ipswich Central will undertake a range of activity that links the business community to football in order to understand the knock-on effect from visitors and fans coming together around the town.
Football culture photographer, Adam Rosenbaum, has been commissioned to capture a series of portrait photographs of the people working at local businesses. These will be accompanied by short Q&As from the business leaders to detail how Premier League football has impacted the town.
We are giving disposable cameras to selected fans to capture their own match day experience over the course of the season, with these photos featuring in an exhibition to capture the highs and lows in the stands, in the bars and across the town. If you’d like to express your interest in being involved in the campaign, apply below.
For Kyle Duxbury, General Manager, Three Wise Monkeys:
“I hope that Premier League football this season will be a boost for the town as the buzz, sense of pride, excitement and community spirit is heightened. It’s great to see the town rallying together and embracing the energy that comes from being in the top tier of English football. It’s an exciting time for Ipswich Town Football club and the town itself.
We are planning a few changes this season, with extended opening hours on matchdays for early kick-offs and late-night celebrations, new drink specials and a themed food meu for the big games. We’ll also be brewing ‘Uppa Town’ beer at our own monkey brewery!”
Shan Johnson, Operations Manager at First Buses, drove the promotion parade open top bus that carried the Ipswich Town team at the end of last season.
“I’ve been an Ipswich fan since 1994 when I moved to Ipswich from London. Most of the First Bus drivers are football fans so there are always discussions at work. We have many fans who travel on our buses, so home match days means that we are very busy with a lot of people travelling into the town centre.
Not only for us but every business in the town thrives when Ipswich is doing well, and the customers are also a lot happier in general which is nice! With a large number of away fans coming to visit and stay in our town I hope this will be a good for all Ipswich businesses.”
Gareth Harper is the owner of Bar 21 in St Nicholas’ Street.
“As someone born and raised in Ipswich, I’ve always followed the football club, but my passion as a fan stepped up ten years ago now and again further three years ago when we opened Bar 21. On weekend home matchdays the bar is full of supporters for pre- and post-match drinks and a good 80 per cent of visitors are regular customers choosing us as their place to enjoy the build up and review the game. We only welcome home fans, and win, lose or draw, home matchdays are always busy so great for the business. When town are playing well, there is great camaraderie and high spirits with singing and chanting and the place has a superb atmosphere.”
Brenner Wooley has been the voice of BBC Radio Suffolk match commentary for Ipswich Town Football Club for 21 years.
“I always come across fans at the grounds on matchdays and when the football is good people are always much happier as everyone’s got a spring in their step! I hope Ipswich playing in the Premier League brings more people to the town. It’s certainly made people happier and proud to be from the town, plus I’ve noticed more flags on display!
This season I have a new show on BBC Radio Suffolk every Monday night. ‘The Blue Hour’ focuses on all things Ipswich Town, something fresh and interactive for a whole new generation of fans who are experiencing Premier League football for the first time after 22 years in the Championship and League One.”
Brought to you by Ipswich Central, the Business Improvement District (BID) for the town centre and waterfront thanks to Towns Deal funding.
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