Thriving communities

Town centre management activities

Building thriving and sustainable communities through partnership sits at the heart of our long-term strategy as it has done for over 20 years. We are motivated by the knowledge that what is good for the local community is also good for our businesses. We also know that we can achieve more to improve the external environment by working collectively with others, rather than independently or with a purely internal focus. That is why we seek to forge strong relations with community partners such as local authorities, property owners, police forces, leisure operators, transport and local businesses.

Our commitment to town and city centre partnerships

In the UK, our commitment to managing our external environment goes back to the development of town centre management initiatives in the late 1980s. Today our role and commitment to town and city centre partnerships is no less prominent. In 2007/08 we contributed approximately £150,000 to town and city centre partnerships and around a further £250,000 to business improvement districts. These are partnerships with shopping centres and town centres throughout the UK such as Cheltenham and Bluewater (we have supported activities such as crime prevention, environment protection and other community related support). Our public policy manager in Boots UK sits on the Board of the “Association of Town Centre Management” and we contribute in a number of other ways. An example of this is a course we have developed and run free of charge twice a year for newly appointed town centre managers.

“What is good for the local community is also good for our businesses”