Derby’s evolution is moving at a white-knuckle pace

Here, in his latest monthly column reflecting on the news over the past month, our Press and PR Executive Robin Johnson looks at the headlines.

Have any of you seen that episode of The Inbetweeners in which, after passing his driving test, Simon and the lads head to Thorpe Park?

Going to a theme park is probably one of the first things you’ll ever do as a teenager after passing your test.

Indeed, after passing mine, I remember my mates and I cramming into my Vauxhall Nova (which was a rather fetching shade of 1970s bathroom suite brown) and making for Alton Towers.

At the time, its most popular white-knuckle ride was the Corkscrew – and as soon as the gates opened, we would sprint across the park to make sure we were at the front of the queue.

City centres can learn much from theme parks, according to Robbie Jones, who was one of the keynote speakers at our Derby Property Summit, which took place in July.

Robbie is insights director at Katapult, a theme park attraction designer, which works with some of the world’s best.

Speaking to Robbie beforehand, we talked about how places like the Derbion were like Derby’s equivalent of the Corkscrew. Everyone gravitates towards it.

And while this is great for Derby, as it attracts more and more people to the city, there is a flipside – which is that they could be missing out on what the rest of the city has to offer.

In his presentation, Robbie said that a successful theme park should have five key things: they must be a great place to play and have fun, to eat and drink, it must be accessible, it must have great public realm and be a place where people can stay overnight if they so wish.

The same could be said of successful cities.

Derby already has a pretty good offer – which is encapsulated well in a new summer campaign aimed at encouraging more visitors to consider Derby as a location for short breaks.

But what else could we be doing in terms of giving people reasons to explore and discover the whole of Derby?

Here’s a perfect example. In July, I reported that the Museum of the Moon art installation was set to return to Derby Cathedral, accompanied by an extensive programme of events.

The last time the installation was in Derby it attracted thousands of people to the city. It is exactly the type of spectacle the city needs.

In terms of a great place to eat and drink, some would argue that Derby already has that covered – particularly the 5,000-plus who put forward nominations for this year’s Marketing Derby Food and Drink Awards.

That’s a record number of nominations for the awards. A phenomenal response. These will now be whittled down to the finalists, who we will announce in August.

In terms of having great public realm, this is another area Derby is looking to improve upon.

For example, in July, planning permission was granted for the Eastern Gateway, which will vastly improve the area around the bus station.

As for providing overnight stays, Derby has a number of hotels, but perhaps there is room for more, particularly towards the luxury end of the market.

However, these days, we are all on a budget. The ability to stay, and to play for that matter, is heavily reliant on how much money we have in our pockets.

We need a thriving economy, with thriving businesses, to give us that spending power.

We are lucky to have some of those. Take Alstom, for example. In July, it published a report which showed that in the past year it contributed almost £1 billion to the economies of the UK and Ireland.

We have Rolls-Royce, which is continuing to invest heavily in Derby, particularly on the nuclear side of the business.

The firm was also recently involved in a successful planning application, which could see more buildings spring up at Infinity Park Derby.

It feels like things are really starting to happen at this site, which is already home to the Nuclear Skills Academy and the Nuclear AMRC building.

The skills academy is a partnership between Rolls-Royce and the University of Derby – the latter of which has just become a member of Nuclear AMRC.

On the subject of the university, I was pleased to see Rolls-Royce’s former chief executive Warren East be acknowledged with an honorary degree during the graduation ceremonies, which took place at Derby Arena in July.

Being the boss of the engineering giant through some of the most testing times in the company’s history, such as the pandemic, must’ve felt like a rollercoaster ride in itself.

If you’re a Derby County fan, you’ll know all about those.

At one point, the club was heading towards oblivion (Isn’t there a ride at Alton Towers of the same name?).

It’s hard to believe that it was a year in July since David Clowes, owner of Clowes Developments, stepped in and rescued the club.

Roll forward 12 months and I found myself sitting in the same marquee as David, along with the rest of the Marketing Derby team.

We were at the Black and White Ball, a fundraising evening for the club’s charitable arm, the Derby County Community Trust, which was held in the grounds of Clowes Development’s magnificent Ednaston Park headquarters.

It was a lovely evening, which raised tens of thousands of pounds for the trust.

Clowes Developments is one of the partners involved in the Derby City Lab, which has been shortlisted for the prestigious EG Awards.

The venue, in St James’s Street, which aims to engage people in Derby’s future, recently marked its first anniversary by announcing regular opening hours. You can find out more here https://www.marketingderby.co.uk/derbycitylab/ .

There are no rollercoasters at the city lab (sorry about that!).

Instead, there’s a bunch of friendly Marketing Derby staff, along with our ‘changemakers’, who will be interested in hearing your views on the future direction of the city centre.

Derby’s evolution is moving at a white-knuckle pace. So, instead of watching from the sidelines, why not get involved and join the ride?

Anyway, have a safe and productive August and I look forward to catching up again soon.