New ‘confidence mark’ for Belfast businesses

A new ‘confidence mark’ is being rolled out by Belfast City Council and its city partners as the city starts to reopen and begin its journey to recovery.

The window stickers are being distributed to businesses and premises that are reopening their doors to reassure customers that measures have been taken to keep them safe and give them confidence to visit shops and businesses again, as lockdown restrictions start to ease.

Lord Mayor of Belfast, Alderman Frank McCoubrey said: “As our city moves into the first stages of recovery, one of our main priorities is ensuring that our businesses are prepared and protected in order to welcome the public back safely.

“We’ve been working hard with our city partners to ensure that as customers and workers start to return to premises across the city, they feel confident and reassured that we are taking the appropriate measures to ensure social distancing and that public health advice is being adhered to.

“The confidence mark is to show members of the public that businesses are taking necessary steps to help customers feel at ease, feel safe, and above all have an enjoyable experience when shopping and going about their daily business.”

Alderman McCoubrey added: “As we continue to come to terms with the unprecedented circumstances we currently find ourselves in, we want to remind residents and the wider public that we are working hard to make the necessary changes and adapting how we do business to ensure the city continues to move forward, and support our local economy.

“It has been great to see retailers across the city reopen to the public over the last few days and we are looking forward to welcoming visitors back in a safe and enjoyable way.”

Simon Hamilton, Chief Executive of Belfast Chamber also commented and said: “The last few months have been a torrid time for businesses in Belfast.  Many have had to shut completely for the whole period with thousands of staff placed on furlough.  Now, thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel with retailers already trading again and our hospitality and tourism industry looking forward to opening their doors again on 3 July.  Throughout his period, Belfast Chamber has been pleased to work closely with Belfast City Council and other city partners to ensure that businesses can reopen again in a way that ensures both staff and customer safety.  This Belfast ‘confidence mark’ is our city’s way of saying to people that businesses have put in place a whole raft of measures to make their experience an enjoyable one and that their safety is of paramount importance.  As our city slowly but surely starts to get up and running once more, we all look forward to people coming back to Belfast and enjoying all that we have to offer”.