Swansea: Let’s be proud of our city
Swansea: Let’s be proud of our city
Thursday mornings are breakfast mornings. Every Thursday, I pop along to a local café and have breakfast with my friend and business partner. We shoot the breeze and sort out any issues we have with the small side business we run.
Last week, while waiting for him to arrive, I overheard the café owner talking to a Canadian tourist who was visiting the area. The conversation was essentially about how Canada was better than Swansea — but the one arguing for Canada was the café owner!
I’m firmly of the opinion that one of the worst things to happen to this city was the phrase “Pretty, S***** City.” Don’t get me wrong, Twin Town is a great film, and it was fantastic to see our city on the big screen playing itself. Usually, when we see Swansea on screen, it’s masquerading as the backdrop for Doctor Who’s latest escapade (Doctor Who can travel anywhere in time and space — just as long as it looks like South Wales). But that phrase seems to have seeped into the consciousness of the city.
You only have to look at social media. Any announcement made by the council or developers regarding new projects in the regeneration of the city is met by a barrage of negativity.
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Swansea isn’t perfect, but sometimes we forget how lucky we are. There aren’t many cities in the UK where an office worker in the city centre can walk to the beach for lunch. Swansea Bay itself is beautiful — just head to Altitude 28 if you really want proof — and we have Gower right on our doorstep. The economic impact of tourism in the City and County of Swansea is £658 million, with 1.6 million people staying here, so obviously our visitors love it.
Business-wise, we have some amazing companies based here doing incredible things. We have an internationally renowned flag manufacturer, a global vodka brand, investors pouring millions into new buildings and regeneration, one of the best hotels in Wales, a distillery exporting whisky internationally, two sports teams with a global following, a multi-award-winning indoor market, a vibrant and ever-changing city centre, and a queue of national and international brands considering our city as part of their expansion plans. And that’s before we even mention the host of SMEs and sole traders producing outstanding products and services. The business innovation, talent, and ambition in this city are staggering.
It’s easy to become blasé about the wonderful things around you. We see the seafront every day, for example, and sometimes we forget to stop, take it all in, and appreciate it. When we stop seeing the things that make our city special, we just start to see the negatives. If we concentrate on those negatives and shout about them for all to hear, we reinforce them and then people don’t return, move here, or invest here.
Swansea BID and Swansea Council, amongst others, are working together to encourage investors and visitors to come here. We can attend conferences, trade shows, pay for advertising, and do everything possible to put “Brand Swansea” in front of those we want to attract. But our greatest marketing tool is one we can’t really control: you, the business owner and resident of Swansea.
Swansea has money pouring into it thanks to the City Deal, and that is just the start. Together, we can make that money count and attract more by each and every one of us becoming an advocate for our city.
So, tonight, once you’ve finished reading this, spend some time looking at the positives of our fair city and begin to love it, like I do.
