What is Purple Flag?
Purple Flag celebrates Cambridge for being a safe and vibrant evening and night-time destination, with its diverse array of dining, entertainment, and cultural activities. Cambridge secured Purple Flag status last year and is one of only 70 towns and cities across the UK and Ireland, which have achieved this national performance standard.
The Purple Flag standard, launched in 2012, is an accreditation process similar to the Green Flag award for parks and the Blue Flag for beaches. It allows members of the public to quickly identify town and city centres that offer an entertaining, diverse, safe and enjoyable night out. As the governing body, ATCM (Association of Town & City Management) has set 5 core standards, against which accredited locations are measured:
The Policy Envelope: An after-hours policy that shows a clear strategy based on sound research, integrated public policy and a successful multi-sector partnership.
Wellbeing: Successful destinations are all safe and welcoming with all sectors playing their part in delivering high standards of customer care.
Movement: Getting home safely after an evening out is crucial, as is the ability to move around the centre on foot with ease.
Appeal: Successful destinations offer a vibrant choice of leisure and entertainment for a diversity of ages, groups, lifestyles and cultures.
Place: Successful areas are alive during the day, as well as in the evening. They contain a blend of overlapping activities that encourage people to mingle and enjoy the place. They reinforce the character and identity of the area as well as flair and imagination in urban design for the night.
The evening and night-time economy within Cambridge is hugely diverse, thanks in part to a large student population that come from all over the world. A wide variety of leisure and hospitality businesses means that everyone is catered for, not just the younger demographic. A food-loving city, Cambridge celebrates a mix of independent businesses and larger chains to maintain the breadth of appeal The same can be said for licensed premises, with everything from underground cocktail bars to high-capacity venues, places for the discerning drink to light up dance floors, there is something for everyone.
Achieving Purple Flag status means that partnership agencies across all sectors work closely together in Cambridge with safety and cleanliness a priority to ensure we maintain our excellent reputation. It should given customers coming into Cambridge confidence that the evening and night-time economy is well managed, connected and striving to deliver a vibrant and safe experience.
