Bedford Mayor joins Universal representative in walkabout of town
They visited businesses in the Town Centre
Bedford Mayor Tom Wootton has recently taken a tour around Bedford Town Centre to visit businesses alongside John McReynolds, Senior Vice President of External Affairs from Universal Destinations & Experiences.
Universal are hoping to get the green light to build for their investment plans for a 'world-class Universal theme park and resort' in the town, with this visit focusing on how businesses locally may benefit.
Mayor Tom Wootton expressed the importance of Universal, stating: "A project of this scale has the potential to be transformative for Bedford Borough and deliver significant benefits for the UK economy. Universal create thousands of jobs, help to drive footfall to existing local businesses, and unlock major investment into other local enterprises and infrastructure through their supply chain and companies who want to be based around them."
Among the businesses visited were La Piazza, Not Another Jungle and Charisma, with a particular focus on how job creation, boosting footfall and enhanced infrastructure could all be benefits to the theme park.
John McReynolds echoed this sentiment, stating: “A world-class Universal theme park and resort could help unlock enormous economic potential and boost growth for Bedford and the UK. The support we have received from Mayor Tom, the Bedford Borough and the many community members we have actively engaged with throughout this process has been nothing short of incredible."